Hi
I was looking for a work around without having to buy a new printer or leave a desktop on all the time a tower that we rarely use anymore. We primarily use a laptop and the ipad; my cable modem has the available USB - B port. I'm curious if it would work if I hook up a USB - B male to B male to cable modem and printer if it would be available on the network or does it have to be hooked to the router?
I don't have a cable that has both ends USB - B emds and have to find one but if any networkig people out there think that it would?

Not a good idea. The B-port was made different specifically so you would not be able to do this by accident.

Some routers have built in printer support. They will have a standard USB port you can plug a standard USB printer cable into. It is also possible to buy network ready printers that can be shard on the network. They will come with ethernet ports that you can plug directly into the router or have WiFi built in.

However, none of this will allow you to print from the iPad. The iPad does not have printer drivers, so the only way to print from it is to use the AirPrint compatible printers (pdf printing driver built in) or print through a computer that has the printer driver installed.