two routers and one print server

[yanksfan]

Hello everyone,

I have a home router by 3com and has a print server. I am going to buy a newer router, but it does not come with a print server. Is there a way that I could wire the two together that computers on my network could print to the printer on the second router?

Thanks

(Its a 3com home ethernet gateway, and the new one will be a Netgear RP614)

[MrLinus]

Attach the printer to one of the existing computers and have it act as a print server.

[yanksfan]

That's true, but then I have to leave that computer on all the time...

[MrLinus]

What kind of printer is on the 2nd router (netgear)? There are "external" printer servers you can purchase (I know HP makes one for some of it's non-networkable printers).

I just want to clarify so I am understanding correctly:

You will have two routers and on each will be a printer. One router has a print server (thus making it easy to print to). The other router, a Netgear RP614, doesn't but will have a printer attached. Is this correct?

[yanksfan]

No, that's not what I meant. I only need to share one printer. I was just wondering if there was a way I could use the print server on my old router with my new router. (Maybe connect it to the new router through the WAN port..?)

Yes, the second (new) router is the netgear one. I saw some external print servers, but since its just for my home network I wasn't really planning to spend that much (like over $100).

[MrLinus]

Oh.. Ok. I misunderstood you. So you would have a setup like this:

printer
   |
   |
   |
Old Router -------- New Router ------- Computer #1

The immediate issue is the routing of "private addressing" will be a problem and some type of rule set would need to be put in place (forwarding back and forth) in the NetGear router. I will point out that the RP614 isn't that configurable.

Just an odd question, why are you buying a new router if the existing one is fine? You could do a setup like below:

                                    printer
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |
Internet ----New Router -------- Old Router ------- Computer #1

And have you looked into other routers besides the RP614 (I have one.. nothing that spectacular). What about these:

Netgear FR114P Firewall Cable/DSL Router with Print Server
SMC 7004ABR Barricade Network and Internet Router with Print Server
D-Link Express EtherNetwork 4 Port Broadband Router Plus Print Server
Linksys PrintServer for USB with 4 port Switch PSUS4

[yanksfan]

Well, the new router does have features like DNS proxy and such, which makes surfing nice..

No biggie, I'll just share it on one of the computers.

Thanks for your help