Infinite Loop Hands on: adding AirPrint to your home network with xPrintServer
The Lantronix xPrintServer Home Edition comes complete with an included Ethernet cable. Chris Foresman Most new printers on the market with built-in WiFi networking also support Apple's AirPrint standard, which allows iOS devices to print to them wirelessly with zero configuration. However, many perfectly functioning printers from just a couple of years ago don't support AirPrint, and plenty more have no built-in WiFi at all. If you have an iPhone or iPad and need to print something out, you might be stuck trying to transfer an image or file to a computer using e-mail or Dropbox, and then printing from there. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel. One solution is Lantronix's xPrintServer, which can transform your home printer (or printers) into an AirPrint-compatible device (no configuration necessary), with negligible power use, and little outlay of cash. Lantronix makes two versions of its xPrintServer device. One version is designed for enterprise environments, works with any networked printer, and costs $149. The Home Edition, announced in June, connects any USB printer and up to two networked printers for just $99. I took the Home Edition for a spin, and can say with confidence that the xPrintServer works exactly as advertised. The xPrintServer is small and unassuming—smaller than two iPhones stacked together. Chris Foresman The ability to print pictures and documents directly from an iPhone or iPad isn't an absolute necessity in our home. But my girlfriend, who juggles endless editorial and social media tasks for an online publishing company, sometimes has to bring her work home. Whenever possible, she likes using her iPad from the comfort of the couch or bed, and sometimes she has different types of documents that need to be printed. We have an Epson Artisan 810 that, despite having wireless WiFi networking, isn't AirPrint compatible. But it does have high-quality photo printing abilities, a built in scanner, automated duplexing, and other features we really like. We could buy a new, AirPrint-compatible printer; in fact, Epson's Artisan 837 is essentially the same product but with AirPrint compatibility. But that costs money, and my girlfriend doesn't like parting with any more than required. There are cheaper printers out there, as well, some even under $100. But, according to Lantronix Chief Technology Architect Dave Wagstaff, the xPrintServer isn't designed to compete with cheap budget printers. "We're really going after the market of people that are happy with an existing printer," he told Ars. "I myself have an 11-year-old HP LaserJet that's built like a tank." With the Lantronix xPrintServer Home Edition, our existing Artisan 810 happily prints photos, spreadsheets, PDFs, and other documents without complaint—and without transferring files from an iPad to a computer. Easy set up Just plug in AC power, Ethernet, and optionally USB to get started. Chris Foresman Like AirPrint itself, the xPrintServer could not be more simple to set up. Plug in the AC adapter, connect the device to your router using the supplied Ethernet cable, and let the xPrintServer do its thing. Optionally, you can plug in a printer directly using a USB cable, but our printer is already connected to the network via WiFi. The entire process takes about 60 seconds; if the xPrintServer finds and recognizes a printer on your network, it will auto configure the printer and begin flashing its orange LED indicator in a subtle fade in, fade out pattern. The xPrintServer has an indicator light integrated into its logo, which pulses like a "heartbeat" when it's configured and ready. Chris Foresman Once configured, any available printers will show up in a list when you choose "Print" from any iOS app that offers AirPrint capability. When paired with our Epson Artisan 810, photos printed automatically using the 4x6 photo paper, while documents like PDFs automatically printed on standard letter size paper. (I have seen similar behavior from HP printers when using AirPrint, which is apparently built in to a particular printer's driver software.) Photos printed automatically on 4x6 photo paper loaded in our Epson Artisan 810. Chris Foresman The xPrintServer also includes an embedded browser-based interface for manual configuration, though the device is designed so that most users will never have cause to use it. (That might explain why the interface also isn't much to write home about, but it is comparable to your average WiFi router configuration.) From here you can manually configure printers, update the firmware, or send error logs to Lantronix if your run into a support issue. Enlarge / The browser-based configuration interface isn't great, but most users will never have to touch it. The xPrintServer includes drivers for 4,097 different printer models. If for some reason your particular model isn't supported—which is highly unlikely unless your printer is very old—you can contact Lantronix in order to add support. I found the company's customer service to be pretty responsive; they can step you through a manual configuration process via the browser interface if need be. Beyond that, there's not much to say about the xPrintServer's operation. In fact, I can't think of a more glowing or apt review; just set it, and forget it. One good option among many Of course, the xPrintServer isn't the only, or even the cheapest way to add AirPrint support to your home network. We already noted that some budget printers are out there, for instance. There are probably plenty of Mac users that are aware of Ecamm's Printopia software, which costs just $19.95. It turns any Mac into an AirPrint server, and even allows sending print jobs as PDFs or JPEGs to your Mac or Dropbox. But Printopia requires having a Mac that is on and running all the time, and not everyone has a Mac that could be used on an AirPrint server. In our house, we only have laptops, and none of them run 24/7. The xPrintServer, in contrast, works even if you only run Windows or Linux computers at home, and consumes less than 1W of power—even a Mac mini isn't that efficient. And while Lantronix makes a version of the xPrintServer geared towards enterprise users, the Home Edition should also suffice for small offices with just one or two printers. With the xPrintServer, I can finally print a PDF attached to an e-mail directly from my iPhone. Chris Foresman "We view the xPrintServer as more of a user experience thing," Wagstaff said. "It's a simple plug-in appliance that doesn't require any software setup, server hardware, or extra mobile apps to work." If you're satisfied with your existing printer, but still want AirPrint compatibility, we think the xPrintServer is a good solution. http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/1siWNSij19I/ Sent with Reeder Sent from my iPhone
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