Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time.
Review: I bought this because it has the USB and parallel port compatibility. Even though the reviews slammed the set up process, I figured that I have some networking and printer experience, how hard could it be to set up. So 2.5 hours of trying, and then waiting until morning for the tech support to open, I found out my printer is incompatible. Surprise Hawkings doesn't have a list of printers that do or don't work with the server! As it turns out it doesn't work with any multi function printers, most inkjets and anything else that is slightly popular. I just bought a D-link mini parallel server and it took more time to climb under my desk and plug it in than it did to set it up. Now I have to pay to ship it back to Amazon.
Rating: 
Summary: Would be great if it worked!
Review: I bought this print server to use with my macintosh system. The box said it was compatible with OSX. Well--many hours and several calls to tech support and a visit to CompUSA's Apple Store later, the thing still doesn't work. The documentation is in a word, scanty. The instructions for Mac users presume a knowledge base which is not common in the average Mac user. I spent two hours at the CompUSA Apple store working with the Apple professional trying to get the thing to work. The setup requires typing into the Unix terminal--not something most Mac users feel comfortable with. Even the Hawking tech support guy said my unit must be broken--but another unit we opened at CompUSA didn't work either. So...I will probably return this item, although I really don't want to--there isn't anything else like it on the market. That's why I give it two stars instead of one--because apparently some people have gotten it to work, and it is a nicely priced, unique bit of hardware. Sigh.
Rating:
Summary: Would be great if it worked!
Review: I bought this print server to use with my macintosh system. The box said it was compatible with OSX. Well--many hours and several calls to tech support and a visit to CompUSA's Apple Store later, the thing still doesn't work. The documentation is in a word, scanty. The instructions for Mac users presume a knowledge base which is not common in the average Mac user. I spent two hours at the CompUSA Apple store working with the Apple professional trying to get the thing to work. The setup requires typing into the Unix terminal--not something most Mac users feel comfortable with. Even the Hawking tech support guy said my unit must be broken--but another unit we opened at CompUSA didn't work either. So...I will probably return this item, although I really don't want to--there isn't anything else like it on the market. That's why I give it two stars instead of one--because apparently some people have gotten it to work, and it is a nicely priced, unique bit of hardware. Sigh.
Rating:
Summary: Very slow for printing large files
Review: I didn't have any trouble setting up the print server, and it worked as expected. I was happy until I started printing photo's through it (which is the primary purpose of the printer attached to the print server). It is so slow as to be unusable. I imagine you would be happy sending it small docs to print but for anything large (like photo's), forget it. I'm looking for all the original packing so I can return it.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally got it working--here's how!
Review: I gave this item 2 stars (one for the potential greatness of it) above, but I couldn't get it working. I was trying to use it with a Mac network and I couldn't get an IP address assigned to the printserver. All the methods the Tech Support and the web and the (horrible) documentation gave me didn't work. Well, I spoke with Tech Support again today and he suggested using the default IP address assigned to the printserver. It was 192.168.2.1 This worked! All I had to do was enter this IP address in my browser and it took me to the page which could configure the printserver so that its IP address would work on my network. I changed the IP address via the browser SetupWIzard option to something similar to the IP address for my ethernet (both of these were adjusted to be similar to my Airport IP address, since I was going to use this with the Airport to print wirelessly). After fussing a little more with the settings (airport has to have appletalk deselected in its prefs, for example), I am now printing happily. I stuck with this and devoted HOURS to trying to get this to work bcs there really is nothing like it on the market. One parallel port, 2 USB ports--and for a great price! Also it is small and nice-looking. If anyone needs more detailed info on how to set this up with MacOSX and Airport Extreme, check the Apple discussion boards under
OSX>OS 10.3 Panther>Using Technologies>Networking and the Web. I think it was worth the effort--but ask me in a few weeks, when all of this hair-pulling struggle has faded a bit in memory.
Rating:
Summary: Finally got it working--here's how!
Review: I gave this item 2 stars (one for the potential greatness of it) above, but I couldn't get it working. I was trying to use it with a Mac network and I couldn't get an IP address assigned to the printserver. All the methods the Tech Support and the web and the (horrible) documentation gave me didn't work. Well, I spoke with Tech Support again today and he suggested using the default IP address assigned to the printserver. It was 192.168.2.1 This worked! All I had to do was enter this IP address in my browser and it took me to the page which could configure the printserver so that its IP address would work on my network. I changed the IP address via the browser SetupWIzard option to something similar to the IP address for my ethernet (both of these were adjusted to be similar to my Airport IP address, since I was going to use this with the Airport to print wirelessly). After fussing a little more with the settings (airport has to have appletalk deselected in its prefs, for example), I am now printing happily. I stuck with this and devoted HOURS to trying to get this to work bcs there really is nothing like it on the market. One parallel port, 2 USB ports--and for a great price! Also it is small and nice-looking. If anyone needs more detailed info on how to set this up with MacOSX and Airport Extreme, check the Apple discussion boards under
OSX>OS 10.3 Panther>Using Technologies>Networking and the Web. I think it was worth the effort--but ask me in a few weeks, when all of this hair-pulling struggle has faded a bit in memory.
Rating:
Summary: Exercise in Frustration!
Review: I have an HP LaserJet 4ML (postscript) and an HP DeskJet 5550 - relatively common printers. I have a PC running Windows ME and an iMac running OSX. I haven't been able to get either computer to work with either printer (the printers work fine when connected directly to the computer - but that defeats the purpose of having a print server). I struggled with the useless manual for hours, then called tech support (twice). The tech support people seemed as clueless as I was. We walked through the standard printer setup process but still nothing worked. Using the IP address of the server I can use the web browser to see that both printers are connected and properly identified by the server, but for some reason the print jobs won't go through. I bought this product based on the reviews I found here, but somebody should let me in on the secret to setting this thing up. After an hour and a half with tech support (NOT a toll-free call) they basically had nothing more to offer. I'm curious if this is a problem with HP printers - I know HP sells its own print servers - maybe 3rd party servers don't work??? If that is so, somebody should say it. Bottom line - if you intend to use this with an HP printer you may want to ask lots of questions and verify that it will work before you buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Looking for printer server? Get this one!
Review: I was looking for a printer server that supports bi-direction print mode, USB, and Windows. I'll share my experience with Windows. I have a desktop and a laptop, both with Windows XP. I had a laser and inkjet printers attached to the desktop, so if I wanted to print from the laptop, I had to turn on the desktop (which was a pain). One day, I just happened to notice this server. First I couldn't believe I found the server that has all of what I wanted and that it's reasonably priced. I had never heard of Hawking Tech, but after reading Amazon[.com] reviews, I decided to take a dive. I am pleasantly surprised. I was able to follow the directions (although the manual was never proofread) and install the printers without a hitch. Now I don't have to leave the desktop on to print from the laptop. The only downside is that I wanted to use DHCP from my router for the server. The server has it disabled so I had to install the software that came with the server, even though I didn't really want to, to turn DHCP on. I installed it and set the server to use DHCP, and unistalled it promptly. It did uninstall smoothly. You can do all maintenance through the web browser once the server has an address. I recommend you read all the documentations and faq's to avoid any confusion. Buy the necessary cables too, since the box doesn't include any. It's got a 2-year warranty. Two caveats: (1) It doesn't support multipurpose printers. (2) If there is an error while printing, the server gets stuck in the error mode even if the printer recovers. The only way I found to fix this is to power the server down and power it back up. This seems to reset the server memory but not the settings (there is an option to do if needed). If you use DHCP (I don't know why but the company recommends against using DHCP), sometimes the router gives you a different address than what it was previously. Just manually readjust the address. No biggies. Overall, it's a neat product in a small package.
Rating:
Summary: It kind of works, with RUDE tech support
Review: I was looking for something to share my Hp laser jet 1220 and decided to try this gadget. It says that it does not support multi-function printer, but all I want it to do is to print anyway. After 2 hours of fiddling with it, I got it to work. Here are the tricks.
1. Use Internet printing protocol (I have Win2000)
2. Use USB port instead of parallel port. For some reason, it just wouldn't work with the parallel port even though the server admin software sees the printer on parallel port. Thank goodness my printer also has a usb port.
3. use static ip address
4. Use http://server ip address here/lp2 or lp3 for usb ports. By the way, don't bother calling tech support. Very RUDE!
Rating:
Summary: Does not work!
Review: I wasted 2 hours trying to set this up. Finally, I called their technical support and they told me my printer is not compatible.
There isn't anything on the box, in the manual and on their website about any incompatible printers. I decided to leave
my computer on and let it be a printserver. I found out that Computers these days consume less than 25mW if power-saving mode is enabled. Much less than what this printserver uses. If your computer has sleep mode or hibernate mode, don't bother!
| 
