Best Printer and Nas server OS

[dimis2000k]

I will be making a home server using an old laptop that i have. The main 2 functions that i need it to do is NAS and printer server for a usb printer. What free OS do you recommend? 

[desertcomputer]

I would connect your printer to your router, I currently using FreeNAS but it doesn't naively support a printing server. The simplest one i have setup is through my router which is running IPFIRE but i know other such as PFSENSE also support this. I would run linux because it more suited for a laptop and will meet your requirements, CUPS is printing server which i use on my Ipfire which is also supported in pretty much any Linux Distro. 

[PenPoint]

Xpenology is at least great for its various and easy-to-use NAS functions. However I'm not sure whether it supports printer function or not.

[dimis2000k]

20 minutes ago, MrUnknownEMC said:

I would connect your printer to your router, I currently using FreeNAS but it doesn't naively support a printing server. The simplest one i have setup is through my router which is running IPFIRE but i know other such as PFSENSE also support this. I would run linux because it more suited for a laptop and will meet your requirements, CUPS is printing server which i use on my Ipfire which is also supported in pretty much any Linux Distro. 

My router does not support USB. I have never worked with linux but i will try!

[Daniel644]

what printer do you have? can it just be networked in? what I personally did was upgrade my Router to a Lynksys WRT1900ACS (as I caught a black friday sale for like $120 US on Amazon), my printer is Wirelessly connected to the network (I want to wire it in, but I need to figure out the existing cat5 house wiring to get it connected as it's upstairs and the router is downstairs) and I have an external harddrive plugged into the USB 3.0 port on the router for my NAS storage, lower power consumption and much higher storage capacity then you can cram into a laptop and no dealing with an OS for an old computer.

[desertcomputer]

36 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

what printer do you have? can it just be networked in? what I personally did was upgrade my Router to a Lynksys WRT1900ACS (as I caught a black friday sale for like $120 US on Amazon), my printer is Wirelessly connected to the network (I want to wire it in, but I need to figure out the existing cat5 house wiring to get it connected as it's upstairs and the router is downstairs) and I have an external harddrive plugged into the USB 3.0 port on the router for my NAS storage, lower power consumption and much higher storage capacity then you can cram into a laptop and no dealing with an OS for an old computer.

Well the power usage is really low (Less than 50 watts) as most cpu is able to downclock and most router is not running 100%, my average load on my router is only 0.2 and that similar with my FREENAS (0.5). First off a laptop could quite as server(Plex/Printer Server/NextCloud/NVR) but not a file server though due to no storage expansion. You could grab that router but personally i don't use any consumer networking gear anymore apart from some access point as personally the features are limited on them.