Concurrent ICS + wireless print server usage

I posted this on another forum which didn't seem to get visited much so
thought I'd try again on this one...

I'm planning on setting up an ad-hoc wireless network for three PCs:

1) XP SP2 desktop 2) Windows 98 SE desktop 3) Windows 2000 laptop

The XP system has a broadband connection via a modem that is connected
through a USB port, and I plan to use ICS to share the connection with the
other PCs.

I also want to buy a wireless print server to share an Epson C1200N laser
printer among all PCs. I found a review of the Belkin wireless print server
that said "You set the device up by plugging it into your PC, configuring it
and then unplugging it and establishing a direct wireless connection between
the print server and your PC. If you connect the print server in this way and
share your Internet connection using wireless, you'll only be able to
communicate with either the Internet connection or the print server at any
one time."

I found a similar comment about a different wireless print server - can't
remember which one.

I contacted Belkin to ask whether there really is a restriction but they
clearly haven't a clue what they are talking about. They said I would need a
wireless router to assign an IP address to the wireless print server,
although their own manual for the server describes utilities for manually
setting the IP address.

Can anybody else tell me if there is any reason why I would not be able to
run ICS and print via a wireless print server at the same time?
--
Andy Struthers

For one thing, when you setup an AD-HOC network it will only work between 2
computers. If you wish to have more computers in your wireless network you
will have to purchase a router. The wireless print server will not showup in
your AD-HOC network.

Robert....

"AndyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C555A9DE-1463-42E2-8DE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I posted this on another forum which didn't seem to get visited much so
> thought I'd try again on this one...
>
> I'm planning on setting up an ad-hoc wireless network for three PCs:
>
> 1) XP SP2 desktop 2) Windows 98 SE desktop 3) Windows 2000 laptop
>
> The XP system has a broadband connection via a modem that is connected
> through a USB port, and I plan to use ICS to share the connection with the
> other PCs.
>
> I also want to buy a wireless print server to share an Epson C1200N laser
> printer among all PCs. I found a review of the Belkin wireless print
> server
> that said "You set the device up by plugging it into your PC, configuring
> it
> and then unplugging it and establishing a direct wireless connection
> between
> the print server and your PC. If you connect the print server in this way
> and
> share your Internet connection using wireless, you'll only be able to
> communicate with either the Internet connection or the print server at any
> one time."
>
> I found a similar comment about a different wireless print server - can't
> remember which one.
>
> I contacted Belkin to ask whether there really is a restriction but they
> clearly haven't a clue what they are talking about. They said I would need
> a
> wireless router to assign an IP address to the wireless print server,
> although their own manual for the server describes utilities for manually
> setting the IP address.
>
> Can anybody else tell me if there is any reason why I would not be able to
> run ICS and print via a wireless print server at the same time?
> --
> Andy Struthers
>

Thanks for the reply Robert. Not sure I agree with you about the limitation
to 2 computers. Can't find that restriction documented anywhere. In fact,
quite the reverse - I can find a lot of pages that suggest you can have > 2
computers on an ad-hoc network e.g. the last paragraph of this link

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx

Can you point me to somewhere where it explains the 2 PC limit?

Andy

"DLink Guru" wrote:

> For one thing, when you setup an AD-HOC network it will only work between 2
> computers. If you wish to have more computers in your wireless network you
> will have to purchase a router. The wireless print server will not showup in
> your AD-HOC network.
>
> Robert....
>
> "AndyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:C555A9DE-1463-42E2-8DE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I posted this on another forum which didn't seem to get visited much so
> > thought I'd try again on this one...
> >
> > I'm planning on setting up an ad-hoc wireless network for three PCs:
> >
> > 1) XP SP2 desktop 2) Windows 98 SE desktop 3) Windows 2000 laptop
> >
> > The XP system has a broadband connection via a modem that is connected
> > through a USB port, and I plan to use ICS to share the connection with the
> > other PCs.
> >
> > I also want to buy a wireless print server to share an Epson C1200N laser
> > printer among all PCs. I found a review of the Belkin wireless print
> > server
> > that said "You set the device up by plugging it into your PC, configuring
> > it
> > and then unplugging it and establishing a direct wireless connection
> > between
> > the print server and your PC. If you connect the print server in this way
> > and
> > share your Internet connection using wireless, you'll only be able to
> > communicate with either the Internet connection or the print server at any
> > one time."
> >
> > I found a similar comment about a different wireless print server - can't
> > remember which one.
> >
> > I contacted Belkin to ask whether there really is a restriction but they
> > clearly haven't a clue what they are talking about. They said I would need
> > a
> > wireless router to assign an IP address to the wireless print server,
> > although their own manual for the server describes utilities for manually
> > setting the IP address.
> >
> > Can anybody else tell me if there is any reason why I would not be able to
> > run ICS and print via a wireless print server at the same time?
> > --
> > Andy Struthers
> >
>
>
>

You will have one computer set as a host, and the other will be a what is
known as a Node. You can have other computers connect to the Host, but all
the nodes will not beable to connect to each other, so its not a true
network.

Robert.....

"AndyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2D45DB85-208A-4D8E-98CF-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks for the reply Robert. Not sure I agree with you about the
> limitation
> to 2 computers. Can't find that restriction documented anywhere. In fact,
> quite the reverse - I can find a lot of pages that suggest you can have >
> 2
> computers on an ad-hoc network e.g. the last paragraph of this link
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx
>
> Can you point me to somewhere where it explains the 2 PC limit?
>
> Andy
>
> "DLink Guru" wrote:
>
>> For one thing, when you setup an AD-HOC network it will only work between
>> 2
>> computers. If you wish to have more computers in your wireless network
>> you
>> will have to purchase a router. The wireless print server will not showup
>> in
>> your AD-HOC network.
>>
>> Robert....
>>
>> "AndyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:C555A9DE-1463-42E2-8DE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >I posted this on another forum which didn't seem to get visited much so
>> > thought I'd try again on this one...
>> >
>> > I'm planning on setting up an ad-hoc wireless network for three PCs:
>> >
>> > 1) XP SP2 desktop 2) Windows 98 SE desktop 3) Windows 2000 laptop
>> >
>> > The XP system has a broadband connection via a modem that is connected
>> > through a USB port, and I plan to use ICS to share the connection with
>> > the
>> > other PCs.
>> >
>> > I also want to buy a wireless print server to share an Epson C1200N
>> > laser
>> > printer among all PCs. I found a review of the Belkin wireless print
>> > server
>> > that said "You set the device up by plugging it into your PC,
>> > configuring
>> > it
>> > and then unplugging it and establishing a direct wireless connection
>> > between
>> > the print server and your PC. If you connect the print server in this
>> > way
>> > and
>> > share your Internet connection using wireless, you'll only be able to
>> > communicate with either the Internet connection or the print server at
>> > any
>> > one time."
>> >
>> > I found a similar comment about a different wireless print server -
>> > can't
>> > remember which one.
>> >
>> > I contacted Belkin to ask whether there really is a restriction but
>> > they
>> > clearly haven't a clue what they are talking about. They said I would
>> > need
>> > a
>> > wireless router to assign an IP address to the wireless print server,
>> > although their own manual for the server describes utilities for
>> > manually
>> > setting the IP address.
>> >
>> > Can anybody else tell me if there is any reason why I would not be able
>> > to
>> > run ICS and print via a wireless print server at the same time?
>> > --
>> > Andy Struthers
>> >
>>
>>
>>