questions about networking a NEW printer??????

[Ob1]

recently purhcased the dell 1600n, all in one printer. my question is can i just plug it into my wireless router w/4port swtich built in, assign it an ip address, etc, or do i have to have it connected to a pc that would be dedicated as a printer server? also what is the best way to make this wireless? i currenlty have a wireless network in my home, and would like to make it wireless if possible? can i use a usb wirless network adapter from any retail store. i know there is a linksys wireless print server router, but im looking for other alternatives to make it wireless. any recommendations would be appreciated.

thnx

OB1

[Panama Red]

If you don't have a wireless print server, the easiest way is to just hook it up to a computer on the network and enable sharing for it. Then "find" the newly installed printer with the wireless computer(s). Only nusiance is the fact that the computer the printer is connected to must be on for the printer to be seen on the network.

[Ob1]

so the only way to make it wireless is to use a wireless print server? what about if i connect it to my router via cat 5 cable? will that work, so everyone can use it since it will have an ip address, or does it need to be either connected to a wired/wireless print server to share the printer. curretnly have two pcs on the network, looking to add 3 more pcs a little later on

[Panama Red]

How can you connect it via a Cat5? Printers only have usb and Parallel to my knowledge.

[Ob1]

my printer has an rj-45 connection on the back specificiallly for connecting to a network. you can buy all in one printers at best buy that have rj45 connections on them for cheap to. in the user guides they keep talkin about print servers when they talk about networking the printer, and then they say something about using a pc as a print server, so its a little confusing. the printer i got is the dell 1600n laser multi function. it has usb and rj45 connection only. most printers these days dont come with parallel. see im thinking i shoud be able to just assign an ip address, subnet, and default gateway, and it should work.

[glc]

In that case, you can just plug it into your router and install the drivers on all your computers. If you want it wireless, you can plug it into a wireless bridge instead of directly into the router.

This may be expensive - but this is the only bridge that Linksys offers.

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=615

This may be cheaper and is all you really need:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=21

[Ob1]

i purchased the linksys WPS54GU2 wireless print server. as usual linksys has crappy instructions as far as setting it up goes. does anyone know of any good url that can explain the setup process better, and relatively easy????????

currently i have 2 dell laptops that r wireless. using a linksys wrt54gs router. have wep security setup on there as well.

how do i go about installing the printer drivers on each pc? the directions say to install the print drivers before i install the print server drives, so do i just install them as a local printer, or do i choose network printer to install the printers drivers?

[glc]

You bought the wrong thing. You need a wireless BRIDGE, not a wireless print server, because the printer already HAS an internal print server. Please reread my previous post. The D-Link is $57 at Newegg, I know it's only wireless-B, but that's still faster than the printer can accept data.