First Published: January 9, 2014
Last Reviewed: April 6, 2017
You're at computer A, remote into
computer B 1000 miles away, running programs on
B, but want to print at A...
There are about 20
solutions, falling into 5 broad strategic categories.
HINT: does not involve a verrrrry long cable! |
|
- via Document transfer schemes
- document format strategies
- transfer original document directly to
print locally
- requires same program installed on client-side
- some highly protected software might not permit
such parallel print due to licensing restrictions
- generate intermediary document at host
- >>>
print to PDF at host, transfer it somehow, and print locally
- raw SPL or LPR files (advanced scripting
only, not for users)
- transfer mechanism
- use RDP drive capture (exposes client drives to
host)
- through Internet-hosted storage: Mach-4, OneDrive,
G-Drive
- upload to self at home NAS (public facing)
- via webmail
attachments
<<< SIMPLEST!
- use TCP/IP network-based printing
- network communications
- cross-LAN traversal via NAT/PAT
- VPN (in a true sense: Remote Node, not web proxy)
- made public facing (direct exposured on WAN, or via
port forward)
- wifi on client-side must be Infrastructure AP, not ad-hoc mode,
no Wifi Direct
- converting printer to be network-capable
+ expose to WAN
- dedicated appliance print server + intelligent slave printer (PCL/Postscript), which rules out all low-end
inkjet printers, as they are "host-based"
- dedicated PC print server + dumb slave printer (so-called host-based)
- RDP printing device capture (a form of integrated redirector)
- it does install the remote printer driver at host-side
- no admin control over the redirection scheme and
parameters
- print traffic is encapsulated into the same TCP stream
on port 3389
- complex and extremely unreliable, esp. for consumer printers (host-based)
- O.S. version slight mismatch
- RDP version slightest mismatch
- typically hopeless battle of x86 vs x64 at all levels
- host-side virtual driver, printing abstraction and integrated redirection
- PC-Anywhere (Symantec) approach
-
TSPrint $399 unlimited on a TS Server
per location, or $79 per host
- redirecting print API, not rendered on host side, uses
client-side driver
- setup client-side printer as Web Service Printer
- implement Web Services for Devices (WSD), a Microsoft API
- Sign up with one of the several WSD Printing providers:
Google, HP, Samsung, Brother, Canon, Epson
- make home printer available to the world, with authentication
Pertinent Conceptual Points
- layers & prerequisites
- astronormical permutation
- exact likely scenarios
- sensibility:
- how often do you print remotely?
- how seamless does it need to be?
- security considerations
- jurisdiction & control required at which entity/layer?
- printer support of protocols
- driver availability for certain O.S. platforms
- cross-architecture (x86 ↔ x64)
|