Next step in your wireless 802.11b network build-out: Printer connections. Equipment makers have recently released print servers that operate using the popular wireless standard. If you ever need to locate a shared printer where there's not an Ethernet drop—or if you are building or expanding an office and don't want to run more cable than necessary—a wireless print server is the answer. But as we found when we tested three of the first offerings, not all are created equal.

The models we tested support wired equivalent privacy (WEP) and operate in either ad hoc (peer-to-peer) or infrastructure mode (for use with existing access points). Each print server also uses the TCP/IP protocol and provides driver software for legacy Microsoft Windows 9x systems. For our testing, we configured the D-Link DP-313, the HP wp110, and the Linksys WPS11 for infrastructure mode and positioned them so they could receive a strong signal from one of our Orinoco AP-500 wireless access points.

Each of these print servers has features that differentiate it from the others. If you could take the Linksys unit's pricing and ease of setup and configuration, combine that with the D-Link system's functionality and use of standard drivers, and bundle in a software wizard as good as the one in the HP unit, then you'd have an ideal product. But while each in this first generation leaves a little something to be desired, early adopters who need wireless for their shared printers right now should be able to overlook the shortcomings.