Making wireless print server.

russ christensen

As the title says, i'm interested in turning a propeller protoboard and an hb500 into a wireless print server.· can it be done?· i don't want to do any postprocessing or anything like that, all i want to do is reroute the usb driver to the bluetooth, and then relay whatever signal it is getting to the usb printer.· This is more of a personal challenge than a necessary project, since these kind of devices exist in retail.· But since i already have all the hardware that i would need, i'd like to see if it can be done this way instead of spending 150$ on a similar commercial device.· Look forward to any suggestions as of where to start.· Maybe a wrapper of some sort·programmed in vb or c#?· Let me know what you guys think!

Russ

russ christensen

Seeing as there were no reply's, i'm going to assume that nobody's tried to do anything like this before? If thats the case, could anybody maybe recommend a place to start messing around? I've searched the forums and can't find much help, nor on the web. If anybody has any recommendations i'm all ears. Thanks guys!

Russell

mikediv

Russ I would bet it could be done I would think the prop would need a bit more buffer ram or storage especially with postscript But I have to add I was in need of the same thing and thought about a hacker solution but then Dell sent me a flyer I bougt a Dell V305W
Wireless printer for $75.00 dollars full color its even a full scanner copier. It just takes the wind out of my sails when I think about design , cost, time spent. LOL I have used the Eb500 card for just about everything else though its a very nice card. and has a very decent range another idea is PC's are so dirt cheap I picked up a few Dell optiplex 400 machines loaded for 50 bucks you could just stick a wireless card into on of those and off you go, however if its a learning experiance I would have no doubt the prop could do it

Post Edited (mikediv) : 4/9/2009 4:30:33 PM GMT

russ christensen

The only reason i'd do it is to learn from it, and because i believe i already have all the necessary hardware. I just don't know enough about the communications protocols, and how i would redirect from windows to the serial port. As far as buffer ram, i hadn't thought about that, the idea would be just to send the information to the printer as soon as i got it, and usb is way faster than serial. I wonder if the printer could even recieve data that slow? i don't know what the speed requirements are on both ends. Thats someting i'd have to look at i guess. Thanks for the help!

Russ

mikediv

I agree speed would be slow but thats what a big buffer would be for I am a neewb with the prop but even I run into the ram limits of this chip a lot ,, But still I could picture how this oculd be done, do you have a spare PC you could use as the print server, Well I guess if you do then I am leaving out the prop arn't I Well thinking this through again lol to use th EB500 for wireless is the easy part using the prop as the print server itself the real hard part. Communication between the EB and the PC and Prop is easy beileve it or not.
But how to config the prop to store and send on all the print data.
Russ psost your thoughts this is a very cool idea from a learning stand point

russ christensen

yeah i've alread worked with the eb500 and transmitting data back and forth. not worried about that. If anybody has any ideas on how to redirect usb signals to a serial port, it would be with canon drivers as its a canon printer i'm working with, but it would be nice to be able to work with any printer, maybe have a vb interface where the user selects which printer they are trying to redirect. I was hoping that i could have the computer do all the real communication and buffering and whatnot, and just have the prop relay message, kind of a man in the middle so to speak. is that even possible?