Good serial Etherent converter for LAN commuinication

[Asgar1975]

I need to connect an older printer which has a serial RS232 connector to my computer running Windows 7 64 bit. It needs to be connected to my computer over my local Ethernet network. I suppose I can use a serial Ethernet converter (or is it called serial server?), is that correct? And if so, what brand/model is a good reliable and reasonably priced converter?

 

[tpetar]

Its called Print Server. Printer is connected to this device and access to printer (print server) is maded over LAN or Wireless.


Best regards,
Peter

 

[nishu's]

i suppose you want to attach this printer to ADSL router so that it is available to every pc/laptop in the network. any serial to ethernet bridge would be good. and its easily configurable in windows 7.

 

[tpetar]

i suppose you want to attach this printer to ADSL router so that it is available to every pc/laptop in the network. any serial to ethernet bridge would be good. and its easily configurable in windows 7.

Not all RS-232 to Ethernet are for this purpose. Lots of them are only to transfer serial RS-232 datas over Ethernet, on other end is another RS-232 node. Before buying this device double check capabilities of device. For example to connect PC RS-232 port over Internet with RS-232 device in some other country, building, room,....

I mention print server device its specially designed for this printing purpose. Usually newer print server devices have USB ports, he must find with RS-232 port. :smile:

There is a possibility to use PC as print server. Attach serial printer on PC which is on network.



Best regards,
Peter

 

[FvM]

A dedicated serial print server has the advantage of allowing multiple computers connecting it over the network. Attaching a serial printer to a single computer should be also possible with all serial-over-ethernet bridges that provide a virtual COM port driver for the PC side.

I presume you'll find devices of both kinds on your local market and on the internet. Lantronix and Moxa are major manufacturers making both kinds of devices, also computer equipment catalog distributors should offer a larger choice.

 

[Asgar1975]

Thank you for the suggestions. I was unable to find a print server with a serial RS232 connector so I found this https://www.nordfield.com/rs232-ethernet-converter which has been working well; however the initial setup and configuration was a headache, mostly because I am not familiar with this kind of hardware. I checked out Moxa and Lantronix as suggested above but I found the price of these a lot higher than what I wanted to spend.