Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys PPSX1 EtherFast 10/100 1-Port PrintServer

This unit took nearly no time to set up: the DHCP server on the network gave it an address instantly. It happily supports JetDirect (port 9100/tcp) printing, but performance is lousy. Even on a 100mbit network, it did no better than 58kbytes/second throughput measured during careful tests. Our application included >22 megabyte image files to a color printer.

For low-volume printouts (say, text reports from an accounting system), this looks like a winner, but for anything requiring any real throughput, it's not going to be too useful. The same image that took two and a half minutes using this device took eleven seconds to a real HP LaserJet 4100 printer.

I installed this device simply by accepting all the defaults in the setup. I'm using an Epson 900 Stylus ink printer. It's the default printer for all the computers on my network. It's attached to a 10BaseT hub that is connected to a Linksys 4-port DSL/Cable modem router. DHCP is enabled in the router and the print server uses that for an IP address. It's all working with no problem.

I purchased this for use in a client's small home network to share their printer; Laptop running wireless downstairs, Desktop hardwired upstairs. Every thing was a peice of cake and works like a charm. Everyone is happy, especially me - the paid geek.

As a fan of Linksys network devices, I'm very disappointed in this one. For starters, figuring out how to configure the unit to do CUPS-like printing was very difficult - it took googling to figure out the exact path to the printer, because the documentation I got was outdated. While the server allows disabling older printing protocols like NetBEUI and AppleTalk, it will not disable NetBIOS and the ilk. As a result, it generates more traffic than necessary (every 2 seconds), polluting the network. Finally, the decent web-driven configuration interface that Linksys is known for has been replaced with something quickly thrown together, so that while you can set a password to protect the unit, anyone on the LAN can modify the settings.

This unit is a sub-par product, at best. Disappointing, because I'm used to better devices from Linksys.

This server is very nice. I thought i was going to have difficulty because of all the problems that i've heard from other sites, but to my surprise, it wasn't too bad.

I didn't use Linksys's stupid software to set this up becuase i didn't want to have to install 20 computers with software that would just slow them down. I connected directly to the router using one computer, set everything up on the print server via the web interface, then took the server to the printer it was to be hooked up to, plugged it in, and WHAM!!! it worked. It's been plugged in for about 4-5 months consecutively with about 1 power cycle per month and no problems yet... **Knock on wood**

Just for everyone's information... if you use LPR printing in windows, you don't have to use Linksys's software. :) makes everything A LOT easier, in my opinion anyways.

It works great with a Mac too on the same network!