Go Back  Offshoreonly.com > General Discussion > General Boating Discussion
OT: wireless LAN question....... >

OT: wireless LAN question.......

Notices

OT: wireless LAN question.......

Old 12-29-2003, 04:56 AM
  #1  
Gold Member
Gold Member
Thread Starter
 
Iggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
Posts: 4,155
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Question OT: wireless LAN question.......

Ok, I bought the wife a laptop that has built in wireless G capability. Bought a Linksys wireless G router (WRT54G). Everything is working perfectly, but there's one hitch. If she needs to print something or access her 40GB external hard drive she has to shut down, move the laptop into the computer room, connect a USB cable to the hub (printer/drive) and restart.
Is there a wireless system or device that'll take care of this?
Iggy is offline  
Old 12-29-2003, 08:17 AM
  #2  
VIP Member
Platinum Member
 
wwwTOPDJcom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Vestal/Binghamton NY
Posts: 3,514
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
Default

wireless printserver or a lan printerserver
does not work with all printers, especially photo printers
which need computer to process the colors
wwwTOPDJcom is offline  
Old 12-29-2003, 08:25 AM
  #3  
Charter Member #232
Charter Member
 
Audiofn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Carlisle, MA USA
Posts: 18,422
Received 6 Likes on 4 Posts
Default

Call Linksys and ask them the best thing to use. Their tech sapport is ussually fantastic.

Jon
__________________
Put your best foot forward!
Audiofn is offline  
Old 12-29-2003, 09:18 AM
  #4  
Charter Member #30
Charter Member
 
Scott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Bellville,Oh
Posts: 2,163
Likes: 0
Received 14 Likes on 5 Posts
Default

You may have to change your printer properties to Share Printer and set up a shared network between the Laptop and the Computer the printer is hooked up to.
I work off my Laptop (wireless) and share the printer hooked up to my main computer.
My wireless router has a shared Serial Printer port that both computers can use but I have had bad luck using it the pages come out of the printer with the last sentence cut off so I set it up like I described above.

Scott
__________________
I have Steps & Bubbles!
Scott is offline  
Old 12-29-2003, 09:32 AM
  #5  
Registered
 
Clay Washington's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 6,986
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

On a local LAN, you can have both File (hard drive) and Printer sharing. It is a little complicated to setup, but you can do it.

Get the book Networking for Dummies. It really helped me.
Clay Washington is offline  
Old 12-29-2003, 09:42 AM
  #6  
Kohldog
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Iggy,

Clay is right. The best way for her to access the devices would be to setup them up on another PC in the computer room. Then you would need to share the devices off the PC. She would be able to access them off of the laptop.
 
Old 12-29-2003, 12:02 PM
  #7  
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
 
mcollinstn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: tn
Posts: 5,752
Received 133 Likes on 82 Posts
Default

I have a shared printer on a hardwired PC.

My wireless laptops DO print to that printer (shared over the network) but it is slow, tedious, and can chop the print job off halfway through.

I have Compaq and HP laptops using 54g and 802.11b cards to the same Linksys 54g router you are using.

Haven't found a good solution yet, other than to send graphics heavy files to the hardwired PC and print directly from it.

Word and text documents print okay off the wireless laptops...

Any advice here would be good.

(oh, and I found a hack to bump up the signal strength level lf the Linksys 54g router if you have some "fringe" areas in your house that don't get good signal - but it can fry the router if it is not well ventilated)
mcollinstn is offline  
Old 12-30-2003, 05:26 AM
  #8  
Gold Member
Gold Member
Thread Starter
 
Iggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
Posts: 4,155
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Default

I decided to try and set the desktop unit to share the printer and files.
Yesterday I picked up a copy of Wireless Networking for Dummies. In it there's a whole section on print and file sharing. I read it, reread it, I believe I did everything correct but I just can't get a test page to print. Laptop seems to stall each time I try. But I was able to access files on the desktop unit from the laptop so I know I'm close.

mcollinstn,
signal strength doesn't seem to be a problem. The farthest distance is only 40'. Linksys has a signal booster I could buy if necessary. Either that or I was thinking of moving the router to a more central point in the house if it became an issue.

I'm sure Linksys has good tech support. I called them the day after Christmas for help in getting both computers to access our email server. After an hour the tech couldn't get it to work, suggested I return the wireless unit to the store for exchange. One last effort, I called my ISP support and with one minor change in our mail settings I was back in business.

Thanks guys.
Iggy is offline  
Old 12-30-2003, 03:22 PM
  #9  
Gold Member
Gold Member
Thread Starter
 
Iggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
Posts: 4,155
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Default

WE GOT IT!!!!!

You wouldn't believe what was wrong.
We had the printer properties set to display a document preview prior to printing. As soon as we disabled that option it took off and ran a test page.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
Iggy is offline  
Old 12-30-2003, 03:53 PM
  #10  
Kohldog
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Glad to hear it. Now you can officialy think of yourself as a computer geek and networking guru.
 

Quick Reply: OT: wireless LAN question.......


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.