Do *Bidirectional* Print Servers EXIST?

kwo

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2002
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Hey all!

As per the title, I'm looking for a print server that will allow both Mac's and PC's (Mac OS 10.3.x and WinXP) to print/scan to an Epson CX6600.

They key is, to use the scanning, we apparently need bi-directional functionality.

I have yet to find *any* print servers that offer this feature. I've checked Hawking, Linksys, Belkin, Netgear, etc....

Does anyone know if such a beast exists?

Ideally, the scanning would be done mostly from a single PC, but I want to print from over a dozen PC's & Mac's (both laptops and desktops)

I tried setting up printer sharing from one of the Mac's or one of the PC's - but that has turned out to be highly unreliable.

I'm out of options here!
 

thirdlegstump

Banned
Feb 12, 2001
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I've never seen other 3rd party print servers that work bidirectionally on the Mac side of things other than 1 or 2 Epson models and even then I'm not sure if the scanning features even worked. I'd call up Epson and ask for advice from a Mac product specialist as it's a tricky little situation.
 

kwo

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2002
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It never occurred to me to check the epson site.

In fact, they have a recommended "wireless" print server - for $180!!

Yikes!

I was looking at this one from Trendnet: TE100-P2U1P in which they *state* bidirectional. But can't figure out if the TE100-P21 is a newer model or what.

Anyone used either of these Trendnet print servers?
 

thirdlegstump

Banned
Feb 12, 2001
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Actually I was just testing out a parallel port Trendnet adapter and it just won't work with Mac OS X. I've tried with Panther 10.3.9 and Tiger 10.4.1. No joy. The print requests just seem to disappear and never gets passed to the printer. Get the Epson as it's likely the only print server that will work. Full Appletalk support is probably necessary for any bi-directional printing on Mac OS.