I have multiple USB devices (printer, scanner, PDA, hard drive
storage) thatI want to connect to my wireless home network to access
via my wireless laptop.  My goal is to access all these devices and
exchangeinformation without having to hard-connect to them.

Is there a product that would allow me to plug all these devices into
a something like a USB hub that would connect to the wireless network?
If not, what alternatives do I have?

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 08 Apr 2004 12:37 PDT

prpro-ga:

As the commenter below has indicated, the most common solution is to
use another PC as the host for these USB devices, and to make the
devices available as services through that host.

If you do not have another PC to use for this purpose, there are other
solutions available on the market, but you may find that the cost of
these other solutions will be higher than the cost for a basic PC.

Can you please tell me more about your wireless network, whether there
are any PCs that you can use as a host for the USB devices, and more
details about the devices themselves? (brand, model, how you usually
use it, where it is located in your home relative to the wireless
router and your laptop).

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by prpro-ga on 08 Apr 2004 13:23 PDT

Very interesting -- thank you!  I do not plan to use another PC as a
server, but may reconsider this.  However, I would be interested in
hearing about the other alternatives...!

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 08 Apr 2004 13:44 PDT

In that case, would you mind providing the details of the devices, so
that I can ensure that my Answer will be applicable before posting it?

Thanks,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Asus has released two wireless access points that allow you to plug an
usb device in to it. Printers and storage devices are supported.
Also webcams. I think you should ask Asus if they're going to support scanners too.


http://www.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-500g/overview.htm
http://www.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-500b/overview.htm

Another relatively new product is the Keyspan USB Server
(http://keyspan.com:16080/products/usb/server/)  It has 4 USB ports
and plugs into a network via standard ethernet (if you have a wireless
router, you could plug it into one of the wired WAN ports).

I would say running another computer to act as the server for these
devices is your best bet. On ebay, you can get a PII low profile pc
for about $70, and if your devices need more computing power, ones
with a PIII processor would cost less than $200. This is probably
cheaper than any other type of device which would perform the same
function.