Can Anyone Suggest A Canon Wireless Printer Using Cli-8 Cartridges?

[ThrillaMozilla]

I don't understand those print servers. What OS do they use, and how do you know you can get a good driver for the server?

 

[stratman]

I don't understand those print servers. What OS do they use, and how do you know you can get a good driver for the server?

It depends on what you purchase. You need to pay attention to OS and client device compatibility before you purchase. I don't recall OP giving any details on his network, client devices or OS'es.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Well, I still don't understand these print servers. My suspicion is that the print server comes with a lot of print drivers included, but if your printer is not included, that's tough. The one I checked (a popular model, one of the first hits on Google) did not have the Canon Pro 9000 Mark II listed. Go figure. I don't know whether you can add new printers or if you're just SOL.

I also suspect that they are acting as computers with a shared printer. I would worry about being stuck with a lemon of a driver, and goodness knows there are plenty of those around.

Please tell me I misunderstand the whole process.

 

[PeterBJ]

I also suspect that they are acting as computers with a shared computer. I would worry about being stuck with a lemon of a driver, and goodness knows there are plenty of those around.

I guess you meant:"I also suspect that they are acting as computers with a shared printer."?

When sharing printers the printer driver must also be installed on the client computer, so maybe there is no problem?

 

[websnail]

The print servers side of things is unique with Canon printers because they use a different approach for communicating with the printer for things like status monitoring compared to other printer brands like Epson, HP, etc...

As a result print servers like the Silex brand developed specifically to deal with the need. An educated guess would be that the reason they moved into USB servers is that they'd effectively done most of the required work already with their Canon printservers and it appears they've recognised the broader USB->network server market is the one to go for as that's where all their new models are going.

Printer drivers don't appear to be the issue but having checked their compatibility listing it looks like the core compatibility issues are testing availability or the additional functionality the printer has such as memory cards, scanner, etc...

I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be acting as computers in the broader sense but they are providing an interface for USB over network so more a bridge than anything.

Anyway, as noted earlier it's imperative that you check for Operating System compatibility before purchasing any USB->network server to avoid getting an old version that's no longer supported. Case in point the old Belkin model just doesn't want to play ball with Windows 7 (no idea about 8).

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Thanks, Websnail. Yes, that is what I meant, PeterBJ.