USB A/B switch?

[Boomyal]

Anybody using one? I want to use one for my two PC's to be able to share my new Brother Color Laser Printer. I do not want to try to set it up thru the network. I have successfully been using a parallel port A/B switch to share my old HP 2100 laser printer that I use for business work orders and invoices.

 

[MTboatguy]

Never used an A/B switch for USB, I had them back in the old days for printer ports, I normally just set my printers up these days on the network, I know the current one I have is wireless or I can just plug it into my router with a network cable and it is available to any computer hooked up to the network.

 

[alldodge]

Anybody using one? I want to use one for my two PC's to be able to share my new Brother Color Laser Printer. I do not want to try to set it up thru the network. I have successfully been using a parallel port A/B switch to share my old HP 2100 laser printer that I use for business work orders and invoices.

Boo someday, and it will happen but someday in the future, your going to have to upgrade.

You should be able to use a USB hub to connect both PC's to the hub and then connect the printer to the input port
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/install-multiple-printers-one-computer-58145.html

 

[MTboatguy]

I don't think it is really easy to connect two PC to one printer without using an A/B switch, I know that you can't plug two PC's into one hub, because one of them has to act as the hub host unit, basically all the hub is doing is expanding the number of ports available on one computer, not vise versa.

 

[Boomyal]

....... I know the current one I have is wireless or I can just plug it into my router with a network cable and it is available to any computer hooked up to the network.

Hmmm, you mean I can plug the printer into the router, via a CAT 5 cable (or in my case the hub, because I needed more slots) and have it accessible to all computers on the wired network?

This also brings to mind as to whether I can use both the wireless feature and a wired connection? The PC's do not have wireless capability but mine and my Wife's laptop would need to access the printer via wireless

 

[MTboatguy]

Hmmm, you mean I can plug the printer into the router, via a CAT 5 cable (or in my case the hub, because I needed more slots) and have it accessible to all computers on the wired network?

This also brings to mind as to whether I can use both the wireless feature and a wired connection? The PC's do not have wireless capability but mine and my Wife's laptop would need to access the printer via wireless

My wife and I use our laptops with wireless feature on the printer, I have the printer plugged into the router, then we access the router wireless and can print with no problems, most printers that have wireless also have a CAT 5/6 connection on them also, you should be able to plug it in, run network discovery and you will probably have to also install the printer driver on each one of your computers, but it is really not a big deal. Also you should be able to run both the wireless as well as the wired network connection in the printer at the same time.

In fact, I just hooked up a NAS 2 disk raid the same way, it is plugged into the router and my wife and I are accessing the router through wireless.

 

[Boomyal]

What I do not understand, is the cat5 cable to the router, in my case via the Switch, for the wired connection? You do not need any wires for the wireless operation of the printer.

 

[MTboatguy]

Boom, I don't have any wired computers in my home, there are 5 of them here that I am printing with. The computer sends the document to the router and then the router sends the document to the printer. There are actually several different ways to set this type of system up, but in the simple form it is to plug it into the router, we have been running it this way for a couple of years now, I set it up this way, because I didn't want to deal with configuring ports and sockets on the router and the computers.

 

[glenn property of pam]

lots of ways to connect the printer. Plug it in one computer and set it as shared, Set it up wireless as that's painless then just look on your network and sharing center and map network. Pick the printer and double click then the printer will load the driver file to your pc and set up as default. Or cable connect to the network switch. I already have a usb hard drive on the switch so I set mine wireless and with in 10 minutes I had all the computers in the house defaulted to it.

 

[MTboatguy]

I agree with Glenn, this is not hard to set up.

 

[bruceb58]

With that printer you bought, It's a no brainier to just attach it to your router. Putting it on a one computer and sharing it is what you did 15 years ago but not now.

 

[Boomyal]

With that printer you bought, It's a no brainier to just attach it to your router. Putting it on a one computer and sharing it is what you did 15 years ago but not now.

I assume that I still have to load the software on each of the computers I want to use the printer with?

 

[MTboatguy]

Yes, each computer that wants to use the printer will have to have the drivers installed on them, but it should get the drivers from the host computer, if not, just put the disc in that came with the printer and it should install them.

 

[glenn property of pam]

I assume that I still have to load the software on each of the computers I want to use the printer with?

just select from the network and double click and a window should pop up saying loading drivers. The printer sends any computer asking to use it the driver file. Now it might not send a complete file depending on the printer but I know mine sent the software to allow printing, scanning and full control over the ink levels and servicing.

im running windows 7 not sure if older versions do the same

 

[MTboatguy]

XP, does not have all of the nice features that 7 does, he might have to load them manually.

 

[Boomyal]

XP, does not have all of the nice features that 7 does, he might have to load them manually.

so far I have loaded the software on one XP PC and one Win7 wireless laptop. I have the new printer hooked direct to the router/switch and both of these computers see and operate it. Pretty nifty, I say. Thanks all for the suggestion of using the router route. That method was outlined in the manual but I did not grasp the signifigance of it.

I initially tried to load the software on the other XP PC, the one that would not accept the drivers for the now trashed HP inkjet. As with the HP, the Brother software and drivers failed to load on it. I will try again today. At least now, with a new printer, I will be able to get some technical help if the second attempt fails.

 

[MTboatguy]

That does not make any sense, if it were me, I would completely uninstall any or all printers on that machine and then try to install the new printer first.