Keyspan US-4A 4-Port USB Server (12 Mbps) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I opened the packing box 10 MINUTES AGO, and both of my printers are up and running on every PC.
I was a little worried when I saw the 'documentation' was smaller than a CD, but everything went off without a hitch:
Step 1: Power up the USB server with no USB device hooked up to it, and connect it to the network via RJ45.
Step 2: Install the software (if WinXP, use the unsigned drivers). Your OS searches the network at this time and finds the USB Server.
Step 3: Hook up your USB devices.
THAT'S IT!!!
If you have a Multi-Function printer, you NEED this device, because even if you find a compatible print server, it will only let you use the print function. A Printer Server turns your Multi-Function printer into a Uni-Function Printer.
With this device, it will be just as if the printer were directly connected to your PC. In fact, you are not limited to PCs; you can connect ANY USB device to it (camcorder, scanner, webcam, even a mouse or keyboard).
The ONLY advantage that a print server has over this device is that with a server, multiple PCs can control a target device at once (really, that's not quite true, since the requestes are put in a queue).
With the USB server, every PC uses a little administration program. When launched, it opens a window that lists all of the devices that are connected to the USB server. A PC on the network that wants to use a device (i.e. print) needs to first take command of that device. You just select the device by name, and hit the connect button. From that point on, it's as if the printer were plugged directly into your PC. Others trying to use the printer would see that you were subscribed to it; they would have to wait until you release the subscription - which you have to do manually.
They could really use a virtual queue that keeps checking until the subscription is open, then releases the subscription when the job is completed. The problem is that if the device isn't a printer, how does it know when the job is finished?
So, even if you have only one PC on the network, you need to request access to use the printer. On the (sort of) bright side, every time you power up the PC, it will remember who owns what. I think the memory is maintained in the USB Server itself, not the PC. So if a PC takes control of a device, then dies, cycling power on the server releases all devices.
This is a little hokey (they claim they MIGHT fix it in a later release) but it's 1000% better than losing printer functions you paid for. They have an 'Admin' panel on the software, but I don't think it currently lets you boot someone off of a device.
If you already installed the devices you want to share, then once you connect to the server, every device will show up by name. When you take control of one or more of the devices, Windows goes through the 'new device ready' popup.
If you haven't added the device to your PC, then the server will show a default name for the device. Once you take control of it, Windows will detect the PnP device, and start the 'add new hardware' wizard.
It's truly as if the USB server didn't exist, and you had a REALLY long USB cable.
I have a Canon i950 Photo Printer, and a Brother 9600 MFC.
The Brother is particularly painful in that it won't even work with most printer servers. In fact, Windows XP doesn't even have a dedicated driver for it; Brother has all but stopped supporting it.
I was highly skeptical, but the MFC's scanner worked right away. As for the Canon, I launched the Status Monitor, and was soon seeing I had to replace an ink cartridge. So, the USB server is bi-directional, too (most Print servers aren't).
It took me longer to write this review than it took me to get the server up and running.
I can't recommend this product highly enough!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Keyspan US-4A 4-Port USB Server (12 Mbps)

Access USB devices from a WiFi notebookSeparate the USB device and the host PC by any distance

Click here for more information about Keyspan US-4A 4-Port USB Server (12 Mbps)

Read More...

4 Port USB 2.0 Device Server Compatible Various USB Devices Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Bought the SX-5000U2 to allow my wife to use my HP PSC2110 all in one from her Powerbook over our network. The product descriptions I read on various sites talked about it being compatible with all in ones. I had to return it because I went through the set-up process fine until reaching the last step where you connect to the device. It just would not connect, double-checked all the connections and everything, had my firewall disabled, no dice. Uninstalled and reinstalled, same problem.
At that point I discovered that Silex does not have a toll-free support line - only a toll number (absurd given the average wait times on those things, wouldn't you say?) or e-mail. While searching the net to see if anyone else had this problem, I came across a compatibility listing (http://www.silexamerica.com/us/support/printserver/pricomsx5000u2.html) and was shocked at how VERY short it was - there were only a handful of HPs on there (no PSC 2110 of course). The USB ports also felt cheap and flimsy to me.
Even though there was nothing wrong with my PSC 2110, I decided to get a network capable model. Between the inadequate support and very limited compatibility, I would recommend people avoid this product.

Click Here to see more reviews about: 4 Port USB 2.0 Device Server Compatible Various USB Devices

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about 4 Port USB 2.0 Device Server Compatible Various USB Devices

Read More...

Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Print Server with Multifunction Printer Support Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Once you get this gizmo going, it works nicely. You can connect multiple computers on your home network to a printer that's within WiFi range. But setting it up is a challenge, because you have to do exactly the right things in exactly the right sequence, and some of the things you have to do right aren't mentioned in the setup wizard that runs when you insert the Linksys setup CD into your computer, or they're mentioned so late in the process that you may have to start all over again!
The process takes about 90 minutes if you do everything right the first time around and don't have to double back. Most of the time you're watching software load - it's as exciting as watching paint dry. Here's what you have to do, as far as I'm able to recount from having just done it for a friend's home network. If you think the following is written in Greek or maybe in Geek, get someone else to do this for you. If you're up to the challenge, this review may save you time and frustration and prevent more 1-star reviews.
(1) Before you set the print server up, it's a good idea to go to the web site of the company that makes your router (Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, etc.) and download and install the latest "firmware" for your router. That takes maybe 15 minutes.
(2) Move the printer close to the PC that's connected to your wireless router. It has to be close enough to the router for you to connect it via a standard Ethernet ("patch" or "Internet") cable. It's not a big deal, but it means you may have to set the printer up in one place and then move it back to where you want it to be. (Linksys supplies the necessary cables in the box, which is to their credit. Most printer manufacturers make you buy your own cable.)
(3) The printer needs to be set up on the computer using a wired (USB) connection *before* you try to set up the wireless connection. If you're just going wireless with a printer you've already installed on the PC that's connected to your WiFi router, you're all set. But if you're installing a new printer, or trying to go wireless with a printer you've moved from some other computer, be sure to install it as a USB printer first. (3-a) Once you have the printer set up as a wireless "network" computer, you may want to uninstall the USB version of the same printer, because when you boot up, some versions of Windows will give you endless warnings that the local printer isn't connected. (3-b) This also means that if you ever buy a new printer and you want to connect it wirelessly via the Linksys print server, you have to install it first as a (wired) USB printer, and then re-run the "Set Up Computer" wizard from the CD that comes with the Linksys. Don't lose that CD!
(4) The setup wizard asks for a password for the print server. You can use any password you like, BUT then it asks for a passphrase, and the wizard fails to point out that you need the exact WEP passphrase or WEP key you've (already) used to set up your wireless router. (You are using WEP or stronger security on your wireless router, right? If not, go find out how to set up WEP security and do it immediately.) (4-a) The setup wizard asks for a passphrase, but if you've used a passcode on your router, there's a way to enter it you look carefully at the screen.
(5) Once you complete setting up the wireless print server, the wizard leads you through setting up your computer. Again, you must have already installed the printer onto the computer via a USB cable before you get to this point! Follow the instructions and by gosh - it works! Then at the very end there's a small note saying that if you want to set up other computers, you have to install the printer drivers first. Nice of Linksys to point that out at the very end; it would have saved me an hour of messing around if they'd said that at the beginning!
(6) Once the printer is set up, it's the default printer, and it wasn't possible (at least for me, with Windows XP) to set a different printer up as the default printer on one of the computers on my home friend's network. A minor irritation, in most cases, and there may be a workaround. If I find it I'll add it to this review.
So: 5 stars for convenience once it's set up; 3 stars for the glitch with the default; 2 stars for poor setup instructions... how do you rate this thing? 4 stars, I guess.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Print Server with Multifunction Printer Support

Get 44% OFF

Click here for more information about Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Print Server with Multifunction Printer Support

Read More...

Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)After reading the mixed reviews for this, I still decided to try the Linksys Wireless Print Server. Although this is more expensive than the wired print server, I thought that it may be nice to locate my printers (one is USB and the other is parallel/USB) and wireless router in different locations. Neither printer is multi-function. I first tried a "wired" Linksys print server, but was unable to connect (2) USB printers using a hub - plus the price of the print server and the hub was nearly the same as the wireless device.
So far so good, but there are some things that I suggest you do when installing this device. These are based on personal experience, which has been a process of educated trial and error. An IT professional may do things differently, but if you were an IT professional, you probably wouldn't be reading these reviews. My network is almost entirely Linksys components (wireless router, wireless adapter, and print server), although I am using the network cards that were pre-installed with those computers that are hard wired to the router.
First, disable your firewall. This will allow you to test the compatibility of the printers, the network, and the print sever without the extra component to worry about. Once everything is up and running, you can enable your firewall and tweak any networking restrictions at that time.
Secondly, when configuring the router (which is the first step), you will need to have this "wired" to your router. This is part of the instructions, and should not come as a surprise. However, make sure you leave this "wired" until you have installed the print server drivers and software on all your networked computers. The install utility seems to have trouble finding the print server if you have disconnected the hard wire connection, even if the print server lights indicate it is already on the wireless LAN.
Thirdly, if you are using MAC address filtering, temporarily disable this. One you get the print server set up and running, you can find its MAC address using the web utility or the BI-admin utility, and then restore the filtering after adding the print server. However, if you want to use the web based configuration utility (like you use with your router), please follow the instructions in the following paragraph.
Fourth, once you have installed everything per the instructions, I recommend the following: give your print server a fixed IP address on your network (e.g. 192.168.1.171). My experience is this: If your router uses DHCP to assign IP addresses to your networked computers and servers, the print server does not always communicate back to the router, and your print server will sometimes "disappear" from your network after computers have been turned off and on. Something to do with the order the computers and servers are turned on. Setting this to a fixed address has cleared up those problems for me. Also, because the print server's address is fixed, you can access the web based configuration utility by typing in the same IP address each time.
Fifthly, find the MAC address using the web based or BI-admin utility. Now, if you are using these, reinstate your MAC address filtering, adding your print server's address to the allowed list.
Sixth, test and test again. Reboot your computers and unplug and re-plug your print server. Send documents to all your printers from all your computers - not just printer test pages. Print actual documents from a "Wordpad" or similar program.
Seventh, enable your firewall, remembering to enable access to your print server at the fixed IP address used above.
Eighth, test again just to make sure. If it doesn't work now, you know it's the network settings of your firewall.
This has seemed to work for me.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0

The Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 lets you connect a USB or parallel printer (or both!) directly to your network, eliminating the need to dedicate a PC to print sharing chores.Using a PrintServer frees up your "print share PC" so you don't have to leave it on all the time.It also removes the printing bottleneck, and sets your PC free to do more useful work.Connect the PrintServer directly to your network by 10/100 Ethernet cable, or wirelessly over 54Mbps Wireless-G (802.11g).The wireless option lets you put your printers wherever you want to, without having to run cables.Whichever way the PrintServer is attached to your network, both your wireless and wired PCs will have access to it, and the printers it's connected to.And if you don't use wireless for general networking in your office, you can still use the Wireless-G connection in ad-hoc mode to print from visiting Wireless-G and Wireless-B PCs.The USB port is compatible with USB 1.1 printers, as well as printers that support the new high-speed USB 2.0 specification for even faster throughput.There's also a separate port for a standard parallel printer.For even more versatility, you can connect two printers, one to each port, and send your documents to whichever one is most appropriate for each print job.A user-friendly Setup Wizard makes installation easy, the compact case fits anywhere, and the three megabyte print buffer size handles even large graphics-intensive print jobs.Let the Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 bring efficiency to your printing tasks.

Click here for more information about Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0

Read More...

Hawking HMPS1U 1-Port USB 2.0 Print Server for Multi Function Printers Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)We purchased a Brother MFC-7340 to replace another brother AIO printer. Normally we would have purchased a network AIO but the price on the bother was so good, it made sense to purchase and upgrade the print server. We purchased the Hawking HMPS1U because it supported multifunction operations. THIS DOES WORK WITH WIN 7 64BIT although it took a little work to figure it out, Hawking tech support wasn't much help. The set up part for just printing is easy, if you know your way around network printers; just add a network printer, make sure you know the IP address of the print server and its easy. If you're just going to print, don't buy this print server, but if you want to share every function on this machine use this server. For Win 7 64 bit set up, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE ON THE CD. Go to Hawking's website and download and install the setup from there. Then download and upload the firmware to the print server and BANG it will see your printer and you're good to go! Unfortunately tech support, the manuals, or anybody else will not tell you that. If I would have known this it would have taken less than 15 to 20 minutes to set up two laptops sharing the setup.
Better documentation which would have lead to easier setup would have given this 5 stars.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hawking HMPS1U 1-Port USB 2.0 Print Server for Multi Function Printers

Get 33% OFF

Click here for more information about Hawking HMPS1U 1-Port USB 2.0 Print Server for Multi Function Printers

Read More...

Cisco-Linksys PSUS4 PrintServer for USB with 4 Port Switch Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Like a number of the other reviews mentioned, the PSUS4 works fine as a printserver but the included setup software isn't worth even removing from the box. I am by no means a networking expert but I had the time to tinker with the device and found that you really need to be ready to configure the PSUS4 directly using your browser and then configure each computer for local printing by creating a new TCP/IP port using the IP address of the unit and configuring it for printing to "USB1". If this sounds complicated it really isn't and with a bit of searching you can find quick and easy instructions from an article on the Linksys website (note the lack of mentioning USB1 in the article).
Long story short, don't buy this if you want plug and play but if you have a basic understanding of networking you will find this works fine after a bit of a painful initial setup. I found that it took much longer just to find the information I needed than actually setting up the unit.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco-Linksys PSUS4 PrintServer for USB with 4 Port Switch

Share your USB printer and expand your network with one compact box The Linksys PrintServer for USB with 4-Port Switch is a double upgrade for your network. First, it lets you connect a USB printer directly to your network, eliminating the need to dedicate a PC to print serving chores. Using a PrintServer frees up your print share PC so you dont have to leave it on all the time. It also removes the printing bottleneck, and sets your PC free to do more useful work. In addition, the PrintServer includes a 4-port 10/100 switch, so you can easily add more devices to your network. All four ports are auto speed negotiating, and have automatic MDI/MDI-X crossover detection, so you dont have to worry about the cable type.

Click here for more information about Cisco-Linksys PSUS4 PrintServer for USB with 4 Port Switch

Read More...

Canon Wireless MFP/Print server Silex Pricom C-6700WG Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I recently installed the Silex C-6700WG wired/wireless print server in my home network. Because my Canon MP610 printer is physically close to my router, I installed the C-6700WG using a wired connection.
I ignored the product installation CD and instead downloaded the latest software and firmware update from the Silex America site ([...]). The CX User Software there (as of the date of this review) is version 3.7.1 (11/13/2009). That's what I installed on my two desktops which run Win XP Pro (SP3). Silex America warns that this version does NOT support Windows 7.
On my laptop, which runs Windows 7 64-bit, I downloaded the software from the Silex Europe site ([...]). There, the CX User Software is version 3.8.0 (22.12.2009) which does support Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit).
Printing, and in particular the Canon 'My Printer' software (ink level reporting, etc.) is working as expected. I didn't try to use the printer's scanning function.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Canon Wireless MFP/Print server Silex Pricom C-6700WG

Get 24% OFF

Click here for more information about Canon Wireless MFP/Print server Silex Pricom C-6700WG

Read More...

D-Link DPR-1260 RangeBooster G Multifunction Print Server Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Okay. It isn't perfect. Installation isn't as easy as it should be. Instructions aren't as good as they should be. Some printers work with it, and apparently some don't.
But go look at the ratings on all the other print servers. You'll see the same problems. I tried at least three others, and couldn't get any of them to work. I've been able to successfully get this print server to work with an Epson R300 (USB 1.1), a Canon MP830 all-in-one(USB 2, print only), and even a Lexmark Optra T610 laser printer(parallel, with a USB-to-parallel adapter from Belkin).
Printer manufacturers have gone nuts with bi-directional information going back and forth between the printer and the computer. The result: really pretty printer drivers that give you loads of information and options, but depend on the printer being physically connected to the computer. But when you want to easily share that printer with a bunch of other people (especially a bunch of people with laptops), it's much more difficult. Either everybody has to swap cables, or you buy a print server--and give up the pretty driver screens that pop up to tell you to buy more ink.
The D-Link DPR-1260 is the only one I could find that actually listed compatible printers on the box. They say that they tested with 100 different printers. I believe it. Their competitors don't seem to have done nearly as much testing.
If you aren't comfortable setting up a wireless router on your own, or if you needed help installing your printer the first time, don't buy this. If you can figure out what the d-link is doing by setting ports on your printers to print to an IP address, give it a try.
If the market had some better entries, I probably wouldn't rate this with 5 stars. But it appears to me to be the cream of the crop.
Update (12/2007): We've had it for about a year, and we've had trouble a number of times. It repeatedly loses settings. If I could reduce the number of stars, I'd give it two or three.


Click Here to see more reviews about: D-Link DPR-1260 RangeBooster G Multifunction Print Server

Get 51% OFF

Click here for more information about D-Link DPR-1260 RangeBooster G Multifunction Print Server

Read More...