printer location and logicistics question...

[name9902]

atm i have 2 desks a room in my house. each desk has 2 comps at it, hooked up thru a KVM switch. My router + cable modem are located on a thrid wall of the room (each desk is located on its own wall, wall 1 and wall 2).

I was just wondering how i might configure things so that each comp can print off a printer and the printer is on the fourth wall?

 

[Griffinhart]

The obvious answer for that would be a printserver.

There are plenty of options available for that. There are wired and wireless versions available.

I have 3 computers scattered around the house and wanted to allow all of them to print to my laser printer. I just picked up this IOGEAR Print server from CompUSA for $49. It works great. It's tiny too. It's about 2.5"D x 2.5"w x 1"h.

There are several wireless options available as well supporting USB and LPT printers. They are a bit pricey though. Typically starting around $100.

Of course, you could always just run a cable from one PC to the printer and share it with the rest, but, not having the printer reliant on a single PC is a more elegant solution.

 

[wseyller]

Having the printer networked with a print server is the best way. You could hook it to one of the computers and share the printer with the other computer and save money from buying a print server, but if the computer the printer is connected to is powered off none of the computers would be able to print. On a print server your printer is always ready to print.