QNAP as print server

[staresy]

Is it possible to set up a QNAP running slimserver to be a print server as well.... makes sense as it's always on?

Any info on how to do this?

Ta

[bonze]

Page 63 of the manual :-)

Have you tried plugging a USB printer in?
What information shows on the configuration page?

[kevinw10000]

Hi,

I'm using the QNAP as a print server for my HP PSC 1200 USB printer. Very easy just plug in the printer, turn it on and enable it on the appropriate QNAP Web Admin page. It will display the printer type after a short time and then you just need to add a printer in Windows in the usual way (Network Printer and browse). You will need to install the driver for the printer and you are off. :-)

Kevinw10000

[consciouspnm]

The only flaw is you cannot change the share name, it's just the name of the server with PR on the end

[staresy]

Thanks for your advice.
I've got my QNAP to work as a print server (if a little slow).
However, my printer is an all-in-one printer/scanner (Epson Stylus Photo RX520). I can't get the scanner to work via the QNAP.

Any ideas?

Ta

[funkstar]

The scanner isn't going to work with any print server as they don't support two way communications. Another thing that probably won't work is checking the ink levels, if that is handles by the printer (Lexmark guess the ink levers in the drivers - and are usually wrong by a large amaount).

[ultra238a]

I am interested in how slow yours in because we use one here in the office connected to a HP LaserJet and it is no slower than having it connected through another machine on the network and shared.

[funkstar]

i would guess that an inkjet is going to be slower to print than a laserjet as it has to deal with more information. Assuming the LaserJEt is mono as opposed to colour is going to make a huge difference. Also laser printers tend to do a lot of processing internally, you are just sending PostScript data to them. InkJets are dumb boxes and do very little for themselves so the drivers need to fully process the page and send the RAW data to the printer. This will be considderably more than PostScript data, even for a basic text page.

Only exceptions to this is with very cheap budget lasers and high end workgroup class inkjets :)

[ultra238a]

It is a cheap HP LaserJet 1020 - it has very little in the way of brains AFAIK, a bit like a Sonos owner ;)

[funkstar]

thats harsh Paul ;)

but it is still not having to send colour information through the server.

[ultra238a]

Harsh? Maybe :)

I'll try my colour inkjet (Canon Pixma) on it and see how it goes.

[Fifer]

My Pixma works well with the Qnap. A little slower than a direct connection and you lose the two way communication (which only really matters for ink levels and CD loading but there are ways around both), but the advantage of having the printer always available without switching on a specific PC more than compensates.

[Seineseeker]

My printer was working fine. But I reformatted by hard disk and reset my PC and now I can't see it anymore.

When I search for a printer on the network, the only network that comes up is the Microsoft Network. How can I access the TS-101 files, because it is still set up on there.

The manual has a page with a 100.67.34.1 type address, but I don't know what the equivalent for my TS-101 would be.

[jonf]

I have the same problem. I can see my printer in the configuration settings in qnap administration but can't see the printer to print to. any ideas??

[RichardEvans]

I have a HP Deskjet5550 running off my Qnap.

The only annoying issue I found is that I have to make sure I log into my Qnap before attempting to print. I found the only way to do this is to open up an explorer window, and then click on one of the network drives (I usually click on Public), it then asks me for my password, which enales me to log in.

It would be nice if I could set up the access permissions on the printer, so that it can be accessed without having to log in, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the admin pages. Hence I just have to remember to log in before printing.

Appart from that, printing works just fine. A bit slow, but then this is via a wireless connection. Also as somebody else pointed out, you also need to install the driver on your computer.

Richard.