Brother Laser printer: Network or connect via USB?

[Ajanta]

I have a simple setup: A Mac powerbook with OSX 10.4, a 2Wire
modem/router, a Brother 5250DN laser printer.

When I connected the printer, I think I had the option of "networking"
or connecting via USB. I chose the latter thinking hard connection was
the simplest and most reliable option. Everything is within a few feet
of one another anyway.

Today, somehow I was at Brother's website and saw the possibility of
upgrading the firmware. A few steps later i was told that this is only
possible via network and not USB. ???

I don't really understand this in any depth, but have I made an
inferior choice by using USB, otherwise why should it not be possible
to upgrade my printer conencted via USB?? Should I try to reconnect my
printer as network? How would I go about it?

Thanks. All help appreciated.

 

[David Empson]

I have a simple setup: A Mac powerbook with OSX 10.4, a 2Wire
modem/router, a Brother 5250DN laser printer.

When I connected the printer, I think I had the option of "networking"
or connecting via USB. I chose the latter thinking hard connection was
the simplest and most reliable option. Everything is within a few feet
of one another anyway.

Today, somehow I was at Brother's website and saw the possibility of
upgrading the firmware. A few steps later i was told that this is only
possible via network and not USB. ???

Not surprising. The firmware update mechanism probably works in a
similar manner to a router, by uploading a file using a protocol which
is based on TCP/IP, such as TFTP or HTTP. That method won't work via
USB. It probably also uses a relatively simple application written in
Java to do the firmware upgrade, which has the benefit of being
cross-platform. Java is easily able to to TCP/IP communication but it
would be much harder to get it to access a proprietary mechanism via
USB.

I don't really understand this in any depth, but have I made an
inferior choice by using USB

Not really. A USB connection is simpler to manage from the user's
perspective (no potential for configuration errors), as long as you only
have one computer.

Network is better if you have at least two computers, as it saves having
to muck around with USB printer sharing and needing the host computer to
be awake to print anything.

otherwise why should it not be possible to upgrade my printer
conencted via USB??

Brother chose not to bother supporting a separate mechanism to upgrade
the firmware via USB, because the network method was sufficient, easier
to implement, and a high proportion of these printers would be used in a
network environment.

Should I try to reconnect my printer as network? How would I go about
it?

Does your router have any spare Ethernet ports? If so, just plug an
Ethernet cable between the printer and router, and unplug the USB cable
between the printer and computer.

You might need to enable the network interface using the printer's front
panel. Refer to the manual.

On the computer, you will need to add the printer again, as your
existing print queue will be looking for the printer on the USB port.

You can do this via System Preferences > Print & Fax, and click the Add
button. The printer should appear in the default browser, as it supports
Bonjour for network identification. (We have a networked one of the same
model at work, on a mostly Windows network, but I can see it and use it
from my Mac.)

After doing the firmware upgrade, you could revert to a USB connection,
or leave it running on Ethernet if it seems to working well enough. The
printer probably supports both interfaces being connected, but only one
can be active at a time for sending jobs to the printer.

If you don't have any spare Ethernet ports on your router, you could
temporarily connect the printer directly to the computer via Ethernet,
so you can do the firmware upgrade, then revert to USB.

Alternatively you could replace your router with one which has more
Ethernet ports, or add an Ethernet switch to allow more devices to be
connected to your router.

 

[J.J. O'Shea]

I have a simple setup: A Mac powerbook with OSX 10.4, a 2Wire
modem/router, a Brother 5250DN laser printer.

When I connected the printer, I think I had the option of "networking"
or connecting via USB. I chose the latter thinking hard connection was
the simplest and most reliable option. Everything is within a few feet
of one another anyway.

Today, somehow I was at Brother's website and saw the possibility of
upgrading the firmware. A few steps later i was told that this is only
possible via network and not USB. ???

Brother expected that a 5250DN would probably be networked; they have a
cheaper version of the same unit which doesn't have the networking built in,
and figured that anyone who bought the one with the 'N' in its name bought it
to network it. Certainly that's why I bought an example of the 2070N instead
of the 2040, which are identical, except that the 2070N has an Ethernet port
while the 2040 doesn't, and the 2040 cost $50 less than the 2070N.

I don't really understand this in any depth, but have I made an
inferior choice by using USB, otherwise why should it not be possible
to upgrade my printer conencted via USB?? Should I try to reconnect my
printer as network? How would I go about it?

Get out the user guide .PDF that came with the printer. If you can't find the
printer's system CD anymore, a copy is available on Brother's site, just go
to Support and enter your printer's name. It will tell you exactly how to set
up the printer over Ethernet. The quick&dirty method is:

1 turn _off_ the printer.

2 unplug the USB cable from both the printer and the Mac.

3 plug in the Ethernet cable to the printer and a switch, either stand-alone
or built into a router. 2Wire modem/routers ship with either one Ethernet
port or a switch built in which has four to five Ethernet ports. If your
device has just one port, you'll need a stand-alone switch, which could cost
about $10-25 for a 4, 5, or 8 port unit. Plug the switch into the router,
then run cables to your Mac and the printer from the switch.

4 go to printer setup on the Mac and delete setting for the 5250DN for USB.
It might be good idea to download the latest drivers from the Brother site,
while you're getting the User Guide.

5 turn _on_ the printer. While the printer is on, and connected to the
network, and the Mac is on, and connected to the network, run the installer
for the printer drivers. Select 'Network Install'. The installer will look
for the printer. Brother set the printers up with Bonjour, so it should be
visible on the network. The installer will ensure that your drivers are
updated to the current drivers, that your printer is located and connected,
and that you can print over the network. If you have any other computers, run
the Brother installers on them, too. Note that Linux systems may have some
slight problems unless you go to the command line.

Once you have the printer set up, then you can run the firmware updater. It
should find the printer using Bonjour and update it.

Note that it's not strictly necessary to run the installer, if you know
TCP/IP you can install the printer yourself and it'll take less time.

 

[jt august]

3 plug in the Ethernet cable to the printer and a switch, either stand-alone
or built into a router. 2Wire modem/routers ship with either one Ethernet
port or a switch built in which has four to five Ethernet ports. If your
device has just one port, you'll need a stand-alone switch, which could cost
about $10-25 for a 4, 5, or 8 port unit. Plug the switch into the router,
then run cables to your Mac and the printer from the switch.

If one is using the single port 2Wire modem, they don't hve to go out
and buy a multiport router just for this. They can just buy a Ethernet
Crossover cable. These can be found cheap at garage sales and local
used computer stores (I got one for a friend recently at a garage sale
for 10 cents).

jt

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

If one is using the single port 2Wire modem, they don't hve to go out
and buy a multiport router just for this. They can just buy a Ethernet
Crossover cable. These can be found cheap at garage sales and local
used computer stores (I got one for a friend recently at a garage sale
for 10 cents).

Do ensure that you label such a cable at both ends as being a cross over cable. You
would not beleive how much time can be wasted trying to get a cable working until you
suddenly realize what the problem is. Luckily I didn't waste too much time as I
have enough cables kicking around that I just grabbed another to test.

And yes some routers and switches these days are smart enough to configure
themselves. Others aren't.

Tony

 

[Michelle Steiner]

And yes some routers and switches these days are smart enough to
configure themselves. Others aren't.

And all Macintosh computers made in the past five years (and maybe
longer) are.

 

[Mike S.]

Not surprising. The firmware update mechanism probably works in a
similar manner to a router, by uploading a file using a protocol which
is based on TCP/IP, such as TFTP or HTTP. That method won't work via
USB. It probably also uses a relatively simple application written in
Java to do the firmware upgrade, which has the benefit of being
cross-platform. Java is easily able to to TCP/IP communication but it
would be much harder to get it to access a proprietary mechanism via
USB.

Just updated the firmware on my father-in-law's HL-2040 using USB. You
download an app, it talks to the printer, downloads the appropriate
firmware from the internet and then installs it.

 

[J.J. O'Shea]

Just updated the firmware on my father-in-law's HL-2040 using USB. You
download an app, it talks to the printer, downloads the appropriate
firmware from the internet and then installs it.

Yes, but the 2040 doesn't have an Ethernet port. The only way to do the
update is using USB, and Brother therefore set things up accordingly. (Well,
in theory they could have used the parallel port, but not even Windows
machines use parallel connections nowadays.)

 

[Michael Vilain]

Just updated the firmware on my father-in-law's HL-2040 using USB. You
download an app, it talks to the printer, downloads the appropriate
firmware from the internet and then installs it.

But not on the HL-5250DN. This is like saying "Yep, it works on my
slide rule. Try it."