[PLUG] ethernet to USB printer adapters

Aaron Burt aaron at bavariati.org
Fri Feb 5 17:11:38 UTC 2010


On Thu, Feb 04, 2010 at 10:46:59PM -0800, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> I've got a spare HP1600 color laser printer sitting in storage,
> bought for the toner cartridges.  Now that the refills are cheap,
> I can deploy it.  However, it has a USB interface, and I want it
> on Ethernet.  It lives in a place that doesn't have a computer
> nearby, just a windoze p.o.sh. 

Last time I was there, FreeGeek Thrift Store had a Ethernet USB print
server for $10.  I was tempted to get it, but my (Linux-based) DNS-323 NAS
makes a dandy USB print server, and I didn't want to be greedy.

There are 2 kinds of USB print servers.  The regular print-only ones work
very well with Linux (most support LPR, even) but the ones meant for
multifunction printers (i.e. print/scan/FAX) don't work with Linux.

The MFP USB servers are very interesting, by the way- they act as a bridge
for full bidirectional USB traffic, over TCP/IP.  I'd love to find a way to
make mine work with Linux.  Webcam anywhere, anyone?




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