Originally Posted by LIH Prem

Do you already have the AE? It would work for a USB printer.

But that may or may not be the best configuration for you. You might just try the microsoft printer sharing, and then you don't need another device.

I have my router in an inaccessible location. My notebook has built-in wireless in another location. The family desktop computer in the living room, with a wireless bridge connected to it. In my office I have a bunch of desktop computers and the printers. In the office I have a 10/100 switch connected to a wireless bridge. So all the computers and the printer in my office are using wired ethernet to the 10/100 switch and the 10/100 switch is connected to the wireless bridge.

Netgear mini-print server (parallel port to wired ethernet)

Netgear 802.11g wireless bridge

Netgear 10/100 8 port switch

I went with the switch/bridge since none of the desktops had wireless cards but they all had ethernet. The alternative would have been to add wireless cards to each of the four desktops in the office, or just go for the switch and the bridge, which is more flexible for me. (easy to add more devices and/or another switch if necessary.)

In the family room, I had a usb wireless device, but that computer only supported usb 1.x, so it was fairly slow, so I spent the extra money and put a bridge in there as well. With the bridge, you connect wired ethernet to the bridge (after configuring it) and you're done. Bridges aren't volume devices for them, so they are relatively expensive compared to the deals you can get on everything else.

I'm pretty sure somebody like d-link makes a wireless usb print server if you want to go that route. Nothing wrong with d-link. Many people prefer it to netgear.

The best place to start is to plan out your entire network. Once you've done that, then you can pick the gear. The building blocks are the router, bridges, switches, wireless cards, wireless usb devices, wireless pc cards, print servers, etc.

-David