LantronixXprintserver
Latest
Lantronix xPrintServer Office Edition brings more control to iOS printing for $200
Lantronix's xPrintServer boxes have already enabled direct printing from iOS devices, but now there's a new Office Edition that promises a better work ethic. Replacing the older Network Edition, this model raises the asking price to $200 but offers more detailed user management and better support for remote authentication, proxy servers and USB printers -- all hopefully with the same ease-of-use we saw back at CES. There may be simpler and brighter options on the market, but if that business feature-set sounds compelling, then look out for a November 21st shipping date.
Lantronix xPrintServer Home Edition perfect for PC-less printing
Way back in the cold month of January, TUAW reviewed the Lantronix xPrintServer, a US$149.95 intelligent print server designed to put networked printers in reach of iOS devices. As noted in the review, the device worked great and is perfect for offices big or small, but it didn't work with USB printers. Now Lantronix is shipping the xPrintServer Home Edition, a $99.95 version that makes wireless iOS printing to USB and networked printers a lot easier. Like the enterprise version (called the Network Edition), the Home Edition is a white box roughly the size of an iPhone but a bit thicker. On one end of the box are three ports -- one for power, one for an Ethernet connection, and another for a USB connection to a printer. %Gallery-161686% Setting the device up is a piece of cake. Since this is made for USB printers with no available networking capabilities, you plug a USB printer cable into the USB port on the xPrintServer and the other end into your printer or a USB hub. Next, you take an Ethernet cable and run it from the Ethernet port on the xPrintServer to your wireless router. Plug it in, let it recognize your printer (or printers), and it (they) become instantly available in the iOS printing dialog. I know that the first question I'm going to hear is "Why would you spend a hundred bucks on this when you can buy Printopia for twenty?". The answer is that Printopia requires that you have a computer up and running all the time in order to print. While that's not a big deal in many offices, it can be an issue in homes with one or no computer. Here's a perfect use case: my father has an old MacBook that is his usual computer, but I gave him an old first-generation iPad to try out. He likes it so much that he's made comments about wanting to make it his only computer. However, to print anything he needs to have the MacBook running, and on occasion he's actually had to boot up the laptop just to print from the iPad. The xPrintServer Home Edition would be perfect for him, as he could just plug it into his existing printer and be ready to go. The chart below shows the difference in capabilities of the Network and Home Edition xPrintServers: In a home or office environment with a few USB printers, a couple of network printers, and no need to restrict access to certain printers, the Home Edition is going to be perfect. I tried the xPrintServer Home Edition and found it to be a snap to set up and use. Lantronix includes an Ethernet cable and a power adapter with regional adapter plugs, so if you already have a printer with a USB cable you're ready to go. For networked printers, just have to make sure that you're plugging the Ethernet cable (and the box) into the same subnet so that the xPrintServer can "see" all of the printers. The total time for setup (less the time for me to find an open outlet near my wireless router) was about a minute. The xPrintServer takes that time to auto-discover all printers that are either directly connected via USB or on your network, and when the orange X in the word Lantronix begins pulsing, you're ready to go. Conclusion If you're ready to make the jump to a post-PC world, then you'll want to get an xPrintServer Home Edition for those situations where you still need to make a hard copy. It works with over 4,000 different models of printers, and could not be any easier to set up. If they're not doing so already, Apple needs to sell these in every Apple Store in the world. Pros Incredibly easy setup Reduces the need to have a Mac or PC running constantly just to print from iOS to a printer A great way of sharing USB printers to iOS devices over a network Cons Price is high for a consumer product; a $49.95 or less price point would make buying this device a no-brainer Who is it for? Anyone who wants to print from an iOS device to a networked or USB printer, but doesn't want to keep a PC or Mac turned on all the time just to enable Printopia.
Lantronix announces XPrintServer Home Edition for iOS wireless printing
Back in January I had the pleasure of reviewing the Lantronix XPrintServer. It's a handy little US$149.95 box that businesses can use to easily make networked printers visible to iOS devices. At the time, I remember thinking that a home version of the XPrintServer would be really popular. Well, Lantronix announced a home version about a week ago at a lower price point -- $99.95 -- and it will be shipping in July. As noted in the review, the XPrintServer is great for those situations where you want to be able to print from an iOS device, but don't want to have a PC or Mac turned on all the time running something like Ecamm's $19.95 Printopia. The XPrintServer Home Edition differentiates itself from the Network Edition (new name) with the addition of a USB port. Through a USB hub (not included), the Home Edition can support iOS printing of up to 8 USB printers. Like the Network Edition, it also supports networked printers, although only two can be used with the Home Edition while the Network Edition supports an unlimited number. One other major difference is that there are no tools for printer access management built into the Home Edition. The XPrintServer Home Edition will be sold at a number of online retailers and also through the Lantronix website. Expect to see a full TUAW review of the Lantronix XPrintServer Home Edition soon.
Lantronix announces xPrintServer Home Edition: print your iPhone photos, high scores wire-free
Sick and tired of all those suits hogging the iDevice wireless printing fun? Or your original alternative finally conked out? Then Lantronix's new "Home Edition" of its iPhone / iPad friendly xPrintServer is for you. If you already have a USB printer, simply plug the little guy into it, and hey presto, you can print from you iOS device. Lantronix says you don't even need the host computer to be switched on. While there's support for up to two networked printers, the added bonus is that it'll make your old USB beast appear like one too (handy for the laptop). What does the office-like experience cost? Just 99 expensable dollars. Print off a pre-order via the source.
Lantronix xPrintServer brings networked printers within reach of iOS devices
For enterprises and small businesses that are embracing iOS devices to empower employees, printing from those devices can be problematic. The solution for many organizations with scads of networked printers and armfuls of iPads and iPhones is to set up one or more Macs or PCs to handle print sharing via apps like Printopia. The app makes networked printers visible to AirPrint-enabled devices. To complement the software-only solutions, Lantronix has developed the xPrintServer (US$149.95), a device that automatically discovers networked printers and makes them all available to your iOS devices for quick and easy printing. Why would you want such a device? Well, to enable printing you could replace all of your existing printers with AirPrint-enabled units, print to shared printers (Mac-only), or use something like Printopia as described above. You could also sync documents to your Mac or PC and then print them, but that's time-consuming and you need a personal computer available for printing. The device I received for review was still a beta version, and the company plans to start shipping the real thing sometime in the first quarter. The xPrintServer is about the size and shape of an iPhone, and is plugged into power and an Ethernet connection. At that point, it automatically discovers printers on the network, and then translates the iOS print format to a PDL (page description language) specific to each printer. %Gallery-144622% How many printers does the xPrintServer support? Well, I didn't feel like counting, but it's a very long list -- over 4,000 and growing. Considering you can find everything from the Apple ImageWriter to the latest and greatest laser and inkjet printers from major manufacturers on the list, chances are very good that your office printers are covered. Lantronix says that if your printer is not currently on the list, you can email them the brand and model number and they'll provide support where possible. The printers need to be network-connected (wireless or wired) with one of three protocols: JetDirect (AppSocket), LPD, or IPP. The iOS devices must be running iOS 4.2 or later, covering the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and later, and the iPod touch 3rd-generation and later. Setup Setup of the xPrintServer is drop-dead simple. Once you've plugged in the power brick and then attach the device to a router, switch or hub, it auto-discovers and auto-provisions the printers. The xPrintServer can't auto-detect printers that are on subnets different from the one that it's connected to, but those printers can be added later via the xPrintServer's web GUI. A note for our non-North American readers: the xPrintServer comes with a boxful of adapter plugs, so using the device probably won't require the purchase of a separate adapter. Once the device is done with the discovery and provisioning, the X on the word Lantronix pulses an orange color. At this point, you're ready to print. Lantronix notes that the xPrintServer can support an unlimited number of concurrent printers on a network, but recommends one device for every 7 to 10 network printers on the same subnet. That means that in many office buildings, you might need one or two per floor. Usage In actual usage, the auto-discovery on a network with a single wireless printer on the same subnet took about 15 seconds. Not bad, considering that there was no other configuration required -- the xPrintServer is truly plug-and-play, and even a corporate deployment would be fast to implement. The printer that was discovered is a rather old HP DeskJet 6800 series, and it was up and running quickly. Printing from both a Wi-Fi connected iPad 2 and iPhone, the print times varied depending on what app I was printing from. In my initial tests, before I updated the firmware on the device, selecting a printer would sometimes take 30 - 40 seconds, and printing would take a while longer. After updating the firmware, selecting the printer and printing a single page took less than 10 seconds. There was one issue I ran into: although the xPrintServer worked flawlessly in terms of discovery and printing, everything I printed from the iPhone and iPad came out as grayscale on a color printer. Once again, I want to emphasize that this was a beta device. The Lantronix tech support team responded immediately to my queries about this issue, and I expect it to be fixed quickly. For businesses using a number of xPrintServers, there's a built-in web-based administrative tool for setting security, naming the devices, installing firmware updates, and capturing diagnostic information. The firmware update process was simple and took about a minute. Conclusion Whether you're a network administrator for an enterprise using a lot of iOS devices and networked printers, the owner of a small business with a couple of printers and a dozen iPads, or even an individual with a several networked printers and a desire to print without keeping a Mac running all the time, you're going to love this product. Lantronix has done a fantastic job at making the xPrintServer easy to install for the novice, and yet provides enough tools to keep any network administrator happy. The xPrintServer is available for pre-order now, and will ship later in the first quarter. If my gizmo intuition is correct, Lantronix is going to sell a ton of these things. As they used to say on those late-night TV ads, "order now to avoid bitter disappointment."
xPrintserver offers up wireless printing for iOS devices, makes convincing argument for iPad business expenses
So you have your iPad. You also have some highly important contracts that have just landed in your inbox and needed printing 30 minutes ago. There's no time to faff around with that archaic work PC -- what are you going to do? Well, Lantronix think it's got the answer in xPrintserver. This iPhone-sized box will plug right into your network and give you wireless printing from any iOS device you have hanging around the office. The device supports more than 4,000 printers, connects directly to the print option within iOS and will set back wireless-printing businessmen $150 when it ships January 2012. Anyone unconvinced by alternative methods can investigate the press release below for more details.
