Advice needed: sharing my MFP scanner

[Jazzman25]

My faithful Canon mp610 is connected to my home network via the USB port on my AEBS. So far I was able to overcome the lack of support for scanning over the AEBS USB port by connecting my imac to the printer directly on the few occasions I needed to scan stuff. Now since my second boy is born, I had to move the printer (and the AEBS) to the hall hence connecting over a cable is no longer possible. Before I splash 150 Euros to replace my printer with a networked one, I am trying to see if there isn't another solution. Some options considered:
- Replace my AEBS with an wireless router that does support scanning (is there one? I guess there are routers that include a proper print server)?
- Get a NAS (is already on my future shopping list so prefer to do that than replace my printer). Checking the web Synology doesn't support the scanner function.
I saw some info about getting SANE to work on MAC OS X (that can also be installed on a NAS eventually). I tried installing the OS X SANE packages, but still no luck.

Any ideas are welcome!

 

[ZilogZ80]

AFAIK there is no way to get a USB scanner working over a network.
Network document scanners do exist but they are quite expensive.
The only other option I can think of is to use a USB extension cable that works over ethernet.

 

[skorpien]

Edimax makes USB multifunction print servers, both wired and wireless, that work with OSX.

The price may rival that of a new printer though, so depending on how much you prefer to keep your current printer, it may be easier to replace it.

That said, I have one of their wired MFP print servers and it's been working well for my needs.

Edit: Upon further inspection of the product specs, it seems the wireless adapter's MFP functions are only compatible with Windows. The wired adapter will work with OSX however.

 

[Jazzman25]

Thanks for this. This more or less fits what I thought. I already looked at the Edimax products and as you say they are not cheap. For this price I'll replace my printer I think...

 

[skorpien]

Sounds like a good idea. You could also sell your old printer to recoup some of the cost. Or you may want to keep it as a backup in case something happens to the new one. But take it from somebody who's been there, it's much less hassle buying a network printer from the start