Review - Netgear USB Print Server (Model PS121)
by Ezra Silver12/29/04
I purchased an HP 3322 printer about 8 months ago. I got it configured on a Slackware 10.0 system and Cups printer interface. Everything worked well until the printer decided to disappear in Linux, specifically any version of Linux. The printer continued to work well in Windows, but no matter what I tried it would not work.
Now honestly, I paid less than 30 dollars for the printer, most people would have called it a lesson learned and dumped the printer on an unsuspecting windows friend. But I was challenged. Turning to Goggle, I found only references to people in the same state as myself, without any answers. I tried changing the cable, upgrading and downgrading my software, asking questions in the newsgroups, and even compiling the latest printer drivers from source code. Nothing seemed to work at all.
In comes the Netgear USB print server. (Model PS121) I happened to be in Staples, picking up new print cartridges for a used Hp printer I was planning to pick up from a friend later that afternoon. Yes, thats right I had completely given up on the old HP. I was beaten. As is my habit in a store full of electronics, I decided to do a little window shopping, when I stumbled on the print server.
The Netgear USB Print Server retailed at $69.00, and I took it home. The box lists Windows, Mac and Netware as compatible Operating Systems. From my own experience I can add Linux to that list. The unit comes with a USB 1.1 connection on one side, and a 10/100 Ethernet connection on the other. Its also fairly small , measuring in at 3.5x2x1 inches. After hooking up the provided USB cable and the power, it took less than 5 minutes to get the first test page out of cups.
The print server has an internal web server for configuring the device. All one has to do is to type the IP address of the unit into your favorite web browser and you can configure the device from there. If you are using windows, you can use the software provided to setup the print server. The Netgear is initially setup for DHCP, meaning it will get its IP address from your network if possible. This can make it more difficult to configure in a Linux system. It just happens I knew what IP address my router would be giving the device. Both of my Linux boxes are set with static IPs, which means that the print server would be getting the first address on the list.
When I logged into the server the first time I was pleased to see a summary of the Netgear settings
The Print Server correctly obtained an IP address from my router. Thats a good start, now all I had to do was to go to the TCP/IP Status and reconfigure my new server for a static IP. This is the preferred method of using the server, otherwise the unit might get a new IP address every time there is a power outage.
After that was done, all that remained was to configure cups to use my new printer. To set up the printer with Cups, I opened a browser window and typed: localhost:631.
If the Cups server is functioning properly you should get the cups web page. After giving my printer name and description, I had to tell cups how I was going to connect to the printer. The correct method for the server is to use LPD/LPR.
After choosing LPD, I set up the address of the IP address of the server and the server host name I configured previously. In my case it looks like this:
lpd://(IP address of the print server)/(configured name of the print server)
lpd://192.168.1.110/printserv1
My own experience from that point is simplicity itself. My new print server has printed every time since then. I configured my wifes computer the exact same way and she has been able to use the printer every since.
Ok, now on to the results. I have been very happy with the Netgears performance. There are some things though that some people might find distressing. The Netgear is a USB 1.1 compatible device. It will function correctly with USB 2.0 printers, but at a slightly reduced speed. I have noticed a small lag in printing, around 10-15 seconds. This doesn't bother me, but to be honest it is just enough to make you think its not going to work. So far it always has. The second thing that I noticed is that the unit gives off a considerable amount of heat. It gets fairly warm to the touch, enough to make me think twice about where I was going to locate it.
The $69.00 street price at Staples is pretty much in line of what I would have paid online. I can find a cheaper price, but after tax and shipping its about the same. The documentation was fairly clear and they even included the required USB cable. Some companies make you shell out extra cash for a cable, so that was a plus. Netgear also gives you the option of upgrading the internal firmware with the provided windows software when patches become available. I have been very happy with its overall performance.
All in all I would give this device a 4 out of 5 stars rating. A full 2.0 USB interface and a cooler running server would be required to give it a 5.
