Netgear PS101 Print Server & Eltron Orion 2443

I use an Eltron Orion LP2443 to print shipping labels. It has been next to impossible to find a print server that worked with this parallel printer. Label printers can be somewhat temperamental as many stray from being just a simple parallel printer and do fancy comm back and forth.

I have been through several print servers. Last one was even more high-strung then the printer, that was the Dlink DP-G321...what a POS that thing was. Worked fine for my USB printers but dunno what it was doing with the parallel port but it worked consistently for ONE label then the entire setup, PS & all printers had to be reset.

My new laptop (HP NX9420) complicated matters...NO PARALLEL port so I could not even connect the printer directly...d'oh!! So I tried a parallel to USB converter that, well, was simply defective thus I have no clue if it worked or not, Staples did not have any as a replacement...but shopping around I ran across a very simple printer server that connects directly to the printer needing just to be cabled to a router. That was the Netgear PS101.

This thing has to be a best functioning and most refreshing device I have found in ages. What is great is not that is easy to setup...it was and wasn't and easy setup, taking a bit of tweaking for the driver not the PS. What is great about it is all this device it tries to be is a simple printer server for one printer. Nothing more and nothing less. Plus it is pretty reasonably priced. I found a refurb'd unit for just about $30 including shipping. That was $15 cheaper then Staples price for the USB-to-Parallel adapter.

It does not have a lot of built-in RAM, I think it is just 256k...but for simple non-graphical printing it is not a big deal...and really it will likely be fine for more complicated jobs...just takes a few moments longer to get the data from your system to the network then to the printer...

Just wanted to pass along that it's a solid product for simple printing needs and not complicated to setup. Like I noted there was bit of a learning curve but that was likely because I rarely read manuals beyond the first few pages. All I did was setup a static IP addy on the PS101's html based config screen, add a standard TCP/IP port to windows, attach the printer driver to that port...then NOTHING happened...had to disable bi-direction support in the driver itself. Now it prints like a champ.

I can finally print labels from the "throne room"... Or even when sitting by the pool.