Customer Reviews

IOGEAR 2-Port USB 2.0 Printer Auto Sharing Switch GUB211 (Black)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I recommend this product highly. I had some difficulty connecting the unit to my PC/Vista system, but had immediate success with my Macintosh system. Once I called tech support, I was able to properly find and select the right printer driver on my PC. It is wonderful to be able to send documents to the same printer from both my Mac and PC and not have to go over and either manually select the printer or change cables. This product is very solid without odd idiosyncrasies to deal with.

The device works nicely BUT installation required installing full drivers for my printer on two computers, and THEN installing the device's drivers on both computers. After this whole process, I still need to run a program supplied by IOGear every time I need to switch the printer to the other computer.

This is definitely not a KVM level device, and the documentation implied that no end user action or installation are necessary (plug and play).

It's a small part that works awesome. If you only have two CPU's sharing one printer this is it. The software is simple! It usually just runs in the background. On my laptop, I have it set up so it does not start automatically. Instead, i just click the icon when i want to print, the box comes up, click the "OK" button and print. Then I exit the program and again, it's no longer running in the background.

I ordered this switch because I could not print out thru port 9000 on my work computer (internet printing). The only options I had were to have 2 printers or use a switch.
After a call to Tech Support and a few reboots, this switch has worked perfectly. I believe part of my issue was that the 2 computers I use have different operating systems - 1 with Vista 64bit and 1 with Windows 2000.

We bought this switch to replace an old mechanical A/B printer switch that allowed us to share via the printer ports on our two computers. After years of having to get up and walk over to the switch to change from one machine to another, we wanted a change.

My only complaint about the IOGear switch is that the software installation CD included in the package is a mini, which none of our CD/DVD drives will play. However, once I downloaded the driver from the IOGear website (very easy to find), the switch installed quickly and works flawlessly. I had read previous reviews that mentioned the error message ("document failed to print") that appears when you first switch from one machine to another. If you wait a second or two after the message appears, the switch operates, the computer recognizes the printer and the document prints automatically.

I would definitely recommend this switch to anyone wanting the convenience of being able to share a non-networked printer.

Our HP All-in-One printer NEVER worked on our network the way its supposed to (neither did its two All-in-One predecessors). So when the ol USB manual Printer switch lost two of its four ports, I broke down and researched this one. After reviewing the negative feedback on this switch I was nervous, but I went for a used (like new) switch... My wife runs XP Media Center and I run Vista Home on a wired home lan. I followed the extremely simple directions (just like my wife taught me to, lol). The drivers just installed (like they were designed to) and the printer switch just worked - flawlessly -
Just buy it - its so much easier than the manual switch we had before.

This printer switch does what its supposed to, and automatically. For best results, first attach the printer directly to the computer and install the printer drivers. Restart computer. Next, install the Iolo switch software. Go to settings and select your printer from a list (if list doesn't appear, the printer driver's weren't installed correctly). Restart computer and enjoy.
I use this switch successfully with an HP Laserjet P1006 printer via a PC running XP and a Mac using Snow Leopard. No problems.

Allows access to all HP multifunction printer. Set up in 5 minutes. Fast, reliable. It replaces he HP Wireless upgrade Kit which never worked reliably.

It took a few frustrating print attempts to get used to how the switch works, but it does do its job well so no complaints now. As long as you press "switch" and then "OK" (after clicking on the icon) you should be fine. The icon is yellow or red when you start a new print job after your computer has gone to sleep, went in to shutdown mode, or released printing to another unit on the network. The icon (a large sphere like object on your dock) turns green when it's ready to go. This sounds very intuitive, but sometimes it still takes a "Switch-OK" sequence even when it's already "green."

This product did not work it would not switch from one printer to the other....it is not compatible with an All-In-One-Printer, we called the manufacture and they told us that it would not work with the All-in-One-Printers. This information would have been very helpful if it would have been in the description of the product. So we have a cute little box that is useless. We still have to change the USB cable to use the printer.