Belkin’s Wireless Print Server - Installation
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Just like Belkin's wireless router, the print server can be set up in less than three minutes. Once again Belkin provides an installation CD. This time the process went a little easier, and it actually worked -- unlike the wireless router CD installation. The very first screen tells you to install the drivers for the printers before proceeding. This isn’t a big problem if your network only has a few computers, but if you have a dozen computers, it will become a tedious process. I only set up the print server with two computers. My biggest problem was getting the drivers and installing them. For once, the box told the truth -- I really did complete the installation in three minutes or less.
The next step is to connect the printers to the print server. I will be using two Epson Printers, a Stylus C86 and a Stylus Photo 825. Belkin has a printer compatibility list on their site. The list appears to be a little out of date, and includes quite a few non-compatible printers. Neither of these two printers were listed as compatible, but they both worked fine. I had to use the CD along with the drivers each time I wanted to install a printer. Once installed, the printer is configured as a local printer, and not a network or shared printer.
Configuration was easily done through a Web browser. I just pointed the browser to the IP address of the print server. Don’t know the IP address? Don’t worry, on the installation CD, under utilities, there is a program that will tell you.
For a print server, there are a lot of options. The first option is to change the IP address. You can type the desired address, or chose DHCP. The next set of options is for wireless connections. The first option this time is to set the print server up with the existing wireless network. You need to configure the SSID, which is just checking the box of the desired network. The channel should be automatically selected, since both must use the same channel. The section option deals with security. The print server only supports Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). You can chose between 64 bit manual/automatic and 128 bit manual/automatic.
The last option is the Print Server Configuration. From here you can choose to change the name of the print server, Raw TCP/IP Printing, and FTP Printing. I will be covering these a little later on in the review.
I did experience one problem with this. It was more my mistake, rather than an issue with the print server. When I originally hooked up the print server it took the IP of 192.168.1.6. I made a few more computers rejoin the network, and encountered an IP address conflict. I unplugged the print server, and it took a new IP address. The problem was that it took the new IP, but the printers already installed were looking for the print server at the old IP address, so I received errors. To fix this you need to change the IP address of the port of the printer. Go to the properties of the printer, click port (the Belkin print server should be the default), then click configure. Under "Advanced" you can type the new IP address. After changing this, it worked without a hitch.
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