Where I work, we have always purchased the HP Jetdirect print server devices. However, when we bought a whole load of Magicard badge printers we found out after several painful days that these only worked with the D-link DP300u print servers due to some strange setting within the printer. ... Read review
D-Link, the industry pioneer in networking continues to offer innovative products in ... more
Ethernet. The D-Link DP-300U is a compact print server that connects to your Ethernet or Fast Ethernet network. With high-speed ports, DP-300U allow users to print simultaneously from anywhere on the network. DP-300U is equipped with two IEEE1284 parallel ports and one USB version 1.1 port for seamless connection to most printers available on the market today. DP-300U also supports all major network Operating Systems and protocols. With its compact size, DP-300U can easily be placed anywhere! DP-300U is also easily configurable using web browser or window based configuration program. Using web browsers on a PC connected to the network, configuration is simple and straightforward with the familiar D-Link interface. PS Admin, a Windows based configuration program can also be used to configure DP-300U. The DP-300U print server is the ideal network printing solution for small offices, home offices, schools and other businesses that requires printer sharing.
Postage & Packaging:free Super Saver Delivery Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
D-Link, the industry pioneer in networking continues to offer innovative products in ... more
Ethernet. The D-Link DP-300U is a compact print server that connects to your Ethernet or Fast Ethernet network. With high-speed ports, DP-300U allow users to print simultaneously from anywhere on the network. DP-300U is equipped with two IEEE1284 parallel ports and one USB version 1.1 port for seamless connection to most printers available on the market today. DP-300U also supports all major network Operating Systems and protocols. With its compact size, DP-300U can easily be placed anywhere! DP-300U is also easily configurable using web browser or window based configuration program. Using web browsers on a PC connected to the network, configuration is simple and straightforward with the familiar D-Link interface. PS Admin, a Windows based configuration program can also be used to configure DP-300U. The DP-300U print server is the ideal network printing solution for small offices, home offices, schools and other businesses that requires printer sharing.
Postage & Packaging:£8.89 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Link upto 3 printers on 1 IP address. Simple setup Disadvantages: None
...these only worked with the D-link DP300u print servers due to some strange setting within the printer. With this information, we were forced into buying the D-link blind with no time to do any background research or fact finding.
The D-link is a 3 port print server, 2 ports are serial with the other being USB. This means that upto 3 printers can be attached to the print server at any one time. At the time we bought them, they were ... .../>
The D-link print server comes in a very compact box with just enough room for the components. There is the print server itself which is nicely designed to comply with the standard d-link colours of blue and silver with a black trim on one of the edges. Then there is the power supply which is pretty standard with the adaptor on one end which plugs into the print server. Finally there is the utility disk and manual. The manual is very informative ... more
Where I work, we have always purchased the HP Jetdirect print server devices. However, when we bought a whole load of Magicard badge printers we found out after several painful days that these only worked with the D-link DP300u print servers due to some strange setting within the printer. With this information, we were forced into buying the D-link blind with no time to do any background research or fact finding.
The D-link is a 3 port print server, 2 ports are serial with the other being USB. This means that upto 3 printers can be attached to the print server at any one time. At the time we bought them, they were around £80 each.
--Whats in the box--
The D-link print server comes in a very compact box with just enough room for the components. There is the print server itself which is nicely designed to comply with the standard d-link colours of blue and silver with a black trim on one of the edges. Then there is the power supply which is pretty standard with the adaptor on one end which plugs into the print server. Finally there is the utility disk and manual. The manual is very informative which , in my opinion is rare for hardware. The utility disk also needs to be installed as this will be used for flashing the print server (storing all of your settings on the print server).
--Installation--
The first thing you need to do is to install the utility software from the CD. This is a simple installation and will take no more than 2 minutes to complete.
The print server comes with its own factory set IP address. This will not be on a range that your PC is already connected to so you will need to get the PC and print server to talk to each other. The way to do this is to connect the print server and PC via an ethernet cable and to change the IP address of the PC to one on the same range as the print server (this is only a temporary change until we have the print server configured). Now the 2 devices can see each other, we can load up the software and start the configuration. There are loads of configuration settings you can change but the most common ones are likely to be the name of the print server and the communication method. This communication method will depend on the type of network you are running. All standard protocols are included (TCP/IP, Netware, Appletalk and Netbeui) Home users will go for the TCP/IP protocol as this is the one that the internet uses. You can then specify if you want the print server to automatically assign itself an IP address or you can manually specify one. I'd recommend manually assigning an address here so that it is always fixed which means you can manage your IP addresses more easily.
Once changes have been made you can save them back to the print server and reconnect yourself to your main network connection. The dlink is now ready to be placed onto your network too and connected up to a printer.
You are now ready to connect to the print server via the standard Windows Add new printer wizard. Going through the wizard, firstly select local printer and then create new port as the print server is not attached to any port that is currently known by the PC. We now need to select 'Standard TCP/IP port' from the dropdown list. At this stage enter the IP address that you gave the print server when it was attached to the PC via the ethernet cable at the start of installation, this is why I recommended using a static address as it is so much easier to manage. Windows will now require more information to complete the setup. From the next stage of the wizard, select Custom and then click on settings. As the d-link comes with 3 ports, we need to tell Windows which port we are referring to for this installation. To find the port name, open internet explorer and type in the ip address that you assigned to the print server. This will give you each of the port names and identify if a printer is online or not. Copy and paste the port name you require from this web page into the setup wizard and make sure the LPR protocol is checked. Once this has been completed the printer will be available to use on your network.
These instructions may look daunting but they are in fact simple to follow as most of the work is carried out via a wizard.
--Useage--
Once the setup has been completed, printing is seemless and operates just like printing to any other windows printer. As you have identified which printer is on which port in the installation, the D-link is able to route your job to the correct printer. We have 2 badge printers running off the print server and at certain times of the year the print server can process upto 500 requests a day with no bother at all.
--Verdict--
Since using this device, we have bought plenty more throughout the organisation as they are very reliable and easy to set up. There is very little maintenance involved once the initial setup has taken place. I would recommend this print server to the business and home user alike. It is a very nice bit of kit
Advantages: low cost for printer sharing/ 2 parallel + 1 USB printer support Disadvantages: no bi-directional support cause not fully function of new printers
I am using it for few weeks now, it need some network knowledge to let it work, I can't let it work using the installation manual so I us my way.
I connectted 3 printers: EPSON AcuLaser C900, EPSON CX6400 and CANON multiPass C30.
There are only CANON MultiPass C30 working properly, the Aculaser C900 always poped up an error message "error communication" although it still prints out; EPSON CX6400 is an USB multifunction inkjet printer, due to no ... ...let it SCAN or read memory card photos.
I put the way I set up DP 300U on my web site:
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~ahl/DP-300UwithDSL604.htm
maybe you will find this helpful.
The system I used: (DSL-604+) for my wireless LAN with broadband internet connection with windows 2000 and Windows XP pro computers. ...
mmcp626 23.12.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of D-Link DP 300U
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Advantages: High quality ID badges. Disadvantages: Cost, quite slow
Introduction
Having used the Magicard Rio 2 badge printer for several years (see my review from September 2007) we, as a business decided we needed to upgrade as our architecture was changing and DLink were no longer making the DP-300U print servers which were the only print servers which would work with the Rio 2.
In general we were very happy with the Magicard brand so decided to stick with it and went for the Rios twin sister, the Tango 2e. The main difference between these 2 printers is that the Tango 2e now comes with a built in Ethernet port making it simple to connect to a network whereas this was a real tricky job with the previous models.
In the box
These printers are extremely heavy so the box is very well packed to avoid damage during transit. On removing countless layers of polystyrene, you finally reach ...
The DP-300U multi-port print server is designed to share a cluster of printers. It is equipped with 2 parallel printer ports and 1 USB port, allowing 2 parallel printers and 1 USB printer to be shared over the network. Supporting multiple network operating systems, this device brings a high level of flexibility and performance to your office printing needs. With 3 printer ports available from a single device, you don't need to purchase and install a separate print server for each printer. All printers attached to this device can print their print jobs at the same time, giving your multi-port print server a similar performance as that of 3 separate single-port print servers. The DP-300U supports as many network OS as these: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, XP, Apple MacOS with AppleTalk, Linux, Solaris, SCO Unix, IBM AIX and NetWare 5.x native NDS. Better yet, you can configure different OS on different printers and have them print at the same time. This gives you all the flexibility when you select the DP-300U. HP PJL protocol is supported for bi-directional network printer communication, providing you with critical information about the network printer.
