Your home network consists of four PCs connected to the internet. 

 There is a need for taking color or black and white print outs whenever your family members share very rare and magnificent files in their PCs. To provide one laser printer for each PC in your home network becomes a costly affair. 

 Lexmark X4650 16F1400 Wireless All-In-One Printer 

PCs operating on Windows XP can effortlessly share files or printer in your home network. In case of Linux OS also the sharing of the printer is equally easy. The network component is installed and enabled by default. TCP/IP are used for each connection.

The hardware setup is simple. There are two methods to connect your printer with your home network. In the first option, your printer can be attached to one of your PCs on the home network or it should be fitted with a separate Network Interface Card and an adapter.

The printer doesn't require a separate IP address, since it is accessed through the computer through which it is connected. In the second option, plug your printer into the network as other devices also get connected. 

A color printer attached to the network has to be assigned an IP address. It is a simple dotted octet number like 192.168.0.1. If this IP address is assigned to the main computer or the router, you can assign 192.168.0.7 as IP address for the printer.

The intermediate last numbers from 2 to 6 can be assigned to other devices in your home network. Add a network printer to your computer. Go to control panel/printer once more. Click in the task panel "Add a printer".

Browse the network for the right printer to be added to the computer. You can take guidance from the descriptive manual for assigning IP address to the shared printer because specifications vary for different printers.

For a PC attached shared printer separate IP address is not assigned. With the Windows OS on your home network, use control panel/printers.

Select the printer you are sharing and click the sharing tab and type the assigned name of the shared printer.

Now the printer is ready to be shared. You should place the shared printer in a good location so that it is easily accessible to all members of your family, who wish to share the printer.

You can minimize the noise made by the shared printer by placing it in a closet which will keep it dust free too. The length of the cables connecting the various devices to the shared printer does not reduce the quality of the print outs.

Wireless option also gives quality print outs irrespective of the distances between the PCs and the shared printer. Usage of UPS prevents aborting of shared printer operation during power cuts. Time delay due to sharing of printer is negligible.