TP-Link TL-PS110U Single USB2.0 Port Fast Ethernet Print Server

Happy but...
Neat and economic little device, which now enables my formerly local Cannon Pixma to be used by the rest of the family via the network. It installed and set up without and difficulty using the default fixed IP address and has functioned without needing rebooting to date.
The 'but' comes from 'my misinterpreation' of the 'bi-directional' printer information function listed on the TP web page. I was subsequently advised that it is only bi-directional in that it reports back the printer name (which it does), BUT it does not support the reporting back of printer status, ie ink levels etc. So with my Cannon printer I get the rather irritating 'Printer Status not available' warning with every print!
Tech support was responsive from China, but not very helpful in this case, however at a fraction of the cost of the Netgear equivalent, its working and I'm learning to live with it.
Laser printer now shared with a mix of wired, wireless, vista, XP and Windows 7 !!
The hardware is surprisingly small but well made. The installation wizard works well providing that in Windows 7 / Vista you right click it and run as administrator. The only snag I encountered was needing to change the default IP address to fit in with my network and remembering to tell each PC that it should use the printer online rather than offline. Adding each new PC was straightforward as they already had the laser printer driver installed and I simply needed to set up a new TCP/IP port which only takes a minute or two.
Versatile, small and good value
I already had a print server which I used with wired and wireless connections from Linux, Win7 Premium and Mac OSX. However, it used ipp protocol which is most annoyingly absent from a new HP Netbook running Win7 Starter. This particular version of Win7, namely the "Win 7 Starter" which, increasingly, is common on Netbooks, lacks support for the "ipp" protocol. I spent ages trying to figure out why I couldn't print to my laser printer from my new netbook. Finally, I bought this print server hoping that it'd be compatible with Win7 Starter and lo and behold it is indeed working fine using TCP/IP and LPR. The gadget itself is very light and small but be warned: It comes with a European style 2-pin lumpy adapter which will require a UK adapter.

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