StarTech PM1115U2, one-port USB 2.0 print server with auto-sensing Ethernet vs CSL-Computer LAN print server joining one USB printer to a wired network
A rated network socket, or a page that tells you what the box cannot do?
Both take one USB printer and put it on a wired network, and neither publishes a list of printers it works with. The StarTech PM1115U2 names 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX auto-sensing — the only designation in this family — and supports LPR and Bonjour. The CSL-Computer server names Fast Ethernet without rating it, and states plainly that the scanning side of a multifunction machine will not work and that nothing travels back from the printer.
StarTech PM1115U2, one-port USB 2.0 print server with auto-sensing Ethernet
PM1115U2, one-port USB 2.0 print server with auto-sensing Ethernet
LAN print server joining one USB printer to a wired network
Printer connection type
USB 2.0, named twice
USB 2.0, compatible with USB 1.1, with the USB lead in one side and the RJ45 lead from the router in the other
Network port type
Copper Ethernet, as 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX auto-sensing — a designation rather than a figure, and the only one in this group
RJ45 copper, named as the server side of the connection
Network port speed
10/100 Mbit/s, sensed automatically, with the two designations printed behind the figures
Fast Ethernet, named and never rated — no figure in Mbit/s and no BASE-TX designation appears
Wireless support
Not published — the supplied lead has to be run from the unit to a router or similar
Not published — the route to the network is described only as an RJ45 lead from the router
Protocols published
LPR network printing and Bonjour Print Services, alongside USB 2.0 compliance
TCP/IP, LPR, Bonjour Search, HDCP, Auto-MDIX and USB 2.0 Hi-Speed as printed — HDCP is a video content protection scheme, and the same listing’s title prints DHCP instead; both are recorded as published and neither is corrected here
Number of printers served
One
Not published as a count — a printer is described in the singular and no figure appears
Scanner support
Not published — scanning is named nowhere, and no multifunction machine is mentioned either way
No — the scanning functions of multifunction machines are stated as not supported, the unit works towards the printer only, and nothing travels back, neither ink levels nor availability
Stated operating system support
Mac and Windows, without a single version number for either
Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11; no macOS, Linux or other system named
Published printer compatibility list
Not published — no model, range or maker named; support videos, a manual and a user community are offered instead
Not published — normal printers are named as suitable and the scanning side excluded, with no model, range or maker; a description of a kind of printer is not a list of printers
A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published
a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not
a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing
a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.
Which one, for whom
Buy the StarTech PM1115U2, one-port USB 2.0 print server with auto-sensing Ethernet
The PM1115U2 is the better-specified half of a family that specifies very little. Its network socket carries a designation rather than a marketing name, its protocols are named, and it says how many printers it serves. Two silences to weigh: it never mentions scanning at all, so a multifunction machine is an unknown, and its operating system support is two names with no versions.
Buy the CSL-Computer LAN print server joining one USB printer to a wired network
The CSL server earns its place on one paragraph, and it is the paragraph most listings leave out: scanning will not work, the unit works towards the printer only, and nothing comes back from it — no ink levels, no availability. That is the disappointment this whole category produces, stated before purchase. Against it, Fast Ethernet is never rated, and the protocol list carries HDCP where the title says DHCP.
The questions that come up before an order
Will my all-in-one printer scan through one of these?
The CSL page says no in as many words, and adds that nothing comes back from the printer at all — not ink levels, not availability. The StarTech page does not raise the subject. A USB print server carries a print job one way; treat scanning over one as unavailable unless a listing states otherwise, and neither of these states otherwise.
Neither publishes a list of printers. How do I check mine?
You cannot, from these pages. Both describe the kind of printer rather than naming models, ranges or makers, and a description is not a list. That is the single largest gap in this family, and it is why the StarTech page offering videos, a manual and a user community is worth something — it is a route to an answer, if not the answer.
one USB 2.0 printer · 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX auto-sensing · LPR and Bonjour named · Mac and Windows, no versions · network lead supplied · no model list
A one-printer server that names the two Ethernet designations behind its 10/100 and the two printing protocols it speaks, and publishes no list of printers.
Best for: A home or small office with one USB printer and a mixture of Mac and Windows machines, where Bonjour is what those machines already use to find things.
USB 2.0 to the printer · RJ45 to the network · Fast Ethernet, unrated · web management · protocol list printed with HDCP in it · no model list
A wired print server with a web page for setup, whose protocol list includes a video acronym and whose compatibility is described in words rather than published as a list.
Best for: A small office with an ordinary USB printer and Windows machines, where the printer should stand where it is convenient rather than beside one desk.
