need advice on best printing option please ...

[Ice9]

Here's a drawing of how my home network looks like.

The modem, the router, WS-1 and WS2 are in the same room together with the printer (I'd like to buy an HP PSC-1610 All-In-One printer)
The File Server (FS-1) is two rooms away and WS-3 is on the second floor, everything is networked and works quite well.

What I would like to do is at least be able to print from WS-1 and WS-2 to the printer, WS-3 as well would be nice but is not mandatory.
FS-1 is the only machine to stay up and running all the time because it's the only machine to be accessed by the workstations to serve music and various other files, but I think it's too far away to actually run a printserver on (3 walls and 8m away from the main room)

What would you do if you were in my place?
Is a bluetooth usb printserver workable, would I be able to scan files over the network, does this even work in linux?

I would appreciate all kinds of feedback, thanks in advance.

[Void Main]

I would do a lot of research on that model before buying it. I did a few searches and saw mixed reviews overall on any OS. Some people swore by it, some said it sucked. Didn't seem to be any middle ground. I did see mention that printing and scanning should work with this. I purchased a Lexmark AIO on blind faith only because it was on special for $40 at Christmas time. That was a mistake, no Linux support at all.

I do have an HP Deskjet 940C and a Laserjet 1200 here at the house. I used to have them hooked up to a JetDirect but that crapped out so I just plugged them both into my desktop machine in the kitchen (DeskJet on USB and Laserjet on parallel cable). I configured them up in CUPS (localhost:631) and they work great. If I am on any other Linux box in the house and go to print something it sees the print queues without even having to configure anything. CUPS is pretty awesome.

Now, that doesn't really answer any of your questions but I guess you don't want to just hang the printer off of one of your desktops huh? If you did that would mean you would have to leave it on all the time (which I do on my print server desktop). Regarding the USB print server and scanning over the network. I could be wrong but I think a USB print server is just that, for printing only, not scanning. I am pretty sure you would need this printer hooked up to a computer to scan.

So, my suggestion is to do just that, hook it up to one of your existing desktops and use it as the print/scan server. I believe sane has client/server capabilities. Even if it doesn't you should be able to ssh in to the server and run xsane which will display on your local desktop (or VNC, etc. many ways to skin a cat).

Again, I would do more research on the unit as to how well supported each function is in Linux. Wait for other peoples suggestions though as I am getting really rusty in these areas. Maybe if you get one and like it and it works for you I'll get one too. :)

EDIT: Looks promising:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_print ... P-PSC_1600

[Ice9]

Hehe, I was gonna post that very same link
Now, I thought about setting up a printserver on a box, but the one and only machine on which I could set it up sits in a room about 8m away from our office space AND separated by 3 walls

Leaving a computer (other than the file server running all the time is no option and I was tired of having to switch on my wife's pc every time I wanted to print a page.

[JoeDude]

I bought a Lexmark 2300 at christmas on special (;-0 @ Void, always a bargain watcher). The 2300 has Linux support and is an all in one printer...takes a while to set up though...

On my set up (finally got the rest running) I have an old HP Pavillion on SUSE acting as my server, the printer is off that. The rest of the puters in my house are networked (obviously through it, so all print commands go through it and it works fine...Problem is it's in a small box room upstairs and everytime you print to it...well you get the idea. On the computer I'm on now, I have a local printer HP Color Deskjet 697c, it takes care of all the documents and text printing...in it's day, it was a great printer, photo capable and all. But, can't find a photo cartridge for it now a days...

My set up goes something like this

Modem to HP Pav
HP Pav to Router
Router to PC 1 & PC 2

It was a bitch to get going...had some port forwarding issues, but a little time and effort sorted it out. I don't see any recognizable speed difference or performance issues, plus I can print from anywhere in the house...

[Ice9]

You can print from anywhere in the house but where is your printer located?

Moving the File Server isn't an option nor can I keep my wife's pc running all the time or she would go even more berserk

[JoeDude]

off the server

Some may remember that when I lived in Korea, this was the same setup I had there...But, it was all in one room, so if something went goofy, it was all right there...