Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0

by Cisco

Product Details

Product Manual [2.02mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000E658Q
• Item model number: WPS54GU2
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (181 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #24 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Print Servers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 8, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 lets you connect a USB or parallel printer (or both!) directly to your network, eliminating the need to dedicate a PC to print sharing chores. Using a PrintServer frees up your "print share PC" so you don't have to leave it on all the time. It also removes the printing bottleneck, and sets your PC free to do more useful work.

Connect the PrintServer directly to your network by 10/100 Ethernet cable, or wirelessly over 54Mbps Wireless-G (802.11g). The wireless option lets you put your printers wherever you want to, without having to run cables. Whichever way the PrintServer is attached to your network, both your wireless and wired PCs will have access to it, and the printers it's connected to. And if you don't use wireless for general networking in your office, you can still use the Wireless-G connection in ad-hoc mode to print from visiting Wireless-G and Wireless-B PCs.

The USB port is compatible with USB 1.1 printers, as well as printers that support the new high-speed USB 2.0 specification for even faster throughput. There's also a separate port for a standard parallel printer. For even more versatility, you can connect two printers, one to each port, and send your documents to whichever one is most appropriate for each print job.

A user-friendly Setup Wizard makes installation easy, the compact case fits anywhere, and the three megabyte print buffer size handles even large graphics-intensive print jobs. Let the Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 bring efficiency to your printing tasks.

Product Description

The Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 lets you connect a USB or parallel printer (or both!) directly to your network, eliminating the need to dedicate a PC to print sharing chores. Using a PrintServer frees up your "print share PC" so you don't have to leave it on all the time. It also removes the printing bottleneck, and sets your PC free to do more useful work. Connect the PrintServer directly to your network by 10/100 Ethernet cable, or wirelessly over 54Mbps Wireless-G (802.11g). The wireless option lets you put your printers wherever you want to, without having to run cables. Whichever way the PrintServer is attached to your network, both your wireless and wired PCs will have access to it, and the printers it's connected to. And if you don't use wireless for general networking in your office, you can still use the Wireless-G connection in ad-hoc mode to print from visiting Wireless-G and Wireless-B PCs. The USB port is compatible with USB 1.1 printers, as well as printers that support the new high-speed USB 2.0 specification for even faster throughput. There's also a separate port for a standard parallel printer. For even more versatility, you can connect two printers, one to each port, and send your documents to whichever one is most appropriate for each print job. A user-friendly Setup Wizard makes installation easy, the compact case fits anywhere, and the three megabyte print buffer size handles even large graphics-intensive print jobs. Let the Linksys Wireless-G PrintServer for USB 2.0 bring efficiency to your printing tasks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

239 of 243 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works fine - just install using these tips, November 26, 2004

By 

muhlen (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0 (Personal Computers)

After reading the mixed reviews for this, I still decided to try the Linksys Wireless Print Server. Although this is more expensive than the wired print server, I thought that it may be nice to locate my printers (one is USB and the other is parallel/USB) and wireless router in different locations. Neither printer is multi-function. I first tried a "wired" Linksys print server, but was unable to connect (2) USB printers using a hub - plus the price of the print server and the hub was nearly the same as the wireless device.

So far so good, but there are some things that I suggest you do when installing this device. These are based on personal experience, which has been a process of educated trial and error. An IT professional may do things differently, but if you were an IT professional, you probably wouldn't be reading these reviews. My network is almost entirely Linksys components (wireless router, wireless adapter, and print server), although I am using the network cards that were pre-installed with those computers that are hard wired to the router.

First, disable your firewall. This will allow you to test the compatibility of the printers, the network, and the print sever without the extra component to worry about. Once everything is up and running, you can enable your firewall and tweak any networking restrictions at that time.

Secondly, when configuring the router (which is the first step), you will need to have this "wired" to your router. This is part of the instructions, and should not come as a surprise. However, make sure you leave this "wired" until you have installed the print server drivers and software on all your networked computers. The install utility seems to have trouble finding the print server if you have disconnected the hard wire connection, even if the print server lights indicate it is already on the wireless LAN.

Thirdly, if you are using MAC address filtering, temporarily disable this. One you get the print server set up and running, you can find its MAC address using the web utility or the BI-admin utility, and then restore the filtering after adding the print server. However, if you want to use the web based configuration utility (like you use with your router), please follow the instructions in the following paragraph.

Fourth, once you have installed everything per the instructions, I recommend the following: give your print server a fixed IP address on your network (e.g. 192.168.1.171). My experience is this: If your router uses DHCP to assign IP addresses to your networked computers and servers, the print server does not always communicate back to the router, and your print server will sometimes "disappear" from your network after computers have been turned off and on. Something to do with the order the computers and servers are turned on. Setting this to a fixed address has cleared up those problems for me. Also, because the print server's address is fixed, you can access the web based configuration utility by typing in the same IP address each time.

Fifthly, find the MAC address using the web based or BI-admin utility. Now, if you are using these, reinstate your MAC address filtering, adding your print server's address to the allowed list.

Sixth, test and test again. Reboot your computers and unplug and re-plug your print server. Send documents to all your printers from all your computers - not just printer test pages. Print actual documents from a "Wordpad" or similar program.

Seventh, enable your firewall, remembering to enable access to your print server at the fixed IP address used above.

Eighth, test again just to make sure. If it doesn't work now, you know it's the network settings of your firewall.

This has seemed to work for me.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Watch out USB users, November 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0 (Personal Computers)

I have been Linksys fan for years. I have more than a dozen Linksys products in my house, from routers to access points to acess devices. Not only have the products been excellent and dead-easy to use, but the customer service has always been AMAZING! So given the option of paying $120 for a Dlink print servr or $170 for a Linksys, going with the Linksys was a no brainer.

First and foremost -- this product does not work with my HP psc 2410 photosmart printer. Moreover, customer support says that linkss is having problems getting there print server working with any USB printer. It supposedly works fine using the parallel port, but many new printers (and almost all new HPs) lack a parallel port. Additionally, Linksys customer support stated that this is a hardware issue, and will likely not be fixable via firmware or driver upgrades. As a result, I'll be buying my first non-Linksys networking product. Caveat emptor.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Install Guide would get 5 stars, June 12, 2004

By 

erunners "erunners" (COSTA MESA, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless-G Print Server for USB 2.0 (Personal Computers)

Yes, it's true, the Linksys documentation is lacking some the important details that many users will need in order to be efficient during product install. Now that I have my mini-home-network up and running, though, I am really quite pleased.

Here's my set-up: Windows XP, HP PSC 2110 USB printer, HP LaserJet 1100 parallel printer, Linksys WRT54GS Wireless Router, and Linksys WPS54GU2 Wireless Print Server.

Let me share some hints for those of you who buy the Linksys Wireless Print Server (WPS54GU2).

(1) Make sure print drivers are already installed on your PC before adding PrintServer. (2) Get your WirelessRouter up and running. (3) Turn off WindowsXP firewall. I left the Router's firewall on. (4) Add your PrintServer to your network as described in Quick Installation Guide. Yes, you need to set it up with it connected to your Router with a network cable. (5) Follow instructions for "Infrastructure" type. (6) Leave Security settings disabled. (7) Follow instructions to install PrintServer's drivers. This creates the ports to which you will print. If you don't have the printer(s) already installed then you cannot match the ports to your printers. (8) NOw, you should be able to print to your printers. (9) THIS IS WHERE LINKSYS SET-UP GUIDE CONGRATULATES YOU FOR COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION. BUT WAIT! YOU'RE PRINTSERVER IS STILL CONNECTED WITH A WIRE! YOU'RE NOT WIRELESS, YET!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

(10) THE MYSTERY STEP: Go over to the PrintServer and disconnect the its network cable AND disconnect the PrintServer's power supply AND wait 1 minute. This resets the PrintServer from wired to wireless. Do not push the "Reset" button. Now, reconnect the PrintServer's power supply. Give the network a minute to see itself. You should be up and running wirelessly.

Note: Once it's all running, go back and add security settings. Also, the HP PSC 2110 is a multifunction printer with a scanner that I do not use, so I do not know whether the scanner works via this PrintServer.