I use 3 PC's in the same room in my home. I have one USB printer and I am wondering if I can use a USB hub to connect all 3 PC's to the same printer as a "local" printer.

I know I could use a wireless network and a printer router but I am curious whether a hard-wired connection would work. I can live with having one PC on at a time.

If I went wireless, can I be connected to a VPN and the printer router at the same time?

I am often USING a VPN connection to a company network via my home wireless network on one of the PC's. Can participate in 2 networks at the same time so I would not have to disconnect from the VPN to connect to the home network (i.e. printer)?

THANKS in advance,

wlelmOkay, I have answered part of my own question. It does not appear that I can be networked to computers (or printers connected to computers) on my home wireless network and the VPN connection to the company network at the same time. Good security practice I suppose.

When I am disconnected from VPN, I can share the printer that is connected by USB to my DESKTOP via the wireless network.

As soon as I connect to VPN from my laptop, I can no longer share the printer. Most of the firewall settings on my company-provided laptop are locked so I don't think I can tweak them.

So that gets me back to the idea of a USB hub / switch. In the really old days you could buy a serial switch so that a printer could be shared or more commonly so you could use one serial port for multiple peripherials without re-cabling every time.

Is there such an animal for USB? I realized after my post that to use a USB hub would REQUIRE it to be installed essentially backward so that one peripherial is connected to multiple PC's.

Does a wireless printer router solve this problem, allowing a printer to be shared without PC to PC networking? I'd like not to have to disconnect from VPN every time I want to print, it's almost easier to move a cable.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

wlelmAnswering my own question some more. A wireless print server might solve the problem but it creates another one (for me anyway). My printer is a printer / scanner / fax.

Wireless printserver will only support printing.

I guess it is back to cables one way or another.


wlelm