Windows or Mac? At our house, we've got both. My husband is a Mac developer running OS X, and I work in a Windows environment, using Windows XP Pro. We both work from home. His office is on the first floor. Mine is on the third floor. To keep in touch during the day, we use instant messaging.
Usually, I'm glad to see his name pop up in an IM Window asking me important questions such as, "Can you see the flock of turkeys in the yard?" or "What's for dinner?" There was one message I learned to dread, though. It would simply say: "I need to print something."
You see, our HP LaserJet 1200 series printer is upstairs in my office, connected to my work computer. If my husband wanted to print something out, he either had to e-mail me whatever it was he wanted, hoping that I could open the attachment on a Windows machine -- or come upstairs, fish around underneath my desk to unplug my computer from the printer, use the cable to connect his own laptop to the HP LaserJet, stand around sighing deeply while it printed, and then hook me back up after he finished.
We needed a print server. Badly. But could we find one that supported both operating systems?
Enter the HP Jetdirect 175x. This 10/100Base-TX print server allowed me to turn my stand-alone printer into a network printer in about three minutes.
Setup was very simple.
I hooked my printer up to the HP Jetdirect 175x with the USB cable and plugged the print server into our router with an Ethernet patch cable. Then, I plugged the print server into a power source.
Finally, I simply reinstalled our old printer software on each machine, selecting the "network connection" option when prompted. That was it!
Now both of us can simply click "file print" and listen for the click and hum of the printer as it queues up, even if we're roaming around the house wireless. I particularly like that the HP Jetdirect 175x is about the size and weight of an iPod, so it doesn't take up much space and can be easily tucked away. Another nice feature is that only the computer sending the print job needs to be powered on.
This handy little external print server retails at our local mall for about $150 but can be found on eBay for much less. It comes with a poster-type illustrated startup guide, its own CD-ROM, a USB cable, and power module.
