Adding a Wireless Printer Server

One of the coolest new wireless devices to hit the market is the wireless print server (Figure A.13). These devices are inexpensive (often less than $80) and provide a nice way to save time and space. Most home or small-office LANs connect one or more printers to a PC, then share that PC. It might be a PC that someone uses for work everyday, or a computer that is set aside for printing jobs only. Either of those situations can benefit from a wireless printer server. Here's why:

• You can place your printer server (and your printers) anywhere in your wireless LAN's range.

• You can free up a computer that you were using as a printer server.

• You can send multiple print jobs to the printer server, and it can handle the printing simultaneously .

Figure A.13. This wireless printer server from Linksys costs about $75. Netgear makes one for about the same price.

Figure A.14. You can also purchase a wireless access point (and router) with a built-in printer server. These bundled features are more and more common.

Adding a printer server can be a great way to share a printer, without having to leave one of your computers on to do it.