Wireless USB ports via airport card?

[joshua7e]

Does anyone know if there is a device which will allow you to connect USB devices wirelessly? I would like to be able to access the following wireless devices:

- Film Scanner
- Webcamera
- Printer
- Bluetooth Adapter

using a new Powerbook laptop and Airport basestation. Can it be done? What would I need to buy and who sells it?

Does anyone have any wireless USB devices other than printers (via a print server)?

Thanks!

 

[lmalave]

Re: Wireless USB ports via airport card?

Originally posted by joshua7e
Does anyone know if there is a device which will allow you to connect USB devices wirelessly? I would like to be able to access the following wireless devices:

- Film Scanner
- Webcamera
- Printer
- Bluetooth Adapter

using a new Powerbook laptop and Airport basestation. Can it be done? What would I need to buy and who sells it?

Does anyone have any wireless USB devices other than printers (via a print server)?

Thanks!

Haven't heard of such a product (a wireless USB hub) and don't think anyone makes it, but it does seem technically feasible. They already have USB Wi-Fi adapters that translate Wi-Fi into USB and vice versa, so it seems to me you could adapt that technology to build a wireless USB hub. I guess hardware makers are so focused on Bluetooth-enabling all their devices (to get rid of cables altogether), that they haven't though of this simple solution, which would definitely have a market. All the folks using laptops wirelessly at home would then have wireless acess to their USB devices. A single computer would have to be "linked" to this wireless USB hub, though (probably by the Wi-Fi card's MAC address?), unless this wireless USB hub somehow also doubled as a wireless USB KVM switch (so different wireless users could "grab" control of the hub, and presumably would also have to "relase" the hub when they're done using it).

Neat product idea!