Network a Home Printer To Multiple Laptops/Desktop

[flamesrule_kipper34]

So a total n00b question,

But just wondering what the easiest/simplest/cheapest solution is to connecting one printer to a desktop and 2 laptops at home.

Right now all I have in the house is literally the SMC wireless router in my house that my laptops connect to wirelessly and my desktop connects wired.

What additional hardware/software would I need to simply connect the printer to all these devices so I can print something from anywhere in the house?

Again sorry for the total n00b question but any help/advice would be appreciated, thanks!

[Rathji]

If the printer has a network port, then plug it into your router and install on each machine.

If the printer doesn't have a network port, then you would either need to buy a print server, or a router that has a print server built in (check here for a list of suitable products at Memex). Then you would install the printer on each machine as in step one.

The other option is to plug it into one computer (probably your desktop) and share it with your network, and then install it on each computer by connecting to the printer share. The downside being that this computer would need to be on at the time when you wanted to print.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Rathji nailed it.

Only other option is pick up a WFi compatible printer. Then you just set it up with your wifi, and install on all computers.

[wooohooo]

Yeah I just got a printer with a network port and it's awesome. Only thing I would get is wifi but that was an extra $60 bucks I think. I heard you can 'hack' a cheap router and let it act as a wifi card. But I still think you need a network port.

[TorqueDog]

Three options:

1. Networkable printer, either through wireless or hard-wired to the switch/router. Install on each individual machine.

2. Locally mapped printer on an 'always-on' machine, and map to the printer over the network. This is actually not a bad solution because the machine hosting as the server will generally distribute the drivers to the other machines and the install process on other machines is much simpler as a result.

3. Configure a print server. This can be a wired or wireless device that will create a similar setup to #1.