Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys EPSX3 EtherFast 10/100 3-port PrintServer

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The hardware installation was easy connected to my network with no problem. Software instalation and server setup could be a little more complicated if you did not have any knowledge of networking and the use of IP address and DHCP servers and what there fubcions are. The instructions need to be read carefully to get all the hidden items. I just installed the driver on all my Windows machines and the Printserver manager on one PC per the instructions.

If you use DHCP to give out IP address the print server has to have a permanent address. The networking protocol should be set to TCP/IP.

I have a Brother HL1250 laser printer, Panasonic KX-P2123 pin printer and a Canon BJC600e inkjet connected to the printserver.
Each printer is set to its own port.

I am able to print from the followwing PC operating system with this print server, Novell 5.0, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 98se, and SuSE Linux 6.4.

The Linux setup setup was much more complicated as printer definition files had to be reconfigured but any good Linux user should be able to do this with no problem, I am a novice Linux user.

This is a solid product. It is the best printserver I have ever had. The documentation could use a little more work.

I have three computers at home, two running XP Professional and one running XP home. I decided to purchase the EPSX3 so that I wouldn't have to leave a computer on to work as a print server.

Now, keep in mind that my job involves the setup and use of the computers on a daily basis. Therefore, the setup of this print server should have been a snap. Wrong!

Evening one consisted of hooking up the print server to my Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless Acess Port. Hey, two Linksys products should work well together, right? I ran the setup program as specified in the instructions, but no matter how hard I tried, the print server remained invisible. I got the same result on all three computers. I gave up after about two hours.

Evening two, I spotted the review submitted [on Amazon.com]. [They] mentioned that there is an issue with the Windows XP firewall. I disabled the firewall, and I was able to access the print server.

To sum it up, if you want to use this print server under Windows XP, I believe these steps should help to get you there:
1. Disable the XP firewall. If you do this though, make sure you've got some other means of protection for your system.
2. Make sure that you've already installed the driver for the printer(s) you want to use.
3. This print server defaults to DHCP. Therefore, you don't have to disable DHCP to use it.
4. Run the setup program as described in the instructions provided with the router.
5. Once you get to an option that says "Add Printer", this option won't work under XP. However, because you should have already installed the driver for your printer(s), you should be able to select it.
6. Select "Finish" and you should be good to go.

Good Luck!

The Linksys EPSX3 EtherFast 10/100 PrintServer3 is used for making your printer independent on the 10BaseT and 100 Mbps networks. You hook up your printer/printer cable to the Linksys EPSX3 EtherFast 10/100 PrintServer3 and your network cable to the RJ-45 port.

It comes with it's owm AC plug-in power supply, Status and Error Lights.

Hookup is easy but when it comes to software, you need to install the driver for the printserver on each PC that need to use it. You also need to select SC811326_p1 Printserver port and install your printer driver on each PC. Remember to select "LOCAL" printer port because the instructions tell you to do it.

Overall, after the software is install the right way, this Printer Server is the best thing that I bought because it makes the printer independent. Any PC can now print reguardless of other PC's.

After spending a lot of time fiddling with this I had mixed results. I was able to get an OKI printer to work, but not my HP Deskjet 720C. I went to HP's site to learn how to disable bi-directional printing, which I did and tried again - still no luck. I finally got a hold of Linksys tech support (1.5 hour callback), only to be told that the 720c was an unsupport printer. They don't have a list of unsupported printers available anywhere except within Linksys (why not on the web?). The docs were also weak on explaining how to use the unit with a DHCP server, and the information on the Dip switch settings is 100% incorrect! They documented the switches upside down and the real information is available from their support page.

I'm taking it back and trying something else...

After reading the reviews posted by other users I was a little nervous about whether or not this would work OK with Windows XP, so I called Linksys prior to purchasing to find out if my three printers would work. They confirmed they would, although they didn't sound too sure about it. I have the following printers:
1. HP LaserJet 6P
2. HP LaserJet 5P
3. HP DeskJet 722C.

I connected the hardware, as per the Quick Set-up guide, and then ran the Configuration Wizard from the CD on my three machines:
1. Server running Windows Server 2000
2. Desktop running Windows 2000 Pro
3. Desktop running Windows XP Pro

The print server was quickly detected on my PC running Windows Server and the printers were added quickly and easily. On the other two PC's I had to install the three printers I wished to use as local printers, but this is also covered in the Quick Set-up guide.

All-in-all it was a quick and easy set-up, probably about forty minutes from start-to-finish. One thing I must mention though is that I do not have Windows XP's Internet Connection Firewall enabled as I am using a Linksys WRT54G Wireless router as a firewall. Once I had the system up and running I turned on the Internet Connection Firewall and could no longer connect to my printers. So if you are a Windows XP user you MUST turn off the Internet Connection Firewall in order to use this product.

1. I called telephone support to find out what equipment I needed to print wirelessly on my network. Technician #1 recommended the EPSX3 so I bought it. I worked for a long time with the provided instructions and with support aids found on the LinkSys website. Couldn't get it to work, and thought it
may have something with XP operating system. So I called telephone support.

2. Technician #2 assured me the EPSX3 works wirelessly. Worked with #2 for awhile without success. He then sought the advice of a senior technician. Senior technician said EPSX3 works wirelessly, but must initially configure using a RJ-45 Ethernet cable. Bought another RJ-45 cable based on this advice. On my own I got it to work over the cable, but not wireless.

3. Called support again with the RJ-45 in place and print server working on the wire, but not working with the wireless. Technician #3("Kevin") knew the EPSX3 works wirelessly because he has one and thought he had just configured it a wireless laptop on his network. Worked with Kevin for awhile (quote "This should work - it's not rocket science.") He sought the advice of a senior technician and came back saying that, much to his surprise and disbelief, the encapsulated packets from the print server dropped packets excessively, preventing operation. He said he was previously unaware of this
limitation, and then said I should buy a different print server from LinkSys.

By this time, the return period of the retailer had expired.

I purchased the product your staff recommended and it turned out to be incompatible with your wireless network. The technicians I worked with today both thought it was compatible, but learned later from someone else that it was not.

Sounds like a Linksys training problem. Hope their latest recommendation is correct.

Need to exchange for the proper product.

Linksys Response:

Thank you for contacting Linksys Customer Support.

I am very sorry to inform you that it is not possible to exchange your EPSX3 to WPS11. As much as I wanted to help but unfortunately we only replace product that is said to be defective.

Again, thank you for understanding.

I am very sorry to inform you that it is not possible for you to use EPSX3 to print wirelessly. As much as I love to help you but unfortunately not.

Rexin Mena
Product Support Representative
Linksys

My local lan is completely linksys. I bought the epsx3 because I have three printers I would like to share. This device has been a nightmare. I cannot get XP to even notice it is on the network. I tried linksys technical support and they were completely non sympathic to my problems. The windows 98 pc can print to one printer attached to the device but not to any of the others. I have even removed the device software from all machines and reinstalled the software and device. No luck. I am extremely disappointed as the other lan devices from linksys work fairly well. Do not buy.

I noticed that XP customers are having tremendous problems with this product. I was able to trouble shoot exactly what was going on with these products and offered this information to Linksys free of charge. I'm a computer security consultant and generally get paid big dollars to help resolve companies problems. Both the EPSX3 and EFSP42 Linksys print servers are similiar design and developed prior to the release of windows XP. Linksys has not bothered updated the bios in years, so it didn't surprise me that their products were incompatible with certain aspects of the XP Operating System.

Linksys was purchased by Cisco, so you would expect a higher level of professionalim and knowlege in their technical support area, but what you get is some entry level engineers reading off some help screen with no true knowlege of the products or networking principles.

I was able to determine that the Windows XP firewall, which is often enabled by default will block service to these print servers. If you go into you windows XP windows directory and look for a file called "pfirewall.log" you will see that it is blocking access to the linksys print server. This is because Linksys is not "playing by the rules" and changing the inbound port to not match the outbound port. The Source port is 80 and the destination port is 3079. So, the XP firewall is properly doing its job and Linksys should fix it's code or work with Microsoft to have a rule hotfix released.

The Linksys response to this situation is to disable all personal firewalls. The only problem is that most linksys products are not a firewalls, but modified routers that perform network address translation, which offers some security to the outside, but none on the local subnet.

I truly tried to work with Linksys to help them fix thier product, but they didn't want anything to do with the proper solution and instead recommended disabling any other software from other manufactures that might interfer with their code.

Good luck to all used of these products, you will need it.

Was able to get it to work sometimes. Was able to set the IP address the first time, but after that I couldn't change it or get it to work reliable with DHCP. Got absolutely no response from email to support site, unable to get through for phone support, unable to use it with Unix systems. I'm getting rid of it and going with an HP.

The first one we got went back to the supplier! It wouldn't set up on the Canon 5000 printer. We got a replacement and after several attempts discovered an amendment to the manual buried deep in the Linksys web site. This didn't help at all. In the end we tried the HP 4Mplus and bingo! It worked.

After three days trying to contact Linksys support we were advised it probably would not work with the Canon 5000. I asked why they managed to sneak an important DIP switch set up detail onto their web site and NOT the list of compatible hardware..... of course the guy didn't know for sure either.

Now? It works, we get frequent disconnects, print server reboots are frequent (weekly) and sometime we have to re-install the software. But, on a good day, it prints.