Can I configure my Tablet to talk to a printer hanging on my home LAN?

[B_Mullins]

Print From My Tablet

Is it possible to configure my tablet (ASUS MeMO Pad 10 ME-102A-A1) to talk to a printer hanging on my home LAN? I have a wireless router that the tablet sees and logs into just fine. The problem is that it doesn't see any of the other devices connected to the LAN (2 PCs connected via cat 5 cable, 2 laptops connected wirelessly, a chromecast and a Roku) nor does it show up (neither does my wife's 7" Android tablet either). One of the PCs connected via cable has a shared printer and a shared 3 TB USB drive ($130 @ Sam's a couple of years ago).

I have to replace the printer - took a power hit during a storm a couple of days ago and the printer refuses to power up - and am considering getting a wireless printer so I don't have to keep that PC running 24/7. If I can get the tablet to connect with a wireless printer it will be worth it to spend a few bucks extra to get a wireless printer. Otherwise I can use the money elsewhere.

Any ideas? Also, if I can find/figure out a way to hang the USB drive directly onto the LAN via some sort of server device I can get rid of one PC completely (it's old and slow but it suffices as a printer/disk drive server) thereby reducing my power consumption.

I'm hoping there is a way to do what I want without committing any major felonies or breaking the bank.

Thanks in advance.

 

[hallux]

Re: Print From My Tablet

Based on your description, it sounds like "wireless isolation" is turned on on your router. What that does is block the wireless clients from talking to each other and to the wired part of your internal network (but not the WAN or uplink to your internet modem). If you turn that off, you should be able to "see" the other devices from your tablet using a file explorer. Actually printing is another story, but if you get an HP printer they actually have an app that can facilitate that. The app scans your local network for your printer (still requiring the isolation to be turned off) and will allow you to select photos, files or web pages to print.

The printer doesn't have to be wireless, unless it can't be placed in such a spot as to be able to connect it to the router with a cable. If you're familiar with networking, I suggest setting up either a static IP on the printer or a DHCP reservation. The DHCP reservation is tied to a hardware address on the printer's network card and always assigns the same address to that network card. This makes for more reliable discovery of the printer.