Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Print Server with Multifunction Printer Support
by Linksys
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Our Price: $119.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $49.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys Wireless-G Print Server with Multifunction Printer Support
Customer Review: Easier to replace your printer than use the WPSM54G
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought the WPSM54G about a year ago. Prior to that I had been using a D-link WP-311P attached to an HP Business Inkjet 2550, which had been a breeze to set up worked well for six years with my Winodws and Mac OS-X mahcines.
Given the high cost, hard to find supplies for the HP 2550, I thought it might be a good time to consider replacing my printer. I bought an Epson CX-9400 AIO printer and initially set up the printer directly over USB. The Linksys WPSM54G seemed like it might be a good solution becasue it offered the potential for bidirectional access and use of all the printer features from any of my machines.
Well, maybe if you have one of a a small Linksys-blessed mostly Canon printers it'll work great, as ohter reviewers have stated. I think you can forget about getting full bidirectional support of most HP and Epson AIO devices.
I was able to follow the convoluted instructions supplied with the WPSM54G to set up the print server on my wireless LAN. But getting the print server on the LAN is only the first part of the battle. Next, it is necessary to install software to provide a virtual USB port to fool your AIO device's drivers into thinking they're still communicating with a directly wired printer. I my case, no amount tinkering, cajoling or swearing was sufficient to get it to work. The Linksys configuration software stoically insisted that no print drivers were installed; game over Dude!
Just to prove to myself I wasn't daffy, I tried setting up an HP 2600n color laser printer with the WPSM54G, and that worked, but was pointless since the HP 2605N has an ehternet port that allows it to be plugged directly into my router, rendering the need for a wireless box moot. I experimented a little with the WPSM54G using using the HP 2600n as a test mule, and found the Linksys virtual USB softwrare and/or the WPSM54G firware is buggy. It doesn't alwasys cede control when a given PC is finished using the print server. Even the original PC winds up getting locked out, necessitating a power cyle of the print server to release the lock-out.
My ultimate solution was to simply get a printer that already had Ethernet and Wi-Fi built in. For just a few dollars more than I paid for the WPSM54G I found an Epson Workforce 510 at a local warehouse club, and it works without drama with my 32 bit Windows and Macintosh OS-X machines.
My recommendation is to simply upgrade your printer instead of spending hours trying to get the Linksys WPSM54G to work.
Customer Review: Works pretty well
Summary: 4 Stars
Works pretty much as described, and the quirks are as people have described them.
Make SURE you load the printer driver on your PC first. If you have multiple PC's around your home of office, this may be a bit of a pain, ecause in some cases (I have a Canon MP-780) the PC has to be attached to the printer, which means moving the PC or printer if they are not located next to each other.
Once you have loaded the printer driver on at least one PC, you can hook up the print server and configure it. I recommend doing this - set everything up on pne PC and test it all before spending a lot of time loadign printer drivers on a bunhc of PC's. Follow the instructions to the LETTER. There is a lot of "plug this in", "unplug this", "push that button", etc. which for an experienced PC user such as myself, sounds a bit childish, but it works. READ what displays on the screen CAREFULLY. I made the mistake of entering the WEP key when it wanted the passphrase. Guess what? It didn't work. I tried to be clever, and log into the print server directly. That worked even less. I started over, read carefully, and all was well.
Once the print server is configured, you have to then set up each PC with print server drivers. Again, follow the driections and all will be well.
It is basically a 3-step process
1. Connect the printer & load printer drivers (repeat for each PC)
2. Set up and configure the print server (do this only ONCE, for the print server)
3. Load the print-server driver on the PC (repeat for each PC)
I set up 4 laptops and the entire process took a little over an hour, including the printer drivers.
A couple of quirks.
The print-server is normally in an off-line mode. When you try to print something, it turns on automatically and prints the page. The printer sometimes spits out an error message before it has a chance to turn on, but once the print-server comes on the message clears and it works jsut fine, it just may take a few seconds extra.
The same is not true for the other functions, primarily scanning. You have to right-click on the tray icon and select "connect". You can change the settings so it always stays connected once it is connected, but that is a matter of preference and how much you scan. Of course, you can now scan on a pc where before you couldn't, so that is a plus.
Overall, setup was pretty easy and I am happy with the product.
Customer Review: The most useless product I ever purchased
Summary: 1 Stars
After installation, the printer is having not able to printer properly. I have tried 4 different printer on it so far: Multifunction printer, dot matrix printer, regular laser printer from different makes.
Call in for technical support. The following are the re-cap:
1st call:
Was asked on the model/serial...etc. All normal stuff of tech. support call. They couldn't figure out what is wrong. So, ask me to disable firewall on the company Server running Server 2008. I didn't know how to do that.
So, the call ended.
2nd call:
I found our how to disable the firewall. Called again. Going through the same stuff of model/serial, system setup questions.... still couldn't figure out what is wrong.
3rd call:
I got fed up with trying to connect multifunction laser printer to it. Before the call, found that the Canon printer was causing problem. Called Canon, have the machine replaced, they did admit that it was their fault.
So, I guess I have to give credit to Linksys since it wasn't their problem in the first place. New printer, still
did not work properly. Fine.... I got a new printer, fully tested in stand alone environment, every thing working.
Call in to Linksys again. Got asked for what model/serial.... the standard question. Then they asked:
What wireless router do you use? Well, that makes sense since it is related. It is a Linksys wireless router. When asked what is the serial number. They informed me that it is out of warranty for the wireless router so they
will not support my call since it is over one year old product. I was hanged up.
4th call:
Going through my records, the product was bought just 8 month ago from Amazon (wireless router). So, I called back.
Was refused service because my wireless router is out of warranty (standard warranty is one year). I nicely
"explain" to them that I have no problem with my wireless router, it is the wireless printer server I have problem
with. After 10 min. of going back and forth, I was hanged up by the other side again.
Well...... My recommendation: Linksys' products do not work with each other and they don't honor their product warranty. Worst of all, they have no idea what they are talking about when they are dealing with technical stuff.
Customer Review: Seems to work great with a canon mp530
Summary: 4 Stars
I would consider giving this product 5 stars, but I haven't yet put it through it's paces. However....
I received this device today and within 30 minutes I got my canon mp530 (print/scan/copy/fax) connected to it and printing and scanning wirelessly! This is the first device I've seen that has good support for multifunction printers, and setup was a really easy and well-documented.
As of Jan 4, 2007, this device must be VERY NEW. So new, in fact, that the linksys website has almost no documentation of this device. There is a list of MFP's that this device is known to support. See:
[...]
But note that this list is not exhaustive. For instance, my Canon MP530 is not listed here, but the printer was recognized by the printserver and everything seems to work fine. (Note that the next model up, the Canon MP830 IS listed as being supported, however.) Nonetheless, if the printer isn't listed here, buyer beware!
For each computer that you want to use w/ your networked printer, you need to first install the printer drivers (e.g from Canon/HP/Epson/whatever). Then you install the drivers that came w/ the linksys printserver and you're pretty much good to go.
One last note: This print server supports 802.11g (54Mbps max rate). However, my wireless router only supports .11b (11Mbps). Therefore, when I scanned a big image, the "download time" (from scanner to computer) seemed slow. My guess is that the 11mbps link speed was the bottleneck
Addendum: If you want to use this device from a computer that has a software firewall installed, BE SURE TO MANUALLY DISABLE THE FIREWALL DURING THE PRINT SERVER INSTALLATION. (In other words, go into your system tray and manually turn off ZoneAlarm, Symantec Firewall, etc.)
Addendum #2: This applies specifically to the Canon MP530 that I'm using with this PS, but might also apply to other printers. In order to install the Canon printer driver (not the LinksysPS driver), I am required to physically connect the printer to the computer in question via a usb cable. This MUST be done BEFORE the PS is installed. Therefore, I needed to lug the printer around the house to connect it to the various desktop machines I had. This was a minor inconvenience, but would have been a major hassle if there were >5 desktop computers to connect to.
Customer Review: Hardware and Software Flawed
Summary: 1 Stars
I returned my first unit, bought in a CompUSA store, because the connector attaching the antenna to the unit base was sheared. The replacement unit had the identical problem - clearly some automated process and a lack of quality control/inspection during the final boxing.
So I used some cyanoacetate glue and slapped it together.
The configuration of the server is done in two steps: first the unit's wireless connectivity is established and then a driver is installed on each computer that accesses the printer.
Linksys provides a CD with software to execute these operations as well as instructions on the physical wire steps necessary to bootstrap wireless connectivity.
The software quality is, well, low. The interface is crude, and diagnostics are completely lacking. The application looks like DOS based junk written with little polish.
What isn't clear from the kit (targeted to the neophyte) is that you can telnet (http - port 80) into this sucker and configure it from a nice browser interface. This is much easier - no mumbo-jumbo. You can do the usual things in terms of assigning IP addresses, etc. (Ah... TCP Illustrated!) and get this thing to hang on your network.
That's the easy part. The real pickle hits when you try to install the network print driver. The behavior of the Linksys software here is plain squirrely; my system remains non-functional and frankly, I'm reasonable expert a fussing with these things.
I've tried bypassing the linksys driver by configuring an LPR queue by mapping the print server's IP address (I'm using a static IP) to a port in the usual fashion. But this does not work - word on the net is that this server, unlike the preceding model, does not support LPR communication.
In short, I've a 1" X 3" green thing with an hour glass which say's "Verifying the network printer driver installation. Please wait... 76%" stuck on my screen.
Frankly, for a bit more than the cost of this unit, users can pick up a used laptop for this purpose instead. Running with a printing share seems the best route for those needing remote functionality as the pickings for this product type are few.