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All Systems Go 29 May 2008 08:37

Printer USB Hub
 
I working in an office* which has two laptops and 3 printers. At the moment I need to switch the wires about whenever I want to use a different printer.

Can I get some kind of USB hub to plug all the printers into so that I don't have to fiddle with the wires all the time?

I would also like to know, if it would need to be a specialised printer hub or would a USB extension plug (something like this) be ok?

Thanks

*steel box

Phil^ 29 May 2008 14:53

Re: Printer USB Hub
 
Yes, you can plug all the printers into a generic usb hub and plug that into one machine which could share those printers across a network.
Drawback is, in order to print to those printers, the machine that the hub is connected to would need to be turned on.
A generic printer hub would act as this machine - but may not be able to handle more than one printer connected to it.

All Systems Go 18 Jun 2008 12:11

Re: Printer USB Hub
 
What is the difference between a parallel port and the little square connector when attaching a PC to a printer?

Phil^ 19 Jun 2008 05:17

Re: Printer USB Hub
 
speed probably, with parallel ports being slower than usb.
another is how many devices you can plug in - generally parallel ports are 1:1. usb buses can have up to 127 devices on each ( ofc you need hubs etc for this )
theres also size - parallel ports are huge in comparison

pablissimo 19 Jul 2008 13:11

Re: Printer USB Hub
 
If you have parallel ports on the back, consider something like this. It'll put the printers on the network, assuming you have one set up, so that each machine can add each printer locally and use them without needing anything else turned on. It should be noted that the particular model I just pointed you at isn't the best, but it has the added advantage of being cheap!

Edit: They also do USB versions but I'm not honestly sure quite how they work, but seemingly the same kind of 'USB printer <-> network' bridge.

All Systems Go 4 Oct 2008 15:10

Re: Printer USB Hub
 
In the end we had some people come up. They used and old PC to plug a new wireless router into and used that as a server for the laptops. It does the job, but it seemed rather cumbersome for what would appear to be a relatively common task.


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