PrintServer
Latest
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."
Lantronix xPrintServer makes almost any printer iOS-compatible
Offices or homes without AirPrint compatible printers currently need to have an AirPrint "server" app like Printopia (US$19.95) running on a machine on the network to act as a gateway to the printers. It can be a pain if you want to print something from your iPad or iPhone and find out that the gateway machine is turned off. Now Lantronix has released the xPrintServer (US$149.95), a hardware print server that provides iOS access to all printers on a network on which it is installed. The xPrintServer supports a huge variety of printers -- a 104-page PDF document lists all of the printers from Alps to Xerox that it works with. Strangely enough, even the Apple ImageWriter II is on the list! Lantronix says that installing the xPrintServer is as simple as plugging an Ethernet cable into a router, switch, or hub on a network, after which the device identifies any and all printers on the network and sets up the proper drivers for each. Immediately, the printers appear on the iOS devices, available for printing. The xPrintServer is conveniently just about the same size as an iPhone, although a bit thicker. We'll be doing a full review of the xPrintServer in the near future, but in the meantime you can fill yourself with anticipation by watching this short video.
Iomega iConnect review: getting your printers, HDDs online has never been simpler
Iomega's iConnect managed to launch during the whirlwind that was CES 2010, so if you didn't quite catch it the first go 'round, here's hoping that you're paying attention today. In essence, the device is fairly simple. It's a small, port-filled slab that's designed to sit beneath or beside your current router or hub, and while we're certainly dumbing things down somewhat with this description, it's basically a variant of the Pogoplug. Equipped with four USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet jack and an internal 802.11b/g/n WiFi module, the iConnect is designed to put your existing thumb drives, external hard drives and / or printers online. We've had less-than-awesome experiences in the past with devices that turn localized storage into network accessible storage, so we went into this overview with fairly low expectations. Much to our surprise, we came away duly impressed with the package that Iomega has assembled, so be sure to read on if this one has been sitting on your maybe-must-have list. Update: After a couple of months of use, we ran across some pretty intense issues with this device. Eventually, none of the PCs and Macs in our house would print to the networked printer, and our USB hard drives would only show up sporadically. Needless to say, our enthusiasm has been significantly tempered, and we wouldn't recommend this for homes where mixed platforms reside. %Gallery-88219%
Iomega's iConnect turns thumb drives into NAS drives, puts it all online
If you don't trust any of your datas online, meticulously delete your cookies and cache from your browser, and never use the same search engine twice for fear of your online activity being tracked... this post probably isn't for you. But, if you wish you could get to your most precious of thumb drive files even when those thumbs are at home, Iomega's new iConnect looks to be about the easiest way to do so -- and at $99 one of the cheapest. The device packs four USB ports into which you can plug storage or printers, connecting to your home network via Ethernet or 802.11b/g/n. With a few clicks everything will be available online, and when you're on your home network you can make use of DLNA streaming, Time Machine backups, and even rely on the integrated torrent manager to make sure your feed ratio is properly philanthropic. All this can be yours next month.
Belkin Network USB Hub gets official
Right on cue, Belkin has coughed up the official details surrounding the Network USB Hub that we saw last month. As expected, this five-port USB hub will "work with your existing WiFi router to give you wireless access to printers, media readers, and external hard drives by simulating a direct USB connection that makes your computer think that the devices on the network are directly attached to the computer." Moreover, we now know that "special caching techniques" will enable high-speed USB devices to be supported along with isochronous transfers at full speed. The F5L009 is still on track for a June release here in the US, with launches in Asia, Europe, and, Australia to "follow soon," and while Windows users won't have any qualms trying to best the purported "three minute setup time" that this thing promises, OS X users will be pouting 'til September waiting for drivers. Click on through for one last shot.
