Putting Printers or Scanners on a home LAN

[mattthenewb]

Ahoyhoy,

Ive been running two comps linked together via a Linksys Brand 4-port router to Broadband for about 2 years now. I was wondering, is there hardware out there I can purchase that would allow me to take a Printer or Scanner, plug it into it, then plug it into one of the 2 unused ports on the router, so it would be a network device usable by both my comps equally without dependance on the other? Also, are there adapters you can buy to plug into a router that increases your ports? Like you plug it in and it has 4 ports of its own to expand your network without buying a new router or hub? Like you can do with USB ports. I am on Ethernet with my network btw, using internal SMC cards in my PCs.

One more question, can you plug a hub into a router to expand your network? My undertstanding is that a hub is just a router without a firewall, and since my router already has all the firewall I need I was thinking about plugging a HUB into my router to expand the network, thinking it would be cheaper. Would that work?

 

[upec]

If you are using Microsoft Windows it is very easy to share printer. I am not sure if it is possible to share a scanner.

 

[jihiggs]

you need to get a jetdirect device to share the printer, you probly cant do it with a scanner.

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[jlanka]

One more question, can you plug a hub into a router to expand your network? My undertstanding is that a hub is just a router without a firewall, and since my router already has all the firewall I need I was thinking about plugging a HUB into my router to expand the network, thinking it would be cheaper. Would that work?

yes

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>