Belkin 2x1 USB Peripheral Switch USB peripheral sharing switch - 2 ports

...is as good as obsolete. Belkin should ,in my view, withdraw this product from there line as they do make a modern version at much the same price. As is often the case with Belkin it will do the job but not fully and after a lot of fiddleing about. Firstly it comes in the usual clear heat sealed package which must be attacked with a knife to gain entry,once your in and open the 'installation booklet' it says in large bold letters 'this item will not ...
...had to go to the Belkin web site and download the manual, THEN I could work out how to actually use the switch. It would work, but not switch between printers using the hot key, I guess this is due to the incompatability with multi-funtion printers so I gave up at that stage. So bottom line is, I think this will work OK with a basic printer but play safe and buy the later model, which I believe will work with all. If you do buy then expect the usual ... more

I bought this item because I wanted to link my printer to a laptop (using a wireless print server) and my desk top (by cable). What was NOT made clear by the supplier (in fact any supplier on the net offering this product as far as I can see) is that this switch is as good as obsolete. Belkin should ,in my view, withdraw this product from there line as they do make a modern version at much the same price. As is often the case with Belkin it will do the job but not fully and after a lot of fiddleing about. Firstly it comes in the usual clear heat sealed package which must be attacked with a knife to gain entry,once your in and open the 'installation booklet' it says in large bold letters 'this item will not work with multi-funtion printers' Would be nice to know that BEFORE you open the packet in this modern day when a large number of printers are multi-function. As I had ,ofcourse, already opened the pack I thought Id give it go anyway, installation of the switch and software is dead easy but when i came to look at the much boasted about 'hot key switching' I found that the installation booklet tells you to 'refer to the user manual' . There isn't one, not in the pack or on the CD. In fact I had to go to the Belkin web site and download the manual, THEN I could work out how to actually use the switch. It would work, but not switch between printers using the hot key, I guess this is due to the incompatability with multi-funtion printers so I gave up at that stage. So bottom line is, I think this will work OK with a basic printer but play safe and buy the later model, which I believe will work with all. If you do buy then expect the usual Belkin view that if you buy one of there products you already know a lot about computers and dont need to be told the basics, a mistake they always seem to make. 

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