Printer and network question

[mjrichardson]

Afternoon.

I have a question that is probably daft but I'm asking it anyway!

I have just got a ipf6400 that will be in my office, I have my computer connected to a wireless network in the house but want to have a separate wired network within the room itself to connect the computer and printer. My question is, can I have my mbp connecting to the internet via the wireless network but also connecting to the printer via the wired ethernet?

Thanks for any advice.

Mat

[PeterAit]

Yes, certainly. That's my setup. It'll be the same logical network, but with wireless connection for some nodes and wired for the printer. Of course, if computer and printer are in the same room, why not use USB?

[mjrichardson]

Hi Peter

Thanks for your reply. Good question, not using USB is down to it being a big room! The internet router is a few rooms away because of the phone line being there so I planned on having an entirely separate router and network in the office, is that what you do? If the internet router could be in the office too then it's a no brainer, cable to printer and laptop over the wireless but they can't be in the same room.

With 2 networks, will the mac use both or will it just default to the ethernet cable and not direct internet traffic over the wireless? Sorry if this is a simple question, no idea how this stuff works.

Mat

[smjphoto]

I would think adding a USB wireless dongle to the printer would be the easiest and cheapest way of adding the printer to your existing network. You could also use another router as a wireless repeater and use an Ethernet cable from it to the printer. Both would keep everything on one network. In the past, wireless repeaters caused a drop in speed, but I'm not sure that is a big deal anymore with such high speeds available.

How far away is the printer from the computer? Active USB extensions are good for 16' of extension and are inexpensive.

I don't know if your 2 network approach will work, but I'd be interested in hearing the results if you try it. I'm not sure if the laptop will use the wireless for Internet, and seperate Ethernet for communicating w the printer at the same time... Though the Mac is pretty smart about these things.

Stuart

[howardm]

it will probably work but I'd suggest letting the ethernet portion be an extension of the same wireless network (from the routing point of view).  Ie, you just plug in the printer and give it a STATIC address (it will want to be dynamic which isn't terrific (unless you want to 'reserve' an address via the router).  you should then be able to 'ping' the printer and external sites at the same time.

[mjrichardson]

Thanks for the input gents, I have put it on a USB extender for now but I will buy a router and see how it works, I'm not entirely sure if there's a benefit to stability running data over ethernet rather than USB, will report back once I have the bits and pieces!

Cheers

Mat