everyone in my faimly uses a laptop, but, we all share one printer. we have a desk (used to house our old pc ((omg my mp3 had more memory)) ) which is where the printer and other pheripherals are housed, which are all connected to a hub, which itself has one output cable. this usualy provides no problem. however, if someone is using the hub ( but not the printer) it then provides a problem when another wants to use the printer, as they cant do it without disconnecting person A's other peripherals. so my question is: is there a usb splitter that would split the output cable of the hub, so that more than one person could be connected to the hub at once?
any help would be great, thanks.
2007-09-03 07:11:01 · 9 answers · asked by mattb77 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
im not sure what hub you are using, but you should be able to share the printer over the network so nobody has to pull anybodys cables out.
anybody can press print on their pc/laptop and it will print out of the printer.
if your hub only has 1 port, then its time to upgrade i think -get yourself a decent router for about £40 - £60.
2007-09-03 07:16:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the problem in your house is obviously the shortage of a printer so the easiest way to overcome this is by setting up a network printer
this is a easy task,infact windows xp has a wizard built into the operating system,which will take you set by step through setting up a network printer
first go to start>control panel>printers and faxes>highlight the printer you wish to use and on the left click "share this printer"
this will take you through a wizard ,however this way all your laptops need to be on a wireless network
most internet service providers supply you with routers that can support printer sharing,one such router/hub is the bt home hub,this has a usb socket at the back which is primarily for a usb internet connection but configured properly using the set up disk supplied it can also be used as a network printer
another option is a print server,just like network servers,these "serve" a network for their printing needs.by connecting your laptops to this the server connects directly to the printer and prints out the specified jobs
however as your all probally wireless you need a wireless network server and the Edimax PS-1206MFG Wireless Mulit-Function 11g x1 USB 2.0 Print Server (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=532733)will do just the job
this connects wirelessly with each laptop in the house and as and when you wish to print out a document for example this will recive the data and print it out
if however you are all using the printer at the same time then the wireless printer server will do the jobs in order as they were recived,but they will get done
the printer will fit in the back of the wireless printer server and just run the software provided from each laptop thats going to be using the printer
this will work with any laptop that is wi-fi enabled or using a network card/usb wireless adapter
this is your best and cheapest option,any problems let me know
good luck mate!
2007-09-03 09:08:26 · answer #2 · answered by brianthesnail123 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Better option would be (assuming the PCs are networked in some form) to buy a USB Printer server, that connects a USB printer to a cabled or Wireless newtwork, DLink do a great little unit. . . . Wife keeps waking my up from dozin my my PC by printing from downstairs to my printer.
2007-09-03 07:18:04 · answer #3 · answered by stu_the_kilted_scot 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How big is your current hub? You could use a larger 7-port hub like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-DomeHub-ports-Weighted-33118/dp/B0002FHENE
If you're already using a 7-port hub, you could split your peripherals over 2 hubs, (or maybe just put the printer on its own hub). That way you could plug into whatever hub has the peripehral you're wanting to access.
2007-09-03 07:19:13 · answer #4 · answered by dbucciar 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know what you are plugging into the "splitter" (hub). If it is external hard drives, it is possible that the total power required by your devices exceeds the power provided by the USB port and one of the devices plugged in is not being recognized. The only way around this is to get a powered hub, that is one that has its own power supply that connects to the hub.
2016-05-20 03:26:50 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, buy USB 2 Hub, a good quality will works fine, Why dont you configure your home network, you can share a printer wirelessly or with network cable wire..
2007-09-03 07:18:33 · answer #6 · answered by OgieV 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you have XP etc and add all the pc's and printer to your home network and 'share' the printer you will all be able to print directly to it without swapping any usb's
2007-09-03 07:21:33 · answer #7 · answered by Ring of Uranus 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try going wireless
2007-09-03 08:50:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, i have one. Its from HP. U can buy it.
2007-09-03 07:16:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋