Can a USB Hub be used for....

[Nijhal]

Can a USB hub be used to connect 3-4 pcs to a single printer?

Or are the hubs only to connect multiple usb devices to your single pc?

Or can it be used for both?

Sorry but I am new to all this hubbing crap and since I trust you guys, I figure this is the best place to ask to get an educated answer.

All the specs I have read all say thehub can be used to connect multiple usb devices to a single computer, none say if you can use to to connect a single usb device to multiple computers.

Of coarse I guess I could just enable printer sharing on one computer and be all set huh? lol

But the printer Im getting is also a scanner/copier (HP PhotoSmart c3180) So I wanna make sure I can use all the functions of it on all my pcs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bearcub]

No.

However, you should be able to share and load software on all of the computers, then scan/whatever from teh software and be okay.

 

[Coffee]

With HP printers/scanners you have to load their software and drivers on each machine, most will work in this case as long as you do the install one machine at a time instead of all at once. Pretty much all of newer ones offer network support and just hardmap the device name to the ip address using your hosts file, so its much less headache if you set it up via network hub/wireless...

 

[Nijhal]

Thanks guys. I think Im just gonna load it in a single machine and enable printer sharing and see if scanning works as well. And of coarse put the software on all machines.

 

[Yoda007]

Your other option is to setup a USB Print Server, This is a sought after option for some people as you don't always have to have one computer switched on to do the printing, or if the main computer goes down - you can still print.

 

[sparky13]

Alot of your newer routers have USB capabilities so you could attach the Printer directly to the router. (most usually have one single USB port that you can use).

Not all of the newer printers come with RJ-45 or Parallel anymore however, so this is a great option.

 

[DemonH2]

Im a bit tired so i could be missing something. So sorry. But when you can install it on a computer then share the printer...why would you want to buy more hardware to do the same thing?

 

[Coffee]

Not everyone wants their PC to act like a print server. You have to be sure its on always for one, and second if youre gaming on it, spooling a large print job such as a few images can own your fps. Sharing sucks.