D-Link DP-300U 10/100TX 1-USB Port 2-Parallel Port Print Server

by D-Link

Product Details

Data Sheet [166kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.6 x 1.2 inches ; 10.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00008UA9I
• Item model number: DP-300U
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #67 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Print Servers
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 10, 2003

Product Description

D- Link the industry pioneer in networking continues to offer innovative products in Ethernet. The D- Link DP- 300U is a compact print server that connects to your Ethernet or Fast Ethernet network. With high-speed ports DP-300U allow users to print simultaneously from anywhere on the network. DP-300U is equipped with two IEEE1284 parallel ports and one USB version 1.1 port for seamless connection tomost printers available on the market today. DP-300U also supports all major network Operating Systems and protocols. With its compact size DP-300U can easily be placed anywhere! DP-300U is also easily configurable using web browser or window based configuration program. Using web browsers on a PC connected to the network configuration is simple and straightforward with the familiar D-Link interface. PS Admin a Windows based configuration program can also be used to configure DP-300U. The DP-300U print server is the ideal network printing solution for small offices home offices schools and other businesses that requires printer sharing. Primary InformationNetworking Type :  Print server Form Factor :  External Networking Interface :  USB; Parallel Data Transfer Rate :  100 Mbps Data Link Protocol :  Ethernet; EtherTalk; Fast Ethernet Connectivity Technology :  Wired Remote Management Protocol :  SNMP Cabling Type :  Ethernet 10BASE-T; Ethernet 100Base-TX Width :  4.6 Inch Depth :  7.59 Inch Height :  1.22 Inch Service & Support Type :  1 year warranty UNSPSC CodeUNSPSC Code :  43201537 Product IDUPC:  790069251139Manufacturer Part:  DP-300U

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars D-Link works well ... compared to the others, February 15, 2005

By 

Wallace Guy (Mill Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: D-Link DP-300U 10/100TX 1-USB Port 2-Parallel Port Print Server (Personal Computers)

First I tried the NetGear PS101 print server. I liked the spiffy form factor. I could talk to the print server admin web interface and get it to print a test page, but even after many, many hours could never get it to print a document. So I returned it.

After that debacle, I decided to splurge for the HP JetDirect. At first I could only get it to print the configuration page. A visit to the HP support forums turned up lots of references to the JetDirect not working with SP2 and the suggested solution was to uninstall SP2. Ugh. Finally I went to the D-Link web site and copied the D-Link installation guide for XP w/SP2. The main difference was that D-Link suggested installing the print server as a local TCP/IP printer instead of a networked printer and, bingo, I got the JetDirect to print. (NOTE: It still goes over the network, it just looks local to the PC.) However I was miffed that I paid double the price for a device which required a competitors documentation to get to work. In addition, DHCP didn't work and I could never get it to show up in my network neighborhood.

So ... in a possibly nonsensical move of principle and price, I bought the D-Link DP300U and set up it. It's not trivial to install, but after working with the other two devices, a couple hours of install time seems like nothing. Here are a couple tips ...

(1) Do NOT use DHCP. Use a fixed IP address. Unlike the JetDirect, DHCP works. However, it still didn't show up in my network neighborhood and now I didn't know the IP address. There is NO HARDWARE RESET on the device. The D-Link support guy was great. He told me that if I couldn't find the IP address, I would have to send it back to D-Link to be reset (Ugh!). The good news is that he told me how to find it. I went to the router and looked at the DHCP assignment list and got it, and then reset the thing to a nice, fixed IP address in my subnet.

(2) I first set it up as per the instructions as a local TCP/IP printer, which means it's still on the network but looks like a local printer to the PC. It worked OK, but did this weird, long pause ... about a minute ... right in the middle of long documents. Again D-Link support was good. They told me to try setting it up as a networked printer, which I did. Unfortunately, this doesn't have spooling and you're back to 1980's wait-for-printing. Then something weird happened that I can not explain ... after setting up the device as a networked printer, I went back to the local TCP/IP printer that I had set up and it worked perfectly. Don't know how it got fixed.

My PC is a Dell laptop w/ wireless connection to an access point, and then wired to a router and the print server. My printer is an HP Deskjet 5550.

So, in the end I'm sticking with the D-Link product and I am happy with it. I would have rated it 3 stars as an overall product, but bumped my rating to 4 stars because I still thought it was the best of the ones I had tried. The itty-bitty-print-server market could use some improvement.

Enjoy!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DP300U = Printing Freedom!, July 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: D-Link DP-300U 10/100TX 1-USB Port 2-Parallel Port Print Server (Personal Computers)

Though not very explicitly described as the DP300U, I took a chance and ordered it. It was indeed what I expected when it arrived several days ahead of schedule. I put the print server on a mac/pc wired/wirless home network, effectively replacing two older desktop machines. This unit has two parallel ports and one USB port, and connects to a network router via an ethernet cable. (No cables are supplied, but this was no surprise.) There's also the inevitable power cord with transformer block plug, but this pleasingly small one doesn't hog too much space on the power strip. Setup was physically simple, but software-wise it was a bit of a challenge. Mac OS X requires (free) gimp-print and ghostscript software to allow postscript emulation on non-postscript printers. Gimp-print includes drivers for popular inkjet and laser printers, but I had to search the Web for a third-party OS X Samsung laser printer driver (also free, thanks UNIX community). Standard Windows XP drivers worked fine. After installing all the drivers and whatnot, setting up the print queues on the print server was pretty straightforward. My printers now work without having to be connected to aging desktop machines, and I can print wirelessly from a Mac or PC laptop in any room in the house. Very liberating.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dlink print server, works, but only with work...., January 30, 2004

By 

Daniel G. Hyams (Hixson, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: D-Link DP-300U 10/100TX 1-USB Port 2-Parallel Port Print Server (Personal Computers)

This Dlink print server works fine once you figure it out; I am fairly computer and network savvy, but it still two me two hours to get this thing working.

The instruction manual is a little inadequate; you know to use caution when they misspell the word "parallel" consistently. It would help a great deal to explain what to do if your network does not lie in the 192.168.0.0 network range, as mine does not. I knew what to do immediately when I saw that they preset the IP to 192.168.0.10, but I am sure that many folks would not.

main gripe:
I had one parallel port printer, and one USB port printer. The USB printer *refused* to work; even the print server itself didn't know that it was connected. After trying everything I knew, I finally upgraded the firmware to 1.20 (it was shipped with 1.10). Presto; it worked. However, shame on Dlink for shipping a device that only half-works. To their credit, none of the configuration on the device that I had already done was destroyed by the firmware update, unlike some of their other devices that I own.

I am also noticing abnormally slow ping returns from this device. Every computer on my network returns a ping in 0.2ms; this device returns on in 3ms. This might be expected behavior, but I just thought I would mention it. (BTW, before the firmware upgrade, the ping time was an obsene 300ms!)

Printing photographs on my color printer takes around three times as long as when the color printer is directly connected to a computer. However, this very well might be that I was printing from my laptop over a 5Mbps wireless connection. I will try again later with the laptop connected over the 100Mbps wired connection, to see if this critique is fair.

All in all, I am pleased now; however, two hours of my time were burned up by a device that only half worked when I received it.