print servers and device servers

It's a wonder people can still get away with putting out product so hard to install.

I spent 2 hours getting the XP side to work, then waded through the 98 side for another 2 - back to compusa for my 15% restocking fee.

Don't buy this thing.

first off, I was not sure if this was going to work with my Okidata OL-810e since it wasn't listed as being a "compatible" printer. Regardless I took the risk because I needed a better solution than leaving my PC on and swapping the cables between laser and ink while on my wireless laptop.
So, after taking it out of the box, and setting it up (simple) I was able to print in a matter of mins from my Win2000 PC, and even less on my XP Pro wireless laptop. Although I did connect to the printer using a Local Port on Win2k rather than the LPR on XP. either way, it works and works well, and my Oki works like a charm, even with multiple trays!!
I have used Webjet and LanJet junks and paid way too much for them, get this and save yourself $$ and headaches.

This Dlink print server works fine once you figure it out; I am fairly computer and network savvy, but it still two me two hours to get this thing working.

The instruction manual is a little inadequate; you know to use caution when they misspell the word "parallel" consistently. It would help a great deal to explain what to do if your network does not lie in the 192.168.0.0 network range, as mine does not. I knew what to do immediately when I saw that they preset the IP to 192.168.0.10, but I am sure that many folks would not.

main gripe:
I had one parallel port printer, and one USB port printer. The USB printer *refused* to work; even the print server itself didn't know that it was connected. After trying everything I knew, I finally upgraded the firmware to 1.20 (it was shipped with 1.10). Presto; it worked. However, shame on Dlink for shipping a device that only half-works. To their credit, none of the configuration on the device that I had already done was destroyed by the firmware update, unlike some of their other devices that I own.

I am also noticing abnormally slow ping returns from this device. Every computer on my network returns a ping in 0.2ms; this device returns on in 3ms. This might be expected behavior, but I just thought I would mention it. (BTW, before the firmware upgrade, the ping time was an obsene 300ms!)

Printing photographs on my color printer takes around three times as long as when the color printer is directly connected to a computer. However, this very well might be that I was printing from my laptop over a 5Mbps wireless connection. I will try again later with the laptop connected over the 100Mbps wired connection, to see if this critique is fair.

All in all, I am pleased now; however, two hours of my time were burned up by a device that only half worked when I received it.