Wired or wireless print server?

I have a XP wireless network in my home: a Dell desktop with XP Pro
upstairs where the Netgear 624 wireless router lives, a Dell 1100 laptop
with XP Pro and a Powerbook G4 downstairs.

They all see other and files move around just fine. They all print to an
HP 5110 that lives upstairs with the desktop.

Must the desktop be on to use a print server between the router and the
printer, be it wired or wireless?

Thanks for any words of wisdom.

Glenn

glennbh wrote:
> I have a XP wireless network in my home: a Dell desktop with XP Pro
> upstairs where the Netgear 624 wireless router lives, a Dell 1100 laptop
> with XP Pro and a Powerbook G4 downstairs.
>
> They all see other and files move around just fine. They all print to an
> HP 5110 that lives upstairs with the desktop.
>
> Must the desktop be on to use a print server between the router and the
> printer, be it wired or wireless?
>
> Thanks for any words of wisdom.
>
> Glenn

I'm not sure what you mean by "a print server between the router and the
printer." If the printer is local to the desktop (i.e., connected to
the desktop using a USB, parallel, or [gasp] serial connection) then the
desktop has to be on in order for one of the other networked computers
to print. If the printer is connected to the router via its own "print
server" interface, then the desktop need not be on. For example, I have
an hp 6840 deskjet with built-in wifi connectivity. I can print to this
over my network and the only printer that needs to be on is the one I'm
printing from.

See
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/Prin...r%20device.htm
and
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterAllUsers.htm

Thank you for your response.

My printer does not have wireless ability or Ethernet, but I was hoping
that if I purchased a device such as Netgear's "PS121 USB Mini Network
Print Server", attached it to my HP 5110 All-In-One printer and
connected the PS121 to my Netgear wireless router(624), that I could
output to the printer directly. Would it appear on the network so that I
could use it from other computers without a connection to my desktop?

Thanks.

Glenn

Lem wrote:
> glennbh wrote:
>> I have a XP wireless network in my home: a Dell desktop with XP Pro
>> upstairs where the Netgear 624 wireless router lives, a Dell 1100
>> laptop with XP Pro and a Powerbook G4 downstairs.
>>
>> They all see other and files move around just fine. They all print to
>> an HP 5110 that lives upstairs with the desktop.
>>
>> Must the desktop be on to use a print server between the router and
>> the printer, be it wired or wireless?
>>
>> Thanks for any words of wisdom.
>>
>> Glenn
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "a print server between the router and the
> printer." If the printer is local to the desktop (i.e., connected to
> the desktop using a USB, parallel, or [gasp] serial connection) then the
> desktop has to be on in order for one of the other networked computers
> to print. If the printer is connected to the router via its own "print
> server" interface, then the desktop need not be on. For example, I have
> an hp 6840 deskjet with built-in wifi connectivity. I can print to this
> over my network and the only printer that needs to be on is the one I'm
> printing from.
>
> See
> http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/Prin...r%20device.htm
> and
> http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterAllUsers.htm