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General discussion

Wireless home networking

by giblet_11 Nov 15, 2004 4:09AM PST

I have a Dell 600M and am connecting to the net through a wireless router. I'm trying to connect my other peripherals to the notebook wirelessly too. Can I do this through the router or do I need a wireless hub or something else?

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Most wifi "WAP"s support 16 or 32 users.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 15, 2004 4:23AM PST

You should be "done".

But that may not be your question. You write " I'm trying to connect my other peripherals to the notebook wirelessly too." But leave out what these are.

Bob

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Re: Most wifi "WAP"s support 16 or 32 users.
by giblet_11 Nov 15, 2004 4:29AM PST

My bad. I'm trying to link a laser printer, ink jet printer, flashcard reader, external harddrive and cellphone. All are USB compatable. Router only has RJ45 ports. The only PC on the network is the notebook.

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Re: Most wifi "WAP"s support 16 or 32 users.
by Dick White Nov 15, 2004 5:24AM PST

The printers can be strung out there as network devices with a print server. It would be connected to the router through one of its wired ports. You might even find a print server that can service both printers at the same time (i.e., it has two USB ports and its firmware was designed with separate addressing and print queues...), or you could get two single-printer devices, one for each printer.

The other things, external drives and card readers, generally need to be connected to a host computer of some sort so its operating system can manage the file structure on the storage device.

dw

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Re: Most wifi "WAP"s support 16 or 32 users.
by giblet_11 Nov 16, 2004 1:00AM PST

So are you saying that there is no "USB hub" that is wireless or can be linked to the wireless router; or a means through wireless print server to expand the USB slots by using a multi-port USB hub through the print servers single USB port?

THX

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THX. Most unlikely.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 16, 2004 1:50AM PST

The USB Wifi printer server I'd seen supported... one printer.

Bob

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ah, found one (but its the only one out of many...)
by Dick White Nov 16, 2004 3:10AM PST
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-127-155&depa=0

approx. $130. Is a wireless unit that serves 2 USB printers. Thus you can put your printers near each other (i.e., within 6 ft of the wireless server) anywhere within range of the wireless base station.

If you want your USB printers to sit in different rooms, you will need to buy two single units, of which there are several wireless models from the big brand names, costing between $75-100 depending on the speeds and features.

Be aware that just because now there is this USB port sitting out there in the other room, you can't plug anything into it except a printer, and even then you are going to have to go through a specific routine to configure the print server for that printer - it's not plug-n-pray like plugging a new printer directly into your PC's USB port, and it doesn't do any other USB stuff, like external hard drives, cameras, etc.

dw
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