Setting up a Motorola WPS870G print server on Mac OS X
I bought a laser printer on Craigslist (a Samsung ML-2010) and decided to set it up as a networked printer so that everyone in my new Canadian apartment could use it. I bought a Motorola WPS870G print server, which is a cool little gadget that doesn’t cost much. It supports 1 USB and 1 parallel port printer, and connects to either a wired or wireless network (which is a must here). However, it rebuffed all of my Powerbook’s attempts to print to it, and the Internet insisted that I’d wasted my money. But I figured it out after a few hours and thought I’d put the solution up here.
Step one is to get the router to the point where you can connect to it via web browser. The WPS870G comes with a special setup utility that presumably makes this easier, but it’s Windows-only. Anyway, the instructions go into tedious detail about how to get to this stage with a web browser.
Once you’ve done this, give the router a static IP address and log back into it using the new address.
Next, we set up the printer on the Mac. This assumes you have the correct driver for your printer already installed. For instance, the Samsung came with a driver CD we had to install.
There’re like a dozen different protocols you can use to print to a network computer. When you click “Add” in the Printer Setup Utility, it’ll try to find the printer on the network. It might succeed, but even if it finds something, it probably won’t print properly when you install it.
What you need to do is hold the alt/option key down while clicking “More Printers”. This enables the Advanced mode and shows the manual printer configuration screen. The drop-down list at the top shows all the protocols you can use to connect to the printer. None of them worked for me. Click “Advanced” in that drop-down menu.
Set “Device” to “LPD/LPR Host or Printer”. “Device Name” can be whatever you want — it’ll be the name for the printer when you print something. The Device URI is the important part. It should be:
lpd://router.ip.address/L2
or, if you’re plugging the printer into the parallel port:
lpd://router.ip.address/L1
Then set “Printer Model” to the model of your printer. Since you’ve already installed the drivers, it should appear in the list. Click “Add” to finish and try printing a test page from your computer.
I know that you can also enter in LPD details into one of the non-advanced boxes, but that didn’t work for me. I had to do it the hard way.
Hopefully someone finds this useful.
October 4th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Hi,
Thank you for posted this information.
I have one request and i hope you don’t mind to help me out.
I bought the Motorola WPS870G almost 2 months ago. Everything work fine. Recently I replaced my old computer and I tried to set up this printer server into my new computer. For some reason, my Installation Wizard CD is defected, can’t read. I looked on the Motorola website and this source is not available. I contacted Motorola service department and ask for replacement CD. They want to charge for $17.99 for this CD. They said my unit is still under warranty but not accessories. This is ridiculous. Now I am stuck. Could you please if posible you can zip this CD and send to my address provided. You time is very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Tony.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Hey Tony, i bought one of these on ebay, and it didn’t come with a cd. Just wondering if this can be setup without, or if you could email me the zip file if you have it. I could send it back, but i’d rather get it to work.
Thx
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:55 am
Yes, you can install it on Windows without a CD. Make sure you have the drivers for your printer installed. I don’t remember the exact procedure, but it involves right-clicking on the printer, clicking “Properties” and setting up a new port. The new port protocol should be something like IP Printing or LPD/LPR Host or Printer, and the address you give it should be the same as in the above instructions.
The instruction manual for the thing is available at http://broadband.motorola.com/noflash/customer_docs/user_guides/512705-001-a.pdf . That should help you get to the point where you can configure it via web browser. You don’t need the CD at all.
April 27th, 2007 at 11:39 am
I’ve been kicking myself trying to figure out why this thing doesn’t work with my mac. You’ve saved the day! Thank you!
June 7th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Can you describe the following in more detail, I don’t understand what you are saying, I am a LONG time PC user and trying to convert to Mac, I just don’t understand how to install the Motorola WPS870G Print Server .EXE file or driver….Sorry, really abover my head here….
YOU WROTE: Step one is to get the router to the point where you can connect to it via web browser. The WPS870G comes with a special setup utility that presumably makes this easier, but it’s Windows-only. Anyway, the instructions go into tedious detail about how to get to this stage with a web browser. Once you’ve done this, give the router a static IP address and log back into it using the new address.