I have a home network with cable internet running through a linksys 4-port router. We have three computers on the network: one running XP, one win98, and one win95. We want to add a printer to the network so that any of the computers can access it without having to have any specific computer up and running. Is this possible?

You will need to either fit a network card in your printer, or aquire a print server such as the D-Link printserver. Plug your printer into the server and then plug your server into your router and give it an IP address, or, connect your printer network card to your router and give that an IP address. Once you have done this you will be able to run 'add printer' and choose network printer, on all your machines, load the driver and away you go. Good luck

Thanks for the reply. The answer above prompted me to investigate print servers. The D-Link site has a FAQ section that seems to indicate that many printers are "host-based" (or GDI) printers which rely on a computer's processor to perform some functions in the preparation of the print job and will work on a network "only when they are connected to the parallel port of a Windows computer that has the correct printer driver installed and printer sharing properly configured." If this is true, then your average ink-jet, say an Epson C-80, would not work as described above. Is my interpretation correct? Another FAQ at the D-Link site noted that although their print servers are -- "bi-directional, ...toner status, paper level, etc., will not be communicated back to the PC. In order to get printer status information, the proprietary printer driver has embedded code that needs to be passed on to the print server, decoded, then interpreted by the print server. Embedded driver codes are not supported by D-Link print servers. D-Link´s print servers, whether in Gateways or StandAlone, are plain TCP/IP print servers." -- This would seem to indicate that in order to preserve all the features available with any particular make/model of printer, one would have to buy a printer that is designed for a network. Are these valid issues or just the manufacturer's way of covering their butts in case their product doesn't work as expected? Sorry for the long post.

Even printers designed for networks will not show all the information your talking about, which is why most of them have LCD status screens on the front of them.