bought non-wireless priinter by mistake

My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

a) I know you can disconnect a USB harddrive by just pulling the cord
out, or you risk losing data**, but what's the most damage you could do
just by unplugging a printer? Interrupt the job and have to print it
again? And not even that if your last print job has already printed?
Or if it had stopped with an error message? Maybe he can just
transfer the cable from the desktop to the laptop when he wants to
print.

b) Or he can leave the printer connected to his desktop computer and if
there were some sort of Y USB connector, maybe he could just plug the
laptop in to the other fork of the Y. The Y's are called hubs, but I
think of them as outgoing to more than one add-on device. Especially
powered hubs. Would it work to plug the common port of a hub into the
printer, one of the multiple ports into the desktop, and when needed
plug the laptop in one of the other mulitple ports. (I don't know what
words to use for common and mulitple. I mean input and output, but in
this case the data would be going the opposite direction.)

I'm interested in all this myself, so any answers for a PC are greatly
appreciated.

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

Or maybe he can make it wireless.
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious, here's
its ad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LevelOne-WPS...em20f186d1 15
auction ends at 10:30 tonight Sunday EST

d) Hmmm. I have a USB equivalent of an internal wifi card, to receive
signals from the router. If it can receive internet signals from the
router, can it plug into a USB printer and make a printer accept,
printer text signals from the same router, coming from the local network
computer instead of the the DSL modem?
(I suppose not, or I'd have heard about it, but I don't know why it
wouldn't.)



**What if you absolutely know you haven't written to a USB hard drive
for the last 10 minutes. Is there a chance of losing data or damaging
the structure by just pulling out the USB cord, or by turning off t he
power to the external drive??

Thanks.

micky wrote:
My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

Since that printer was a bargain, now the friend
can buy two printers :-) One for each computer.

There is no reason for the printer to freak out,
if you move the USB connector. Make sure the
printer has returned to the home position,
before pulling a fast one on it.

They make USB sharing boxes, but those don't
give me a warm feeling, in terms of how long
they last. I have no experience with such things,
and I'd rather just move the USB connector. Metal
USB connectors are rated at 5000 insertion cycles.

Paul

On 07/12/2014 20:59, micky wrote:
My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

a) I know you can disconnect a USB harddrive by just pulling the cord
out, or you risk losing data**, but what's the most damage you could do
just by unplugging a printer? Interrupt the job and have to print it
again? And not even that if your last print job has already printed?
Or if it had stopped with an error message? Maybe he can just
transfer the cable from the desktop to the laptop when he wants to
print.

b) Or he can leave the printer connected to his desktop computer and if
there were some sort of Y USB connector, maybe he could just plug the
laptop in to the other fork of the Y. The Y's are called hubs, but I
think of them as outgoing to more than one add-on device. Especially
powered hubs. Would it work to plug the common port of a hub into the
printer, one of the multiple ports into the desktop, and when needed
plug the laptop in one of the other mulitple ports. (I don't know what
words to use for common and mulitple. I mean input and output, but in
this case the data would be going the opposite direction.)

I'm interested in all this myself, so any answers for a PC are greatly
appreciated.

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

Or maybe he can make it wireless.
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious, here's
its ad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LevelOne-WPS...em20f186d1 15
auction ends at 10:30 tonight Sunday EST

d) Hmmm. I have a USB equivalent of an internal wifi card, to receive
signals from the router. If it can receive internet signals from the
router, can it plug into a USB printer and make a printer accept,
printer text signals from the same router, coming from the local network
computer instead of the the DSL modem?
(I suppose not, or I'd have heard about it, but I don't know why it
wouldn't.)



**What if you absolutely know you haven't written to a USB hard drive
for the last 10 minutes. Is there a chance of losing data or damaging
the structure by just pulling out the USB cord, or by turning off t he
power to the external drive??

Thanks.



All printers I have seen so far are wireless so god knows what it means
in your post. However, some computers can be networked and accessed
wirelessly so you need to tell us what exactly are you trying to do.

To network a printer, it needs to have a network card and some machines
come with the card like the HP ones I buy and on some you can insert a
network card. On some it is almost impossible to insert the card and so
they can be connected using what was called in the XP days as P2P. I
don't use XP anymore so I won't talk about this anymore.

Basically, the printer in connected to one computer and then all other
machines can connect to this computer to print something - this could be
wirelessly if you want it or using the cable.

Hope you get the idea.

In message , Good Guy
writes:
On 07/12/2014 20:59, micky wrote:
My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a
printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to
return
it.

(How much was the printer?)
[]
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy
that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious,
[]
All printers I have seen so far are wireless so god knows what it means
in your post.* However, some computers can be networked and accessed

Well, you haven't looked too hard; there are still wireless-less (!)
printers about, though not too many in the range normally offered to
home users.

wirelessly so you need to tell us what exactly are you trying to do.
[]
Yes, it depends why micky's friend wants to make the printer wireless:
is it just to avoid being tied to it, or does he want to use it from
multiple machines?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Old soldiers never die - only young ones

Look into a wireless print server, e.g., this
article is helpful

http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/make-w...ireless/12639/

On 12/7/2014 12:59 PM, micky wrote:
My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

a) I know you can disconnect a USB harddrive by just pulling the cord
out, or you risk losing data**, but what's the most damage you could do
just by unplugging a printer? Interrupt the job and have to print it
again? And not even that if your last print job has already printed?
Or if it had stopped with an error message? Maybe he can just
transfer the cable from the desktop to the laptop when he wants to
print.

b) Or he can leave the printer connected to his desktop computer and if
there were some sort of Y USB connector, maybe he could just plug the
laptop in to the other fork of the Y. The Y's are called hubs, but I
think of them as outgoing to more than one add-on device. Especially
powered hubs. Would it work to plug the common port of a hub into the
printer, one of the multiple ports into the desktop, and when needed
plug the laptop in one of the other mulitple ports. (I don't know what
words to use for common and mulitple. I mean input and output, but in
this case the data would be going the opposite direction.)

I'm interested in all this myself, so any answers for a PC are greatly
appreciated.

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

Or maybe he can make it wireless.
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious, here's
its ad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LevelOne-WPS...em20f186d1 15
auction ends at 10:30 tonight Sunday EST

d) Hmmm. I have a USB equivalent of an internal wifi card, to receive
signals from the router. If it can receive internet signals from the
router, can it plug into a USB printer and make a printer accept,
printer text signals from the same router, coming from the local network
computer instead of the the DSL modem?
(I suppose not, or I'd have heard about it, but I don't know why it
wouldn't.)



**What if you absolutely know you haven't written to a USB hard drive
for the last 10 minutes. Is there a chance of losing data or damaging
the structure by just pulling out the USB cord, or by turning off t he
power to the external drive??

Thanks.

On 12/7/2014 3:59 PM, micky wrote:
My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

a) I know you can disconnect a USB harddrive by just pulling the cord
out, or you risk losing data**, but what's the most damage you could do
just by unplugging a printer? Interrupt the job and have to print it
again? And not even that if your last print job has already printed?
Or if it had stopped with an error message? Maybe he can just
transfer the cable from the desktop to the laptop when he wants to
print.

b) Or he can leave the printer connected to his desktop computer and if
there were some sort of Y USB connector, maybe he could just plug the
laptop in to the other fork of the Y. The Y's are called hubs, but I
think of them as outgoing to more than one add-on device. Especially
powered hubs. Would it work to plug the common port of a hub into the
printer, one of the multiple ports into the desktop, and when needed
plug the laptop in one of the other mulitple ports. (I don't know what
words to use for common and mulitple. I mean input and output, but in
this case the data would be going the opposite direction.)

I'm interested in all this myself, so any answers for a PC are greatly
appreciated.

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

Or maybe he can make it wireless.
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious, here's
its ad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LevelOne-WPS...em20f186d1 15
auction ends at 10:30 tonight Sunday EST

d) Hmmm. I have a USB equivalent of an internal wifi card, to receive
signals from the router. If it can receive internet signals from the
router, can it plug into a USB printer and make a printer accept,
printer text signals from the same router, coming from the local network
computer instead of the the DSL modem?
(I suppose not, or I'd have heard about it, but I don't know why it
wouldn't.)



**What if you absolutely know you haven't written to a USB hard drive
for the last 10 minutes. Is there a chance of losing data or damaging
the structure by just pulling out the USB cord, or by turning off t he
power to the external drive??

Thanks.

It depends on the printer. If the printer is just a printer and not one
of the multi-function printer scanners, you may try this. (I have heard
that if the print server is not bidirectional the scanner will not work
as it feeds a data stream back to the computer, while the printer
accepts the data stream from the computer.)

I watched and found the cheapest wired print server I could find. It
was A D-Link DP-300U unit, One ethernet and one USB port.

I then hooked the print server to the LAN router with a standard LAN
cable, and the printer to the print server. With this arrangement, the
Print server appears on the Local Area network and I can print from any
computer on the LAN, wired or wireless, through the print server.


While the printer appears as a LAN printer you must have the printer
driver on each computer that uses the printer

On Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:59:14 -0500, micky
wrote:

My friend didn't think about wireless or laptops and bought a printer
without wireless. It connects ONLY by USB. It's too late to return
it.

Could this be a job for a Raspberry Pi?
Anyone tried this?
I have been looking for a reason to buy one.

a) I know you can disconnect a USB harddrive by just pulling the cord
out, or you risk losing data**, but what's the most damage you could do
just by unplugging a printer? Interrupt the job and have to print it
again? And not even that if your last print job has already printed?
Or if it had stopped with an error message? Maybe he can just
transfer the cable from the desktop to the laptop when he wants to
print.

b) Or he can leave the printer connected to his desktop computer and if
there were some sort of Y USB connector, maybe he could just plug the
laptop in to the other fork of the Y. The Y's are called hubs, but I
think of them as outgoing to more than one add-on device. Especially
powered hubs. Would it work to plug the common port of a hub into the
printer, one of the multiple ports into the desktop, and when needed
plug the laptop in one of the other mulitple ports. (I don't know what
words to use for common and mulitple. I mean input and output, but in
this case the data would be going the opposite direction.)

I'm interested in all this myself, so any answers for a PC are greatly
appreciated.

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

Or maybe he can make it wireless.
c) I think the cheapest wireless print server I found online was 20
dollars if no one else bids. Used of course. Would anyone buy that, or
would you just buy a new wireless printer? If you're curious, here's
its ad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LevelOne-WPS...em20f186d1 15
auction ends at 10:30 tonight Sunday EST

d) Hmmm. I have a USB equivalent of an internal wifi card, to receive
signals from the router. If it can receive internet signals from the
router, can it plug into a USB printer and make a printer accept,
printer text signals from the same router, coming from the local network
computer instead of the the DSL modem?
(I suppose not, or I'd have heard about it, but I don't know why it
wouldn't.)



**What if you absolutely know you haven't written to a USB hard drive
for the last 10 minutes. Is there a chance of losing data or damaging
the structure by just pulling out the USB cord, or by turning off t he
power to the external drive??

Thanks.

On 12/7/14 1:59 PM, micky wrote:

snip

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

It shouldn't.

You didn't say which computer was the Mac. If it's the desktop, and
relatively new (mine is 5.5 years old), wireless is built-in, unlike
Windows desktops I've seen.

All of the solutions provided should work, but I networked my Windows
computers and this Mac, and attached the USB printer to the Mac. I have
a network printer now. I am not a wireless fan, so only my Win 7
netbook used wireless. When I wanted to print something from a Windows
computer, I just selected the printer, actually it was the default
printer, and printed. The downside in this type of scenario is the
computer that has the printer connected must be on. And possibly logged
in, I don't know for sure since the Mac was always on.



snip


--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 25.0
Thunderbird 24.6.0
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 10:00:07 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

On 12/7/14 1:59 PM, micky wrote:

snip

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

It shouldn't.

You didn't say which computer was the Mac. If it's the desktop, and

The desktop he has now is a Mac, and so old it won't even run the
printer. And recently he found files it wouldnt' download because it
was so old. Mac OS 10.4, I think. I forget what aniimal that is.

relatively new (mine is 5.5 years old), wireless is built-in, unlike

Oh good. I think he bought a new Mac desktop 2 months ago but hasn't
had time to take it out of the box. Either the desktop or the printer,
he says, he's used two months of hte 12-month warranty and still doesn't
know if they work.

He keeps busy with his job and other worthwhile things. Often helping
other people, no less.

Windows desktops I've seen.



All of the solutions provided should work, but I networked my Windows
computers and this Mac, and attached the USB printer to the Mac. I have
a network printer now. I am not a wireless fan, so only my Win 7
netbook used wireless. When I wanted to print something from a Windows
computer, I just selected the printer, actually it was the default
printer, and printed. The downside in this type of scenario is the
computer that has the printer connected must be on.

He may leave his desktop on all the time. I was surprissed when I heard
that.

And possibly logged
in, I don't know for sure since the Mac was always on.

When I met him he had no computer at all, years after everyone else did.
Now he has a Mac that's gotten too old, one that's new but in the box,
and an Acer netbook running XP that I'm sure would work with the new
printer, but he doesn't use much. Oh, and an Ipad. And IIUC, he has
an Apple laptop still in the box. But he doesn't waste money in any
other way, and even this is small compared to most people.


I ended up buying the wireless print server that no one else bid on, for
15 + 6 dolllars. It 's going to take months his new stuff running,
but this is a start.

The wireless print server that I didn't understand, because it was a
card that went into the printer, rreally did go into the printer. It
was a big printer with fancy options, like for an office.

I'm going to read over all the answers again and think about how they
apply to me and to him, and his landlady who sometimes depends on me to
fix her computer, and another family with 4 laptops, one for each of
them who only needed me twice iirc in several years.


Thank you and everyone else for the help.


snip

On 12/8/14 9:29 PM, micky wrote:
On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 10:00:07 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

On 12/7/14 1:59 PM, micky wrote:

snip

OTOH, he has a Mac. Does that make a difference?

It shouldn't.

You didn't say which computer was the Mac. If it's the desktop, and

The desktop he has now is a Mac, and so old it won't even run the
printer. And recently he found files it wouldnt' download because it
was so old. Mac OS 10.4, I think. I forget what aniimal that is.

Tiger. This iMac came with 10.5, Leopard. It's also the first Mac I've
ever bought.

relatively new (mine is 5.5 years old), wireless is built-in, unlike

Oh good. I think he bought a new Mac desktop 2 months ago but hasn't
had time to take it out of the box. Either the desktop or the printer,
he says, he's used two months of hte 12-month warranty and still doesn't
know if they work.

He keeps busy with his job and other worthwhile things. Often helping
other people, no less.

Windows desktops I've seen.



All of the solutions provided should work, but I networked my Windows
computers and this Mac, and attached the USB printer to the Mac. I have
a network printer now. I am not a wireless fan, so only my Win 7
netbook used wireless. When I wanted to print something from a Windows
computer, I just selected the printer, actually it was the default
printer, and printed. The downside in this type of scenario is the
computer that has the printer connected must be on.

He may leave his desktop on all the time. I was surprissed when I heard
that.

And possibly logged
in, I don't know for sure since the Mac was always on.

When I met him he had no computer at all, years after everyone else did.
Now he has a Mac that's gotten too old, one that's new but in the box,
and an Acer netbook running XP that I'm sure would work with the new
printer, but he doesn't use much. Oh, and an Ipad. And IIUC, he has
an Apple laptop still in the box. But he doesn't waste money in any
other way, and even this is small compared to most people.

If he has a new Mac desktop, a new Mac laptop, and an iPad, why bother
with the old stuff? It seems a waste of time to me.

Back when my Mac was new, I took it to my inlaws to show them a Mac.
They are all Windows users. Their son brought his HP XP laptop. It
took me about 10 minutes to get connected to their network. It took
their son 3 hours to get his XP laptop connected.

No joke.

IMO, you guys are wasting your time with getting the old equipment to
work together. If you set up the new stuff, and if he has an Apple
account, all three Apple products should talk to each other without a
hitch. For Apple apps, lets say the notepad, if you enter something
into the notepad app on the desktop, in a couple of minutes the data you
entered will be downloaded to the laptop and iPad. And vice-versa.

Caveat... The age and model of the iPad may be an issue. I'm not a big
Apple user, no iPad, no iPhone, no iPod, etc. I don't buy a product
because it's Apple, I buy what fits my needs/desires/wants. My tablet
is a Google Nexus 7, which is Android. :-)


I ended up buying the wireless print server that no one else bid on, for
15 + 6 dolllars. It 's going to take months his new stuff running,
but this is a start.

?????? The last sentence isn't making any sense to me. It shouldn't
take much time at all to get the new stuff running, if it's all Apple.
Unless the problem is one of simply getting together to do it. G

The wireless print server that I didn't understand, because it was a
card that went into the printer, rreally did go into the printer. It
was a big printer with fancy options, like for an office.

I'm going to read over all the answers again and think about how they
apply to me and to him, and his landlady who sometimes depends on me to
fix her computer, and another family with 4 laptops, one for each of
them who only needed me twice iirc in several years.


Thank you and everyone else for the help.


snip



--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 33.1
Thunderbird 31.0
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"