>I have been looking for a router with a USB 2 input but do not seem 
>to be able to find one. I did find a Linksys printer switch, PSUS4 
>with 4 ethernet ports and a USB port but it is a USB 1.1. My fear is 
>it will be too slow for printing. The unit came out in 2006.Know of 
>any quality routers or printer switches with a couple of ethernet 
>ports and a USB 2 or 3 port?

You won't need more then USB 1.1 for a independent print server, for 
a few end users. Even large print  jobs don't  amount to that much 
data and it is typically transmitted to the printer a little bit at a 
time. The problem with any stand alone print server is that you will 
not be able to access the full feature set that comes with a normal 
printer driver. I haven't paid attention for a long time but I have 
not seen a independent print server yet that supports bi-directional 
communication. If they are out there somebody can correct me. As a 
result, an independent print server provides basic printing which is 
why I no longer use the  Netgear print server I have.  For example, 
you will not be able to log into your printer, and check supplies, 
status, or things of that nature. It is probably easier to buy a new 
networked printer.

A router that supports USB external drives, and a print server, will 
be at the top end of wireless consumer routers.. expect to pay 150 
plus. I understand that Dlink makes one that has a single USB 
external drive jack, but I don't know about both a print server and a 
USB external drive jack but one may be out there. Do a search at Newegg.com.

  Or you could by one of these  http://pogoplug.com/home-en.html a 
device that plugs into an existing router, has three USB jacks, and 
supports up to 127 USB devices with the use of additional hubs. Not 
cheap, but lots of possibilities. I bought one on a special deal, 
last week, but I haven't gotten around to installing it yet, so I 
can't really comment.

If you want to make your data available to all your computers as well 
as backing up, and synchronizing it in the cloud then you can't do 
better then Dropbox. You can get 2.25GB of space free with this 
invite https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTE0NDEwOTE5 , and 100 GB is 
only 100 bucks a year. Not a bad deal for brain dead ease of use, and 
worry free data protection. All your computers and the cloud will be 
automatically kept in sync, you can securely access your data 
anywhere from a web page, stream media, and you can control public, 
private, and customized special purpose folders. For example a folder 
you share with a friend, or family, or work.

Perhaps your best solution, if you have a old laptop sitting around 
that is anything P3 or above, with at least one GB of RAM, is to 
install  XP, or Windows 7 and then use it as a simple server. 
Install, and share as many printers or external devices as you wish. 
External hard drives, network scanners , printers, media, data and if 
you run Windows 7 on it, and the rest of your PCs, you can set up a 
Home group, which makes it easy to share data among the Windows 7 
Homegroup. Just create the Homegroup and everything is shared as well 
as special media streaming folders.

Homegroup, or traditional server you will be able to stream media, 
data, printers, the works. And a laptop uses very little electricity. 
For a single user, or home network, it is a hard to beat networking 
server solution to share your devices, and data, among a few users, 
without spending a lot of money. And you have the added functionality 
of a computer rather then a single purpose device like a print server.

Mark Rode

    

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