Sharing USB Scanner over network

[felixrosbergen]

ok..so i have my printer/scanner/copier all in one unit (Canon MP470) connect to my server via USB and plant to have the server share the printer to all the clients (dekstops) in the house.

How do i make the scanner available to all the desktops?

TonyNo shared some links with me that might do the job.

The first link seems rather poorly documented (if you go to the user guide) and not very professional.

http://www.intellidriver.com/products_1.16.html

The 2nd link sounds very promising but is $147 which is out of the questions just to share a scanner.

http://www.fabulatech.com/usb-over-network.html

Does anybody have alternate suggestions? I'm in a windows environment with 24/7 running server located in the basement. Using USB over Cat5e extenders to connect the printer/scanner located in the office to the server.

I'd prefer not to have any additional hardware device and a cheap/free solution.

I also realized that my previous printer seem to turn themselves on when needed whereas this one I seem to need to go walk over and turn it on. Have others seen printers like this that don't turn on automatically when needed? My lexmark All-In-One worked like i intended..but it broke.. B)

 

[beelzerob]

I bought a USB print server box once....was about $45. So, it's additional hardware, and it's NOT free, so it violates those two preferences...oh, and it didn't work very well for us. Hehehe...so THERE, I hope that helps!

 

[Ira]

You won't like my suggestion, but...if it's a new printer, take it back and get a printer that supports a network connection (wired or wireless). I have an older Brother All-in-One and can print/scan/copy/fax from any PC on my LAN (with the help of the supplied software). The printer has a wired connection to a nearby LAN switch. Haven't used any of the wireless network printers, but I imagine they would do fine. Network speed isn't a big deal for a printer, and wireless would expand your location options.

Another option...do you have a router or SAN box or some other non-PC device on your network that supports a USB printer? I have my laser printer (USB and parallel port connections only) connected to my router via USB, and it works fine. Same concept as the USB print server mentioned earlier but built into the router. Mine works fine that way.

 

[felixrosbergen]

Ira: this printer is relatively new... I didnt know a network based printer would allow scanning from multiple locations as well....have you checked if/how this works?

 

[nick_l]

get a printer that supports a network connection (wired or wireless).

I have to second this. I've done the vitual usb port thing in the past and it's never been very reliable, especially for something like scanning. I currently have both a wired MFC-8660 and a wireless Hp-C7180 on my network and both allow you to access all functions over the network (with the installation of their driver/sofware package).

As for turning on, I have never come across a printer that will turn itself on when you need it (and I've come across alot of printers!) If you are talking about coming out of standby however, modern networkable printers will wake up when you try to access any of the functions over the nework.

Nick

 

[Ira]

Ira: this printer is relatively new... I didnt know a network based printer would allow scanning from multiple locations as well....have you checked if/how this works?

My All-in-One is a Brother MFC-5840. It's at least two years old, probably older. It has a built in network (ethernet) adapter so it plugs into a router (or switch) like everything else on my LAN. Brother gives away some software called "Control Center". That software allows any PC on the LAN (that has the software installed on it) to send a fax thru the Brother, initiate a copy to another printer, initiate a scan to a file (with multiple output file types, e.g., PDF, jpg) or to an email server or to another application, and of course print a document. I don't know about other All-in-One's, but I imagine they can do similar functions. Mine cost about $300 several years ago, so it's not like it was a high-dollar device. The device (and Brother) are certainly not leading edge stuff.

I use it to scan stuff all the time, usually to create a PDF file on a NAS box, and always start the scan from a PC on my LAN. The All-in-One is not directly connected to any PC.

If you are wanting it to scan stuff the same way that a directly connected, dedicated scanner does (i.e., a TWAIN scanner) with all the bells and whistles like page cropping, I don't know if it will do that. All the scanning I do is simple stuff, so I don't use any of the better scanner software packages like PaperPort. It may work with those packages, too. I just haven't tried it.

 

[twilo123]

be careful with canon. not just any usb to ip will work. they have a proprietary format. i have an mp830 and had to get a printserver from axis.com for it to work. tried others and they were not compatible at all. works fine on the network now although for remote scanning 1 person grabs the connection at a time with the scan client utility.

 

[briankelly63]

Look into DLINK's Shareport technology... that would work for the scanner as its a true two way usb extender arrangement (worked for me).

http://www.dlink.com/press/?prid=442


Brian

 

[troymt]

Without a doubt take the printer back or just buy a new one. USB print servers or the like are spotty at best and many do not support All in Ones or only support printer capabilities.

Network based All-in-one's are not that expensive and will allow for all computers on the network to use any of the features the All-in-On.

TIP: Make sure to set a static IP on the All in One, preferably above or below the DHCP range of your router. That way any network issues (via power loss etc) will not cause the printer to change IP's causing computers on the network to no longer see the device; usually forcing you to reinstall the software.

 

[znelbok]

Here's my suggestion.

Buy a USB scanner and take it to each PC.

What is the point of a scanner in the basement that is connected to the network? Unless it has a document feeder you need to be at the PC prompting it for the next page every time. That's then running up and down every page.

I went through this process at work 7 years ago. We ended up using a USB scanner that had the software isntalled on everyones machine.

Now days the printer is also a scanner (with doc feeder) and is networked based. What is different is that it sends the output to the desired PC as a PDF or tiff and all the controls are on the front panel (ie start next page, set resolutions etc). That is the only way that you will find a desirable solution in your situation.

The only other option I can see is to load the software on the server, use it as the interface to the scanner and then save the files either locally on the server or remotely on a networked PC

Mick