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Linksys PPS1UW EtherFast Wireless-Ready USB PrintServer

Linksys PPS1UW EtherFast Wireless-Ready USB PrintServer

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Does not work with Lexmark z65p!
Review: I use Linksys for everything and was excited to see this type of product. I emailed Linksys before purchasing this item to confirm capability with my printer. The response was the printer was supported. After receiving the product and wasting a couple of hours trying to get it to work, I contacted Linksys. Their response was this printer hadn't been tested with this product so they didn't know if it would work. I'm very disappointed with the product and Linksys support. I'm sending this print server back.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Waste of money and time
Review: I'm a huge Linksys fan, and my whole home network is pure Linksys, so I never thought I'd complain about any Linksys product. But, the time has come...
The admin utility that comes with the Print Server is a joke. Design is hideous, and zero functionality. Every time I tried changing settings, it'd freeze up for a few minutes, and then come back with OLD settings. So don't waste your time trying to get it to work. Find out what your Print Server's IP Address is (I'd recommend setting it to static IP rather than using DHCP), enter it in your Web browser, and use their "web-based" utility instead. A lot faster, easier to use (the same interface as other Linksys products) and does it's job.
Still, even when everything is set up and "ready to go", there are problems with communication between PS and printer. I could ping my PS, it was on-line and available, responded to status changes, etc. But nothing would print. I thought it was my printer at fault... Plug it directly into my PC - worked like a charm. Plug it back to PS - dead again.
But, what struck me the most was my call to Linksys Tech Support.
After 30 minutes or so on hold (as always), they finally pick up and ask me which product I'm having problems with. I tell them "It's PPS1UW Print Server". Ok, they say, hold on a minute. After a minute they come back and say that they DO NOT HAVE PPS1UW Print Server. WTF? I email them the link to it on their own website... OK, they found it... But, they don't know a thing about it. "It's new just released product, and we've never had to deal with it" was their response. So, they start running me around telling me to restart my PC, and then reset Print Server, then my router, then PC again. Ping my router, ping my print server, switch from static IP to dynamic, then back. After 15-20 minutes of that I realized we weren't getting anywhere, and they had no clue about what they were doing. I hung up. I spent next few days trying to get it to work myself (I'm an IT Consultant, so I know a thing or two about networking), but did not succeed. I'll keep looking on the net, maybe I'll figure something out eventually, but as of today, it's money wasted.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Compatibility Issues
Review: I'm not going to knock Linksys products, I own several of them and have been pleased with what I've been able to keep. However, in this case, I was unable to get the print server to work with my Lexmark X73 Color Printer/Scanner. The system just wouldn't recognize it. I called tech support and they were very quick to say that they guessed it was just not a supported printer. I said in their writeup they said it was compatible with virtually every printer. The answer I received was that it obviously means it's not compatible with literally every printer. I still haven't found any other USB wireless print server. Very frustrating.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This product works well and is robust.
Review: Installation was a bit involved but worked the first time.
I got this product because our new printer (HP D135 multifunction officejet) has a USB port.
We now print from Windows 2000 or
from Linux. Setting up Linux on my laptop was the most involved;
downloaded the hpijs server software from the HP web site
and compiled it. Had to upgrade ghostscript to version 7.05
as well as upgrade the kernel and futz with the printcap file.
The printserver itself is robust to disconnections and power
recyclings (of which there were many as we remodeled our home office).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BEWARE - NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CANON F80
Review: Just purchased Canon MultiPASS F80 and attempted to connect to my network with the LINKSYS PPS1UW. Could not attach Canon F80 to LINKSYS Print Server. Contacted LINKSYS tech. support and the Rep. said it was not on the list of supported printers but, suggested we try to attach it anyway if I was willing to spend the time. After 90 minutes and I can't recall how many attempts the LINKSYS Rep. said "return the print server - it just isn't compatible with your Canon printer."

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: False advertising
Review: Linksys says this is a USB print server. Maybe it is. But neither their literature nor anything on their website tells you that it doesn't work with some printers. And not some strange brand. Canon printers. I have a Canon F80 which works just fine by direct USB connection. But after 30 min with technical support, the tech decides to ask what my printer is. He then says that according to their documents the USB print server doesn't work with my printer. He then tells me I can BUY the other WPS11 print server and it will work with the Canon F80. But they won't take back the PPS1UW print server ("That's not our policy.") Now I could probably get sued for calling this what I think it really is, so I'll just settle for "false and misleading advertising". Save your money and try another company who doesn't hide their product's deficiencies and who stands behind their products. If I hadn't already invested money in a Linksys router (and signal booster since the signal is terrible), I'd toss them also. As it is, I'm out $90.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: False advertising
Review: Linksys says this is a USB print server. Maybe it is. But neither their literature nor anything on their website tells you that it doesn't work with some printers. And not some strange brand. Canon printers. I have a Canon F80 which works just fine by direct USB connection. But after 30 min with technical support, the tech decides to ask what my printer is. He then says that according to their documents the USB print server doesn't work with my printer. He then tells me I can BUY the other WPS11 print server and it will work with the Canon F80. But they won't take back the PPS1UW print server ("That's not our policy.") Now I could probably get sued for calling this what I think it really is, so I'll just settle for "false and misleading advertising". Save your money and try another company who doesn't hide their product's deficiencies and who stands behind their products. If I hadn't already invested money in a Linksys router (and signal booster since the signal is terrible), I'd toss them also. As it is, I'm out $90.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't buy this product
Review: Many of the reviews here are accurate and valuable. The most important piece of advice is to contact Linksys and see if your printer is supported. Having set the environment up with my HP OfficeJet K60 everything seems fine. When I go to print however, the application recognizes the printer and even knows what port it is connected on. Unfortunately, everything I print goes into a black hole. After calling Linksys support, they tell me that looking through their internal list it shows a number of poor people like myself who have tried and failed to get the K60 working, so they "assume" its not supported.

When I asked if I could get a copy of the list indicating what is supported, I was told its an internal only document. So its trial and error if you have this product.

Like other reviews, they recommended that I upgrade to the WPS11 server. Although I've been happy with Linksys, I think I'll look elsewhere first.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 5 stars with a caveat
Review: OK, now that it is set up and working, I LOVE it. I work by laptop from all over the house and I LOVE not being tied to a cable anymore when I need to do a big print job (like 100-400 pages.) I can set the printer on highest quality (I have an HP Inkjet 932, by the way), and who cares how long it takes, because I'm not standing there worrying about my battery anymore.

But like everyone else has warned, it is not an easy set up. Consider this:

1. if you want wireless, buy the other linksys printserver that is Instant Wireless, if possible. The difference between the two is that the other has the wireless card built in. With this one, you need to buy it for [more money], hence the price difference. And, the documentation for this one is not dedicated to the set up of a wireless system, so you have to wade through to find what applies to you and what doesn't.

2. It doesn't work with the Version 4 of the WPC11 wireless card! It tells you to buy the WPC11, but only on a slip of paper inside the WPC11 v-4 box do you learn that they meant to say version 3 or earlier! Luckily I had a WPC11 v-3 card in my laptop. I was able to swap with the card we bought for the printserver and save a 40 mile round trip back to Best Buy.

3. The documentation was all greek to me. I'm not a moron, but there was so much network jargon there that I had no idea what they were talking about.

4. Tinkering did the trick. Install everything everywhere. In the end, it came down to one small trick we almost overlooked. The HP 932 is a USB or regular (old-fashion whateveritscalled type) printer. I'd set it to LPT1 port a few days ago when I needed the USB cable for the lexmark (don't get me started on those!) and the HP was still set to LPT1 after we'd run the whole linksys setup shebang. So, it didn't work. You, yourself, may need to set it (from the control panel printer place) to read from the printserver device.

Now that all that is over, I'm in love with the thing. Just keep in mind that it isn't as simple as plugging it in and popping in the CD to let it install itself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It was tooooo easy.
Review: Somehow I managed to set it up without even following the instructions. As they say in one of those airline commercials "you're free to roam about the cabin!"


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