that new feature would be good

And perhaps if you could make some coffee, please? Of course scriptable, so that if more than two wireless interfaces are down, it does make STRONG coffee automatically...

COME ONE, GUYS!

RouterOS is just that - a ROUTER (!) OS. Please let's keep it like that. If you want a printserver, purchase one or use a separate linux box for that.

Best regards,
Christian Meis

I just checked at newegg. A print server is $35-100 U$. That seems a better way to go than mikrotik. Besides, most of my MTs don't have parallel or USB.

that new feature would be good

Expanded USB support would be nice, but for things like NICs, GPSs, and UPSs, not printers.

--Eric

Now, when you mentione, I wonder, what is purpose of GPS suppoer in MT? I have GPS and use it constantly, but I cannot imagine why would I connect GPS to MT?

It's for those ugly days when you loose a router...

I duscussed ti with my AP's. They showed no intention to wander around. I guess that is because they are all nailed to something (poles, walls.. etc...)



I also thought about Wardriving, but it seems to me that it is much easier to move laptop with NetStumbler instead of MT.

GPS gives you precise time. Also you can find your router's position better If you forget where it is

Well, thats, quite expensive watch

I already have GPS measured locations of all devices (incuding clients), but in my experience, it is enough to make measurement once, so one GPS can do the job fopr all AP's and clients

GPS is usefull when the router is attached, for example, to a truck/train/car, you can check where the router is currently located
It could be useful for mesh kind network or something like that...

print server option is good when you are using Microtik in a small office up to 20 PCs

what is the problem to use simple printer sharing in this case?

GPS is usefull when the router is attached, for example, to a truck/train/car, you can check where the router is currently located :)
It could be useful for mesh kind network or something like that...

It would be _really_ useful if you guys implemented a true TDMA MAC (not polling), hint hint.... :-)

--Eric

I have same request from my customer.
Customer is national wide distributing company.

Customer wants EV-DO router with integrated print server.

I think this solution will be very actual for distributing company and others who need vehicle communication and printing systems.

I don't see a reason why not to use MT as a print server. There is a DHCP, FTP, ... servers in RouterOS so why not print server.
I would like to have this feature very strong. I have Asus WL500gP which I use as a print server with my USB HP printer. As I look for a new router with more ports and Gigabit ethernet, I'd like to try RB 493G which is almost ideal solution. It has a USB port so it would be great if I can connect a printer to it. Print server is quite simple application using JetDirect protocol, there's no need for queueing or something like that, just simply redirect data from TCP port 9100 to USB port.
Of course I can keep my Asus together with MT, but that's what I don't want. It's redundant and it consumes power.
I think that many office users would be grateful for this feature.

There are printers with network card/print server included. We've those.

Sounds like a job for MetaRouter! It will be nice when things are better supported and the Wiki is up to date with examples.

Print Server and sharing file is great feature for : office , network cafe , organizations and it`s very important , I know alot of routers come with this features , but mikrotik have more options for networking , firewall ,....
please if can be possible that will be great and usefull and it will be a package for who really need to have this option to select or deselect it

thank you

Sounds like a job for MetaRouter! It will be nice when things are better supported and the Wiki is up to date with examples.

for what features you want examples for on the wiki? Please name features that need more attention and we will see to improve those.

As suggested at the moment IP capable printers should be used at the moment as SMB service does not support printer sharing.

Why should Mikrotik include print server?

THIS IS WHY:

Most off-the-shelf routers with a USB port INCLUDE A PRINT SERVER!

Why can Cisco, DLink, Netgear, etc implement a print server, but mikrotik NOT implement a print server?

If nothing else, do it just to stay on par with the competition.

-1 from me.

Its bad enough that we have smb in a router, let alome print sharing. Strip out all the crap and get ROS back to a lean mean routing machine!

-1 from me.

Its bad enough that we have smb in a router, let alome print sharing. Strip out all the crap and get ROS back to a lean mean routing machine!

-1

So, turn off what you don't want. Should they remove wireless, and let you use a separate wireless access point? Should they remove scripting, so it is just a lean routing machine? What about hotspot and user manager... should they be eliminated too?

Just because there is extra stuff doesn't mean you have to use it.

Printing is not a routing feature. Smb is not a routing feature. Hotspot is. These are routers after all.

Drop usermanager, theres 3rd party tools for that in free radius.

Stop packing the mikrotiks full of other home router crap, if you want that , get a tp link. If there were less frivolent features, then the features that remained would work better, as development team would concentrate on key features.

With regards to removing wireless, hell yes. The most reliabe routerboards are those without embedded wireless. Our 1100 and 1200s, rb450 etc all have much longer uptimes and less issues than those with wireless.

With regards to removing wireless, hell yes. The most reliabe routerboards are those without embedded wireless. Our 1100 and 1200s, rb450 etc all have much longer uptimes and less issues than those with wireless.

You make no sense at all!

Mikrotik is a WISP product provider. Their biggest customer base is WIRELESS ISP's. Remove Wireless, and you remove all their customers.

If you would read the documentation, then you would know that you can DISABLE and even COMPLETELY REMOVE wireless if you don't use it. There are MANY things that you can enable, disable, and even remove completely.

MikroTik introduced whole line of home routers, so clearly they want to compete on that market too. And it means they have to add features for home users. You may not like it, but if they are really serious about home products, SMB should be only beginning.

But it should not be a problem for anyone. Currently it's probably just few hundered kilobytes of binaries taking flash space and no other resources if not enabled. And if they decide to add more "crazy" stuff, they can always move it to separate package. It's also not hard to imagine hiring few more developers to not slow down work on other features.

As for print server, which current topic is about, I'm surprised it's not there right from the beginning when first home router with USB was released. It does not make sense to limit target audience by not including something so simple. It really doesn't have to be anything fancy, no queues or anything. Just simple JetDirect-like sharing (like open source p910nd does) would be enough.

With regards to removing wireless, hell yes. The most reliabe routerboards are those without embedded wireless. Our 1100 and 1200s, rb450 etc all have much longer uptimes and less issues than those with wireless.

You make no sense at all!

Mikrotik is a WISP product provider. Their biggest customer base is WIRELESS ISP's. Remove Wireless, and you remove all their customers.

If you would read the documentation, then you would know that you can DISABLE and even COMPLETELY REMOVE wireless if you don't use it. There are MANY things that you can enable, disable, and even remove completely.

I know what I can disable. I bothered to sit the mikrotik exams. As a wisp , I can tell you that mikrotik are no longer brilliant at wifi - just look at all the threads regarding wifi issues. I've seen wds bridge loops first hand and HWMP still does not work.

Possibly because the dev teams go for quick fixes and new features. I very much doubt you'll be seeing embedded wifi in the CCR!

why get so annoyed when some one else wants something different to you?

There are printers with network card/print server included. We've those.

any one checked e-print option ?

Hello.
Printer support request / Print server mikrotik / Printer mikrotik
Please add your voice for printer support request http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=82284&e=0
Thank you

Bad idea.
Every USB Print Server has 'printer compatiblity list'.
Not every printer is supported, only mentioned on that list.
It's a endless work for developers adding support for new printers.
Just my two cents.

Regards,

Network printers are so easy to find now, and very inexpensive... why would anyone still need a usb print server?

Also, you can get a very tiny usb print server for less than $20. Hardly takes any extra room.

Bad idea.
Every USB Print Server has 'printer compatiblity list'.
Not every printer is supported, only mentioned on that list.
It's a endless work for developers adding support for new printers.
Just my two cents.

Regards,

Developers not thinking about adding new printers, drivers for printer on the end-user machine. With cups end-user thinks about drivers also.

Network printers are so easy to find now, and very inexpensive... why would anyone still need a usb print server?

Yes, you are right. But this feature will be usefull for some peoples, I seen many questions about this option. Plus one reason for buy mikrotik.

drivers for printer on the end-user machine

If we are talking about drivers, there is also need to provide driver for 'Virtual USB Port' for every operating system.
This is another extra work for developers .
Many manufacturers offer USB print servers and every comes with 'Printer compatibility list' and 'Virtual USB Port' driver.
Download user guides for few models and read about necessary printer installation steps.
Some of them suppots only Windows OSes, no 'Virtual USB Port' driver for Linux or Mac.
IMHO, for reasons mentioned above, MT probably will never implement printer server functionality in RouterOS.

Regards,

drivers for printer on the end-user machine

If we are talking about drivers, there is also need to provide driver for 'Virtual USB Port' for every operating system.
This is another extra work for developers .
Many manufacturers offer USB print servers and every comes with 'Printer compatibility list' and 'Virtual USB Port' driver.
Download user guides for few models and read about necessary printer installation steps.
Some of them suppots only Windows OSes, no 'Virtual USB Port' driver for Linux or Mac.
IMHO, for reasons mentioned above, MT probably will never implement printer server functionality in RouterOS.

Regards,

Hi, virtual usb not needed, they can use IPP http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol

Hi, virtual usb not needed, they can use IPP http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol

OK, but in this case all necessary conversion 'IPP -> USB' must be done by router software,
because we are talking about printers without network interface.
This conversion is printer specific, thus need to be implemented for every supported printer.
And we are back with 'Printer Compatibility List'
I am not against this feature, but IMHO maintenance of 'print server' module and adding support for new printers is time-consuming task
and due to this MT probably will never implement it in RouterOS.

Regards,

In some countries it is hard to get a good network MFP at a reasonable price.

And having to keep one computer running for print sharing is not the idea, specially with many people foregoing desktops now.

And home routers suck, even some inexpensive "business" routers do. That's why I went Mikrotik.

But a print server that just prints is basically useless in a home.

And extra box clutter at home is no go.

It should somehow support full multifunction capability, if it's going to be done. Now THAT would be interesting.

Hi, virtual usb not needed, they can use IPP http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol

OK, but in this case all necessary conversion 'IPP -> USB' must be done by router software,
because we are talking about printers without network interface.
This conversion is printer specific, thus need to be implemented for every supported printer.
And we are back with 'Printer Compatibility List'
I am not against this feature, but IMHO maintenance of 'print server' module and adding support for new printers is time-consuming task
and due to this MT probably will never implement it in RouterOS.

Regards,

Hi, I think basic printing supports by the generic driver. http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_ ... 021811.pdf If needs supporting for every device(maybe?) they can make directory for drivers where user can put printer specific driver, something like file/printer/Samsung-MLspl.ppd etc.
But I'm not versed in this area. Dlink can make this for cheap router, why MikroTik team can't implement that I don't know.

In some countries it is hard to get a good network MFP at a reasonable price.

And having to keep one computer running for print sharing is not the idea, specially with many people foregoing desktops now.

And home routers suck, even some inexpensive "business" routers do. That's why I went Mikrotik.

But a print server that just prints is basically useless in a home.

And extra box clutter at home is no go.

It should somehow support full multifunction capability, if it's going to be done. Now THAT would be interesting.

Hi, please add your voice for printer request if you interested in this feature.
http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=82284&e=0

Thanks

we dont need that feature at all.
New printers have wi-fi and google cloud print. Just buy them. It's the future. They are allready cheap.
No need in print serrver functionality in RouterOS

Just because you find something useless, does not mean it's useless for everyone.

Imagine someone coming to thread where you voice your support for Hyper-V network drivers (I noticed it accidentally, because I opened it right after this one), and writing e.g. "Network works with VMware. Just get ESXi. And it's free!" It isn't much different, is it?

we dont need that feature at all.
New printers have wi-fi and google cloud print. Just buy them. It's the future. They are allready cheap.
No need in print server functionality in RouterOS

Why apple, dlink, asus and others include print server functionality in their devices? I think it is useful for some. First router is network device and this is priority, but when device have possibility to support printing why not add? It's expand functionality and it's extra reason to choose mikrotik.