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Re: [LUG] Looking for a new printer

 

On 10/12/11 13:30, Julian Hall wrote:
>  On 10/12/2011 13:07, Gordon Henderson wrote:
>> On Sat, 10 Dec 2011, Julian Hall wrote:
>>
>>>> As I have said my router does not have a USB port. However I have
>>>> noticed mention of some printers being able to link to one of the
>>>> ethernet ports on the router. Is that a good idea, or am I not
>>>> understanding what I read?
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Neil
>>>>
>>> Some do have Ethernet ports, however they tend to be aimed at the
>>> business market with a price tag to match.  Your first thought of
>>> the WiFi enabled printer is probably the best one :)
>>
>> Which is bizarre as the hardware for Ethernet is cheaper than that
>> for Wi-Fi and it's less software required to drive it.
>>
>> My wifes HP PhotoSmart multifunction printer/scanner/copier/card
>> reader cost about £89 and came with Ethernet and USB ports - it's now
>> 3-4 years old.
>>
>> Gordon
> I think the logic goes that businesses want networked printers for the
> office while home users don't need it.  Very old thinking but I think
> still prevalent.
>
> Julian
>

Of course, if you want a networked printer (as in, physically wired via
cat5 instead of wifi) on the cheap, any HP model you can get your hands
on with a parallel port can be hooked up to a jetdirect box which you
could get from ebay for pennies these days. It's a bit old-school - you
have to configure them via telnet (!) just for a start - but I did
hundreds of older HP laser printers like this when rationalising the
printer setup at Kings College London a few years back. Cheap, cheerful
and efficient and prevents AD getting littered with a million printer
queues hanging off of random workstations. Some of the later/nicer
jetdirects have some pretty decent management software and even support
WOL as well I believe.

Cheers,

Mat

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