The dinky NETGEAR PS101 mini-print server

I switched our laser (Samsung ML-1740) back to this little diddly this week having finally finished the wiring closed and hooked up the Ethernet ports in my office.  It isn’t a wireless gadget but still fits nicely in our network.

 The PS101 comes with software to find and configure any number of NETGEAR print servers on your network.  Each device is pre-programmed with a unique name and this can be used for setup and routing.  It can also be configured to take a specific IP or use DHCP.  I have two ranges of IPs on our network – one reserved for completely dynamic IPs and one where I assign specific IPs for the DHCP server to hand out (I found that this makes for an easier life if network components are rebooted in different orders and helps prevent IP clashes).

So I configured the PS101 for dynamic IP and locked it to 192.168.1.105 in the DHCP configuration of the DCHP server (so it will always be given 105 when it requests an IP address).

By doing this, you don’t need any software installed on Windows XP machines to print through the device.  The easiest way is to connect the printer directly, let Windows set it up then change the printer port to a new TCP/IP port and simply type in the IP address.  Seamless.  Easy and quick.  Couldn’t ask for more.