D-Link DP-301P+ 10/100TX 1-Centronic Port Print Server

The purchase of this product was made to hook up a HP LaserJet 2100 laser printer to our work network. It is equipped with a parallel port only and the computer I wanted to use it with was going to be on the other side of the room near the network switch. This product worked perfectly. The only problem you may encounter is when your network doesn't follow the default IP scheme that is pre-programmed into the unit. That was the case with my setup -- I had a block of IP's that I had to use on my work network. What you'll have to do if you need to follow a different scheme is, hook up a spare router (most routers use the default scheme that is the default in the print server), connect the print server and another computer (internet access is not required -- simply network access), setup the print server as is outlined in the instructions, log into the print server through a web browser, change the network configuration (IP, Subnet, gateway, etc.) to follow your required network settings, shut down the printer and print server, disconnect the print server from the spare router you set up, hook it to your real network router/switch/etc., attempt to connect to the print server through the web browser as you did in the temporary setup but this time use the new IP that you set up. If you did everything right, you should be able to get into the web app. If you can connect to the print server through the web app, you're ready to move on to the printer setup outlined in the instructions. It went smoothly for me the first time and has worked flawlessly for a few weeks. Also, it fit perfectly in the spot that my HP has the printer port located. It's actually inside the printer under a nice cover. That is actually nice because it protects it from getting knocked around in the back. It's a pretty small unit so it should fit fine in most printers.

They really don't build printers like they used to. I have an old HP LaserJet 6MP from 1998 that's still a great printer, but I had no easy way to hook it up to a PC and several Macs. This tiny thing makes it work as a network printer. My only complaints are: sometimes it stops working and needs to be unplugged and replugged to reset it. Also this is the second one I've bought. The first one lasted 3 years but died. Overall, though, this is a great way to keep an old parallel printer going.

Though the technician at D-Link that I talked to says that the device was intended to be used with Windows XP, Vista and Win7, I bought this device to use with Windows 8.1 (64-bit). Although it was a pain to configure (it took approx. 1 hour and 2 D-Link tech support phone calls), I was able to successfully configure this with Windows 8.1. Some tips and things to consider when installing this device on a local area network with Windows 8.1: 1. When changing the default IP address on the device, I had to use the following: IP: 192.168.0.3 Subnet: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: 102.168.1.10 2. After changing my laptop's network configuration to the above values, I still could not access the device's internal IP using Internet Explorer. Instead, I had to use Firefox. 3. When adding a new printer within Windows 8.1's "Devices and printers" panel/window, even though the DP301P+ was listed as an available NEW device after "Searching for available printers...", when I selected the DP301P+ from the list, Windows reported that it could not make a connection to the device (go figure). I therefore chose "The printer that I want isn't listed," then clicked "Next". From the next window I chose "Add a printer using a TCP/IP address of hostname" then "Next". On the next page I chose "TCP/IP Device" then entered the new IP address that I assigned for the device. I then had to tell Windows where to find the .INF printer driver file on my hard drive. This is how I was able to finally get this device to work with Windows 8.1.

plugged it in to the LPT port on the printer... added the power plug... connected directly to my computer with a network cable... changed the IP address to a fixed one compatible with our network... went into our router and reserved the ip... unplugged from my direct computer and connected it into our switch... loaded the drivers on my computers in our network and it started printing... what more could one want... keeps my old laser jet 4 connected to the network and working with new computers. Easy to set up. Tried a different one (t-link) that was horrible... this one is much easy! Has a web interface to manage the set up... the CD that came with it is useless... did not work on my computer.

very useful.. for printer lipi 6304 model