setting up a local network and sharing a printer

[STUMPOFWAR]

I coach a high school debate team and we travel around alot and work out of hotel rooms and other temporary locations quite a bit. So here my deal.....

I would like to set up local wireless network between our various computers. I would like to share files and I would like to make our team laser printer available to each laptop. Sometimes our hotels/schools offer broadband so I'd like to have that available on the created locl network as well.

I figure I need a wireless router.....but beyond that I'm clueless. I'm willing to buy the needed hardware to get this done. I'm a teacher so it's a tax write-off but suggestions on economically friendly alternatives would be appreciated.

Also, My team is mixed computer wise......about 50/50 PC & Mac. I have both personally. So please let me know of any issues that we may have.

Any and all help would be appreciated

Thank you.

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[STUMPOFWAR]

bump......

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[Ron Williams]

Well, I am not sure that this will work but you could always look for a printer with a network port and connect it to a router. Though this may work I am not sure if the mac's have TCP/IP.

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[STUMPOFWAR]

hmm...I hope its that simple........would it be cheaper to buy a network ready printer or to buy a cheaper laser printer and then buy one of those printer boxes that you plug bthe network cable and the parralel cable into.

Mac does have TCP/IP. I do IP printing all the time. Is that the same thing?


Shawn

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[Ron Williams]

Mac does have TCP/IP. I do IP printing all the time. Is that the same thing?

Yes this is the same thing, though you may want to check to see if the printer works with a mac.

would it be cheaper to buy a network ready printer or to buy a cheaper laser printer and then buy one of those printer boxes that you plug the network cable and the parralel cable into.

You may want to check out several different internet sites that sell computer products. A good one is http://www.tigerdirect.com

I think it would be easier to configure if the printer has its own network port and has mac support for network printing

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[Mandrake]

Well, I am not sure that this will work but you could always look for a printer with a network port and connect it to a router. Though this may work I am not sure if the mac's have TCP/IP.

Mac OS X uses TCP/IP natively. Microsoft, Novell, Apple and others are all using TCP/IP instead of protocols like AppleTalk, NetBeui, IPX and SPX etc.

I coach a high school debate team and we travel around alot and work out of hotel rooms and other temporary locations quite a bit. So here my deal.....

I would like to set up local wireless network between our various computers. I would like to share files and I would like to make our team laser printer available to each laptop. Sometimes our hotels/schools offer broadband so I'd like to have that available on the created locl network as well.

I figure I need a wireless router.....but beyond that I'm clueless. I'm willing to buy the needed hardware to get this done. I'm a teacher so it's a tax write-off but suggestions on economically friendly alternatives would be appreciated.

Also, My team is mixed computer wise......about 50/50 PC & Mac. I have both personally. So please let me know of any issues that we may have.

Any and all help would be appreciated

Thank you.

First you'd need to make sure all the laptops have wireless cards in them, if they don't then a USB 802.11g adaptors or PCMIA 802.11g adaptors are probably your best bet. (Chcek for Mac compatability though).

Then you need a wireless router or access point, I can reccomend something like this.

Then you simply configure your network, all that stuff is Plug and Play, so it should work easily with a Mac or PC, and Mac OS X and Windows XP will automatically configure the wireless network properly in most cases. Then you can attach the printer (usually with a USB cable) to one of the laptops and access it from the other laptops via the wireless link.

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[STUMPOFWAR]

Thank you both......It is appreciated

I would like to set up the printer independent of any one laptop. We frequently have different schedules and no one person is in the hotel room (or wherever else) at the same time. Is it possible to put the printer on the router itself?

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.22; Mac_PowerPC)

[Ron Williams]

I would like to set up the printer independent of any one laptop. Is it possible to put the printer on the router itself?

You can do this if the printer has a network port (I am not sure how to do this any other way). Just remember you have to install the drivers on all of the computers.

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[keith]

Actually, i believe on the more expensive routers, they have a starndard printer port on the back of them. Alls you do in that case, is run your printer to that port, as if it were the backj of your computer or scanner, and then when comes time to print, it will still accept from any computer, like it would with the network cable.


Keith

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[Ron Williams]

If you decide to get a router with the printer port on the back, make sure it's compatible.

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