using extra router as print server

[toronado455]

I have an "extra" wireless router (ASUS WL-520GU) with a USB port and print server capability that I want to use turn my USB-only laser printer into a wireless printer.

I have another router which is connected to the internet and is handing out IP addresses via DHCP for my wireless LAN.

What settings do I need to configure on the ASUS to make this work? I probably want to turn off the DHCP server on it, right? I really don't know what I need to do.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

http://www.iateyourbaby.com/2010/03/hacked-asus-wl-520gu/

After it's working as a bridge:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/USB_printer_sharing

 

[toronado455]

So the objective is to set the router in bridge mode, and there's no way to set bridge mode using the stock firmware?

He says: "Your PC should get an IP through the WL-520GU from your main router". So does that mean that my entire wireless LAN would be no longer communicating directly with my main router? Everything would be routed through the ASUS?

I'm not really sure that is my primary objective at the moment. I might eventually want to get the routers to talk to each other, but at the moment I'd by happy with manually switching networks on the PC when I want to use the ASUS. For now, I just want to configure the ASUS to use it's own network that doesn't conflict with my main network, and then figure out how to connect to that as needed when I want to use the printer.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So the objective is to set the router in bridge mode, and there's no way to set bridge mode using the stock firmware?

Most wifi routers, off the shelf, will only create a wifi network, not connect to one. (Which you want this one to do - so it will function as a print server and connect to the rest of your network.)

He says: "Your PC should get an IP through the WL-520GU from your main router". So does that mean that my entire wireless LAN would be no longer communicating directly with my main router? Everything would be routed through the ASUS?

No. It means the ASUS would be working like a gaming adapter. Connecting to the wifi network and sharing to connection to any devices that are wired into it. (As well as the USB shared devices.)

I'm not really sure that is my primary objective at the moment. I might eventually want to get the routers to talk to each other, but at the moment I'd by happy with manually switching networks on the PC when I want to use the ASUS. For now, I just want to configure the ASUS to use it's own network that doesn't conflict with my main network, and then figure out how to connect to that as needed when I want to use the printer.

What? That's silly. Just set it up so you can leave it alone and everything works like it's supposed to.

 

[Gowie]

Would it not be much easier just to buy something akin to the link below?

http://www.belkin.com/au/p/P-F1UP0002

 

[JackMDS]

Would it not be much easier just to buy something akin to the link below?

http://www.belkin.com/au/p/P-F1UP0002

Yeah, it will be easier if you know for sure that your printer will fully work with it (The compatibility of these type of devices with the printer's world at large is very limited).

Pending on what you have to spend on a device like the Belkin above, make sure that your printer can print money too.

A nice New Wireless capable printer cost less than $100.

 

[toronado455]

When I bought the HL-5340D laser printer, I had no intention of using it wirelessly. I had no need for wireless capability, so I just got the non-wireless version. It would only have been about $50 more for the one with wireless, so buying a $170 device to turn it into a wireless printer is not an option I find favorable.

I now need to be able to send print jobs to it from a PC on my LAN which is in a different room.

I could probably just connect the printer via USB to another computer on my LAN which is in the same room as the printer and configure it to work as a shared network printer in Windows, but I figured as long as I have this router with the built-in print server, I'd like to play around with it and see if I can get it working. So far, I've only gotten it to print one page, then it stopped working. :-( I'm going to keep working on it.

 

[imagoon]

From what I am reading (only quickly looked it up) the Brother printer you listed doesn't appear to be supported on the stock Asus, but is when reflashed to Tomato with the extended USB support package. This suggests that someone some where built support for it with Tomato or DDWRT.

Flash to that, configure it as a bridge and your done.

 

[JackMDS]

At the end you probably will connected the printer to a computer and share via the computer and the Network.

Why? Because marketing "Verbiage" and reality are widely apart in everything around us, sadly it is even much more than the usual in Computer Networking.

When you do hook it to a computer don't forget that you have to install the Printer's software through the Add on Network Printer on each computer that you want to print from.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

They're not all $170.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Ah, the good 'ol 520GU. Are you using the stock firmware or something Tomato/OpenWRT/DD-WRT?

 

[toronado455]

Ah, the good 'ol 520GU. Are you using the stock firmware or something Tomato/OpenWRT/DD-WRT?

Stock. Would this setting work?

 

[toronado455]

From what I am reading (only quickly looked it up) the Brother printer you listed doesn't appear to be supported on the stock Asus

This is what shows up in the Router even before installing ASUS the print server software:

It appears to be recognized (even by name) by the stock router. So that's why I think I ought to be able to make this work.

 

[toronado455]

http://www.iateyourbaby.com/2010/03/hacked-asus-wl-520gu/

After it's working as a bridge:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/USB_printer_sharing

My internet access is wireless via the Overdrive Pro hotspot (Sierra Wireless/Virgin Mobile)

Can the WL-520GU work with the Overdrive Pro? I mean if they are both having WiFi radios on at the same time?

BTW, the Overdrive Pro is limited to channels 1 through 7, but the WL-520GU works on 1-11. So I was using 11 on the WL-520GU and 3 on the Overdrive Pro (because a lot of neighbors have strong signals on channels 1 and 6 in my apartment building.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

BTW, the Overdrive Pro is limited to channels 1 through 7, but the WL-520GU works on 1-11. So I was using 11 on the WL-520GU and 3 on the Overdrive Pro (because a lot of neighbors have strong signals on channels 1 and 6 in my apartment building.)

With 2.4Ghz wireless, you should ONLY be using channels 1,6,11. No others.

Picking a channel in-between may seem like a good idea, but it's not. The width of a channel extends 5 channels higher, so all you are doing is creating noise for your neighbors, and they're creating noise for you.

If you were on the same channel as your neighbors, then the Wifi router(s) would do TDM (time division multiplexing) of the channels. But since you are "off-channel", all they see is additional RF noise, essentially.

You're just screwing yourself in the end.

 

[toronado455]

Most wifi routers, off the shelf, will only create a wifi network, not connect to one. (Which you want this one to do - so it will function as a print server and connect to the rest of your network.)

The network the WL-520GU would be connecting to would be the wireless network created by a Overdrive Pro mobile hotspot. Could that work?

 

[toronado455]

With 2.4Ghz wireless, you should ONLY be using channels 1,6,11. No others.

Picking a channel in-between may seem like a good idea, but it's not. The width of a channel extends 5 channels higher, so all you are doing is creating noise for your neighbors, and they're creating noise for you.

If you were on the same channel as your neighbors, then the Wifi router(s) would do TDM (time division multiplexing) of the channels. But since you are "off-channel", all they see is additional RF noise, essentially.

You're just screwing yourself in the end.

Thanks. I let the Overdrive Pro choose the WiFi channel by setting it to "Auto" (factory default setting) and it choose channel 3, not me. I thought maybe it was finding less noise somehow in between 1 and 6. But I do realize they overlap in spectrum. So should I just manually set it to 1 or 6 instead?