Linksys in 2003?
Paul wrote:
micky wrote:
I'm looking for a wireless parallel print server and I found one on
Amazon and one on Ebay.
These were made in 2003 or 2004 when parallel printers were the norm,
and I'm wondering if Linksys had a bad year, or if it only applied to
their print servers.
The Amazon one was maybe a Linksys WPS32 at various sellers, several at
$20, which seemed cheap enough but, as Paul would suggest, I looked at
the Amazon ratings and it was a 3. with a really large number of 1's
and 2's. Instructions complicated, incomplete, no good, customer
service gives contradictory statements, From customers who generally
loved Linksys and bragged about how many other things from them they had
and
And Ebay's was a Linksys Wireless G Print Server WPS54GU2. So I figured
that one woudl be good It has 3 bids already and 2 hours before it
closes. So I looked and it was on Amazon with iirc a 2.5 rating!!!
Same kinds of complaints. Like the others, from people with 35 years
in computing, network adminstrators etc.
So, Linksys still has a good reputation doesn't it?
Were wireless print servers uncommon enough that if they were bad, most
people didn't notice, and even fewer cared?
So the upshot is, I've run out of room in my office/bedroom and want to
put a big laser printer in the next room. I've given up on wireless
for now and I bought a wired one for 99 cents, plus $6 S&H. It just
means a 4rd wire running through the hall, and only a couple feet for
this one.
Linksys was originally their own small company.
I bought a $300 router from them. It needed to be
rebooted twice an evening. Eventually it "bricked",
and the two PCBs inside the router, no longer talk
to one another.
Linksys was bought by Cisco. Cisco was the Enterprise/Business
networking company, and decided to shop for a Consumer networking
company. It's not clear, how much design discipline and management
oversight, moved from Cisco into Linksys.
Now Belkin owns Linksys name.
Electronics devices, only work as well as the standards
defined for them. And the extent to which industry participants
check for compatibility. Some standards for example, there
are yearly "plug-fests", where manufacturers meet in Vegas,
connect the hardwares together, and note whether they work
or not.
So, does a "print server" have a spec or standard defining
how it works ? Do the printer companies and print server
companies meet regularly and plug their stuff together ?
I don't know the answer to that, but my suspicion is
large quantities of bailing wire and binder twine hold
this stuff together. YMMV of course.
Paul
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