Wireless printer and signals questions

Is it possible to connect the USB lead from a printer to a wireless access point instead of directly to a computer.

The computer in question is a laptop with built in wireless which is used to access the Internet through a wireless router/adsl modem, and I would like to be able to print from anywhere in the building.

The printer doesnt have the capacity for a network card, it is only a small canon laser.

Also, can anyone recommend a device for boosting wireless signals. The walls in the building as so thick that signals can't get more than a few feet.

Thanks

 

Grunty - someone may tell me I'm dead wrong but AFAIK, there needs to be a print processor of some sort handling the printer traffic.

I know they make dedicated-device 'print servers' that you can connect to the printer and to the network. Also common (but requires a network card, wired or wireless, in the printer, is to have a server handling a group of printers. In both cases, PCs talk to the print server and it spools the request and feeds that to the printer.

But the way you describe won't work that I'm aware of.

And no clue about a wireless signal-strength booster.

 

Grunty

Newt said: "I know they make dedicated-device 'print servers' that you can connect to the printer and to the network.

Take a look at:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,39940,00.asp

This is the cleanist and easiest way to handle your problem..

Phill

 

Thanks for the reply. It looks like the print server would work ok, but at a cost. The person that bought the printer was assured that it would work as a network printer out of the box. It will be cheaper I think to send it back, get a printer with a built in network card and use the laptop as the print server.

A least I can give him an answer now anyway

Many thanks