Ajanta said:
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.