Printer And 4-Port USB Hub question ?

Robert11 · 20 Jun 2018

Hello,

I just purchased from Amazon (not here yet) a 4 Port USB Hub.
Not sure that I ordered what I really need.

I have two pc's, a Mac and a Windows.
I wish to be able to select either one to go to the Printer and print something..

With this gadget I bought, the question that I have, which I wish I had before ordering, is what happens
if both buttons for both PC's are pushed ?

What does the printer see ?

Could I print from either with both buttons to ON, or only one should be selected at a time ?
What happens if both are on ?
I would be printing from only one pc at any given time.

If someone could take a quick look at what I bought, would be appreciative:
Sabrent 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with Individual Power Switches and LEDs included 5V/2.5A power adapter (HB-UMP3)

Thanks,
Bob

Plankton · 20 Jun 2018

A printer is a single connection device...which means it can only be connected to one physical computer (PC or Mac). That said, is your printer network capable....as I see that's the only what you'll be able to use both PC and Mac with printer.

A USB hub is just a device to allow more USB ports from a single port (splitter). Same deal as a switch/router. Plugging the printer into the hub will make no difference in the connection...you can only connect a printer to 1 computer.

clam1952 · 20 Jun 2018

Don't think you can push both buttons as once as that would connect the usb direct from one pc to the other which is not good when you have 5volts being supplied from two sources and may result in best nothing happening at worst dead USB ports on one or other or even both machines.

Berton · 20 Jun 2018

For my setup using Linux and Win10 now [lost my MacBook Pro to failed drive controller/motherboard] I have 2 printers with Ethernet ports attached to my Wireless Router by cable, an HP LaserJet and an HP OfficeJet. Any computer, Wired or Wireless/Wi-Fi I install the software as Networked on can print to either printer by choosing File, Print then the model in the list. The only issue with the LaserJet is HP does not directly have drivers for Linux.

Plankton · 20 Jun 2018

clam1952 said:

Don't think you can push both buttons as once as that would connect the usb direct from one pc to the other which is not good when you have 5volts being supplied from two sources and may result in best nothing happening at worst dead USB ports on one or other or even both machines.

Those buttons are power on buttons/switches only.....to turn on/off port independently. A cool feature for power saving.

Plus, each port has its own separate power switch so you can control each port independently.
Sabrent 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with Individual Power Switches and LEDs included 5V/2.5A power adapter | HB-UMP3

jimbo45 · 21 Jun 2018

Hi folks.
@Robert11

I think what you really need is a basic KVM switch - you don't need to have one that switches monitors - a basic cheap one will switch USB connections between the two computers .

These things are cheap enough -- you don't need a sophisticated one especially if you aren't switching a single monitor between systems.

They look similar to this :

Printer And 4-Port USB Hub question ?-kvm.png

I use one to switch a USB wireless keyboard and mouse combo as well as a USB printer between 4 physical computers. Saves me having to source 4 X icelandic keyboards !!!

The UGREEN 4 port USB2 KVM switch is really cheap can't show link as Amazon is blocked at this client's site !!! -- and for printers / keyboards etc USB2 is sufficient. If you want to switch USB3 external HDD's then a USB3 version is available at not much more.

What you do is plug each USB port of the KVM into a USB slot on a target PC - and connect the USB devices to the input USB slots on the KVM device.

Manually then select the computer and the USB connections will connect to that machine. A little LED on the KVM usually indicates to which computer the USB devices are attached to.

Cheers
jimbo

DeaconFrost · 21 Jun 2018

I've never tried sharing a printer between a Mac and a PC, so I'm not sure if that's an option. I'm not a fan of sharing a printer off of a single computer, unless that computer is an always-in server. You can get a print server device that basically converts a USB printer into a network one. You can always see if your router has any shareable USB ports. We made the decision to use only networked printers years ago, so I don't miss trying to solve issues like this.

Berton · 21 Jun 2018

DeaconFrost said:

I've never tried sharing a printer between a Mac and a PC, so I'm not sure if that's an option. I'm not a fan of sharing a printer off of a single computer, unless that computer is an always-in server. You can get a print server device that basically converts a USB printer into a network one. You can always see if your router has any shareable USB ports. We made the decision to use only networked printers years ago, so I don't miss trying to solve issues like this.

That was the advantage with the Ethernet connection to the Router, could run either printer from the various Operating Systems I use, worked good with Mac OS X and newer macOS, several versions of Linux [now using Linux Mint 18.3 Notebook and Desktop] plus Windows back to WinXP. No specific computer has to be on for the other computers to print as long as the Network is running. Having a couple of NAS drives on the same Router is convenient.

jimbo45 · 22 Jun 2018

Hi there

Using a KVM switch for sharing a printer between computers isn't a problem but what you could also try is to share the printer between the machines -- so long as you can get a driver for both machines define the printer as shared on whatever machine you want. You don't need to convert USB to network / wireless printer.

The main disadvantage of sharing a USB printer this way is if the computer it's attached to is powered down then the other machine can't access it.

Sharing a printer this way will give you no problems with the print out from either machine --the spooling process takes care of the printout so each print comes out OK (i.e not intermixed !!).

Cheers
jimbo