Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

New Laser Printer

16 views
Skip to first unread message

T M Smith

unread,
May 23, 2013, 2:38:10 PM5/23/13
to
Progressing from my recent request for advice/suggestions on replacing
my HP Laserjet.

Two internet sessions looking at available laser printers and
re-reading the emails from the group on that subject My brain was
pretty overloaded.
So I took a trip to PCWorld to see how big laser printers were and
what they had.
It seemed colour and duplex printing are seldom available on the same
printer. Most were larger than I could accommodate.
I decided colour on this printer was not strictly needed.
With wife tired of waiting I got a Brother HL-2250DN.
On opening the box at home I saw the installation disc!!!???.

SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
face??.
My PC has wireless capability which I assume will allow it to use the
printer.
Can anyone help.

Malcolm Smith


--
T M Smith
Using an Iyonix and RISC OS 5.16 in the North Riding of Yorkshire

Folderol

unread,
May 23, 2013, 3:54:58 PM5/23/13
to
I hate to say it, but you are probably not going to get it working. Brother have
a diabolical reputation in that respect. The reason they are so cheap is that
they are 'raster' printers, so the host computer does all the real work and the
driver just spits lines of dots (in a obfuscated format) to the print engine.

... well OK it's a bit more involved than that, but not much!

--
W J G

T M Smith

unread,
May 23, 2013, 4:10:49 PM5/23/13
to
In message <20130523205458.086b73fa@debian>
Thanks for the quick reply Folderol, thats about as bad as it can get.
It looks like a trip back to PC World

Malcolm

Stuart

unread,
May 23, 2013, 2:56:53 PM5/23/13
to
In article <60b9775053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
> face??.
> My PC has wireless capability which I assume will allow it to use the
> printer.
> Can anyone help.

It also has a standard "wired" ethernet port.

I presume your Iyonix is networked to your PC, in which case you buy
yourself a copy of Uniprint. Your Iyonix will then send the print data
across to your PC which will then use the installed Windows driver to
print to the printer.

--
Stuart Winsor

Midlands RISC OS and Raspberry pi show, 13th July 2013

http://www.mug.riscos.org/show13/MUGshow.html




Dave Symes

unread,
May 23, 2013, 4:12:59 PM5/23/13
to
Speaking from installing the HP LJ2005dn

Install from the disc on to a PC first, this will give your device a Host
name, here it was NPIA3D893 and an associated DHCP IP address (Which I
changed to a fixed address in my Routers reserved set(**)

Thereafter the Iyo can be configured using that Hostname or IP address as
required.
Sorry I can't detail that, as Iyos are using a version of RO the network
setup of which is quite different to the version I'm using, so others will
now doubt be along to help.

Here on a SARPC (RO 6.20) I installed the stuff for JetDirect and
configured that via the RO printer driver, of which I was lucky that the
RO driver for the HP LaserJet-6 works perfectly okay with the new printer.

Don't know if any existing RO Brother drivers will work okay with your new
printer, others will no doubt know. (Or maybe suck it and see after
looking in the "Printers.PDFs" directory.

(**) Because I have a number of different computers here with different
OSs plus a number of external devices Lan connected, DHCP is a PITA so
they are all given a fixed ip address from within the reserved pool I've
set in the Router configs.

The only exceptions to this rule are the two Tablets in the house... They
can collect whatever DHCP addresses they want from outside the reserve.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

T M Smith

unread,
May 23, 2013, 4:44:29 PM5/23/13
to
In message <53507970...@argonet.co.uk>
Stuart <Spa...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

> In article <60b9775053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
> T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>> SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
>> face??.
>> My PC has wireless capability which I assume will allow it to use the
>> printer.
>> Can anyone help.

> It also has a standard "wired" ethernet port.
Yes, it has an ethernet socket.

> I presume your Iyonix is networked to your PC, in which case you buy
> yourself a copy of Uniprint. Your Iyonix will then send the print data
> across to your PC which will then use the installed Windows driver to
> print to the printer.
I am not sure what constitutes a network. My PC and my Iyonix go into
two ports of a 4 port Tenda wireless router and then to my NTL cable
modem. My Canon inkjet printer is plugged into a usb port on my PC.
The Laserjet is plugged into a parallel(I think) port on the back of
the Iyo. Both computer use a single monitor via a data transfer
switch. I transfer data between the two computer using a pendrive.

Malcolm

Chris Hughes

unread,
May 23, 2013, 4:40:47 PM5/23/13
to
In message <20130523205458.086b73fa@debian>
Folderol <fold...@ukfsn.org> wrote:

The Brother HL-2250DN uses PCL6, but as far as I know we don't have a
PCL6 printer driver on RISC OS currently, so Uniprint will work from
the Iyonix to the PC and then to the printer


--
Chris Hughes

T M Smith

unread,
May 23, 2013, 6:14:18 PM5/23/13
to
In message <ecf28250...@o2.co.uk>
Thanks for that info Chris.
I have had a look at R-Comps Uniprint and it sounds very useful but
doubles the cost of the printer project.
I am now becoming hopeful we have a project with a future.

Malcolm

Chris Hughes

unread,
May 23, 2013, 6:27:52 PM5/23/13
to
In message <9f49835053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>
T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> In message <53507970...@argonet.co.uk>
> Stuart <Spa...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

>> In article <60b9775053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
>> T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>>> SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
>>> face??.
>>> My PC has wireless capability which I assume will allow it to use the
>>> printer.
>>> Can anyone help.

>> It also has a standard "wired" ethernet port.
> Yes, it has an ethernet socket.

>> I presume your Iyonix is networked to your PC, in which case you buy
>> yourself a copy of Uniprint. Your Iyonix will then send the print data
>> across to your PC which will then use the installed Windows driver to
>> print to the printer.
> I am not sure what constitutes a network. My PC and my Iyonix go into
> two ports of a 4 port Tenda wireless router and then to my NTL cable
> modem. My Canon inkjet printer is plugged into a usb port on my PC.
> The Laserjet is plugged into a parallel(I think) port on the back of
> the Iyo. Both computer use a single monitor via a data transfer
> switch. I transfer data between the two computer using a pendrive.

You have a network since both computers are linked via your router and
its built in Switch. So they should be able to talk to each other.

By the way you would also be able to print to the Inkjet via using
UniPrint as well.

--
Chris Hughes

Stuart

unread,
May 23, 2013, 6:36:22 PM5/23/13
to
In article <9f49835053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> I am not sure what constitutes a network. My PC and my Iyonix go into
> two ports of a 4 port Tenda wireless router

That is what you require. You should be able to connect to your PC from
your Iyo.

The use of Omniclient/Lanman98 will allow you to transfer your files
directly from the Iyo to a folder or drive on your PC as long as you
"Share" your PC folder or drive

> and then to my NTL cable modem. My Canon inkjet printer is plugged into
> a usb port on my PC.

With the above you can also "share" the Canon printer and use it from your
Iyo as long as you have a suitable driver.

I don't know if RComp's !Uniprint needs Omniclient/Lanman98 or whether it
is stand alone but RComp will no doubt be able to tell you.

!Uniprint allows you to print to /any/ printer connected to your PC and
needs no drivers other than the driver which you will have already
installed on your PC to use that printer.

It is also capable of a lot of other useful things

Dave Plowman (News)

unread,
May 23, 2013, 7:10:23 PM5/23/13
to
In article <60b9775053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
> face??.

Probably. If you want a printer that will work direct from your Iyonix,
you'll likely need to get one from a RISC OS dealer who will also supply a
driver for it.

> My PC has wireless capability which I assume will allow it to use the
> printer.
> Can anyone help.

I use UniPrint which allows the RISC OS machine to use any printer via a
PC.

--
*Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Jim Nagel

unread,
May 23, 2013, 7:54:12 PM5/23/13
to
Dave Plowman (News) wrote on 24 May:

> If you want a printer that will work direct from your Iyonix,
> you'll likely need to get one from a RISC OS dealer who will also supply a
> driver for it.

A Postscript printer is a safe bet too. Postscript is a widely used
language, available on all platforms, and it's no longer proprietary.
The old Acorn PS2 driver (vintage about 1995) comes as standard with
RiscOS; the new PS3 driver (from Martin Wuerthner and John Tytgat) is
much better and faster. Printing a big job like the Archive magazine
document to a Postscript3 file goes like greased lightning.

And if the printer has a network connection, any machine on your
network will be able to print to it directly. By contrast, a USB or
parallel-port connection would mean the printer is plugged into a
particuar computer, which would have to be running before any other
computer could send a job to the printer.

PS3 costs �35, I think; dunno price of Uniprint.

So I'd say your spreadsheet needs to compare:
Brother printer + Uniprint
a Postscript printer + PS3

--
Jim Nagel www.archivemag.co.uk
>> "from" address is genuine but will change. website has current one.

Chris Hughes

unread,
May 24, 2013, 4:08:51 AM5/24/13
to
In message <53508d87...@argonet.co.uk>
Stuart <Spa...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

> In article <9f49835053...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
> T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> I am not sure what constitutes a network. My PC and my Iyonix go into
>> two ports of a 4 port Tenda wireless router

> That is what you require. You should be able to connect to your PC from
> your Iyo.

> The use of Omniclient/Lanman98 will allow you to transfer your files
> directly from the Iyo to a folder or drive on your PC as long as you
> "Share" your PC folder or drive

>> and then to my NTL cable modem. My Canon inkjet printer is plugged into
>> a usb port on my PC.

> With the above you can also "share" the Canon printer and use it from your
> Iyo as long as you have a suitable driver.

> I don't know if RComp's !Uniprint needs Omniclient/Lanman98 or whether it
> is stand alone but RComp will no doubt be able to tell you.

It does not need Omniclient or LanMan98 to work just the IP address or
host name

> !Uniprint allows you to print to /any/ printer connected to your PC and
> needs no drivers other than the driver which you will have already
> installed on your PC to use that printer.

Indeed, here it prints to my networked Kodak inkjet and two laser
printers. Actually I can print direct to the two laser printers using
the Postscript 3 driver (A Kyocera FS1370DN and a Brother HL-4050CDN)

> It is also capable of a lot of other useful things

Indeed, It can be used to open PC types by transferring them to be
displayed on the PC (but file remains on your Iyo or whatever RISC OS
kit you have and same with Web URL's as well. It can also handle some
scanners on the PC, and operate them from RISC OS side. Plus has a
clipboard for transfer between the systems. Plus something else I have
forgotten at the moment.

--
Chris Hughes

Stuart

unread,
May 24, 2013, 4:55:23 AM5/24/13
to
In article <4fa8945...@nails.abbeypress.net>,
Jim Nagel <jimne...@abbeypress.co.uk> wrote:
> And if the printer has a network connection, any machine on your
> network will be able to print to it directly. By contrast, a USB or
> parallel-port connection would mean the printer is plugged into a
> particuar computer, which would have to be running before any other
> computer could send a job to the printer.

But many printers have multiple ports these days.

My old Canon S4500 had Centronics and USB so my RPC was plugged into the
Centronics port and my PC into the USB port and it all worked very
satisfactorily, requiring only that the printer was turned on!

The printer I recommended in the original thread "Printer replacement"

http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/individual/newprodpages/prodinfo.php?prodcode=DEL-2330DNSHNT6K

also has Centronics and USB but Ethernet as well.

Stuart

unread,
May 24, 2013, 4:47:22 AM5/24/13
to
In article <535090a...@davenoise.co.uk>,
Dave Plowman (News) <da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
> > SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
> > face??.

> Probably. If you want a printer that will work direct from your Iyonix,
> you'll likely need to get one from a RISC OS dealer who will also supply
> a driver for it.

Which is the advice he was originally given but ignored.

Brian Howlett

unread,
May 24, 2013, 5:25:36 AM5/24/13
to
On 23 May, Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:

> The Brother HL-2250DN uses PCL6, but as far as I know we don't have a
> PCL6 printer driver on RISC OS currently, so Uniprint will work from
> the Iyonix to the PC and then to the printer

There is a PCL-duplex printer driver, but I don't know what flavour of
PCL it is as I don't have a suitable printer to check.

I would also like to be associated with the remarks of the speakers in
favour of UniPrint.
--
Brian Howlett - Email to From: address deleted unseen
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you the Prime Minister?" "No, but I've often been mistaken."
"What, for the Prime Minister?" "No. I've just often been mistaken..."

Dave Plowman (News)

unread,
May 24, 2013, 5:39:01 AM5/24/13
to
In article <5350c578...@argonet.co.uk>,
Stuart <Spa...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <535090a...@davenoise.co.uk>,
> Dave Plowman (News) <da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
> > > SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on
> > > my face??.

> > Probably. If you want a printer that will work direct from your
> > Iyonix, you'll likely need to get one from a RISC OS dealer who will
> > also supply a driver for it.

> Which is the advice he was originally given but ignored.

Quite - although I can understand the temptation of just picking one up
there and then from your local PC World. Which you can if you get Uniprint
(assuming you also have a PC)

--
*What are the pink bits in my tyres? Cyclists & Joggers*

T M Smith

unread,
May 24, 2013, 6:24:15 AM5/24/13
to
Thanks for the info Dave.
I do already have the PS3 driver but I will obtain uniprint which
seems to be the key part in this setup.
I have now enough confidence to have unpacked the printer at least.

Malcolm

Stuart

unread,
May 24, 2013, 6:30:10 AM5/24/13
to
In article <5350ca3...@davenoise.co.uk>,
Dave Plowman (News) <da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
> > Which is the advice he was originally given but ignored.

> Quite - although I can understand the temptation of just picking one up
> there and then from your local PC World. Which you can if you get
> Uniprint (assuming you also have a PC)

Which it would seem he has.

I've just had to go down the !Uniprint road myself as the trusty old Canon
I mentioned, has just bitten the dust. After looking around and wanting an
A3 colour printer, I bought an Epson WF-7515. However, I must admit that
part of the attraction of this machine was the true A3 scanner. I'm
currently doing some work scanning some old electronics manuals and some
of the circuit diagrams are greater than A4. I was looking to use a camera
and just photograph them but this solves that problem.

Martin Wuerthner

unread,
May 24, 2013, 1:48:38 PM5/24/13
to
Chris Hughes <ne...@noonehere.co.uk> wrote:

> The Brother HL-2250DN uses PCL6, but as far as I know we don't have a PCL6
> printer driver on RISC OS currently

True, but for this printer there is no need for PCL6 driver. Any of the
existing HP LaserJet drivers will work just fine. PCL6 is backward
compatible with previous PCL versions.

The main reason why it would still be good to have a PCL6 driver for RISC OS
is that this would support *colour* lasers (which we can only drive via
PostScript at the moment), but since the printer in question is black and
white anyway, the existing LaserJet drivers will do.

> so Uniprint will work from the Iyonix
> to the PC and then to the printer

Of course this approach works as well, but it is not necessary, except to
get duplexing.

--
Martin Wuerthner MW Software http://www.mw-software.com/

------- RISC OS Software for Design, Printing and Publishing --------

Martin Wuerthner

unread,
May 24, 2013, 1:49:48 PM5/24/13
to
Please do not rush anything. As Chris Hughes pointed out, this printer
supports PCL6, so it will work just fine with the HP LaserJet drivers. You
just need to sort out the connection between the computer and the printer.
There is no need to use UniPrint.

Dave Symes

unread,
May 24, 2013, 2:32:42 PM5/24/13
to
On 23 May, da...@triffid.co.uk wrote:

When I wrote about connecting the HP LJ2005dn to the LAN here, the last
para was a kind of throwaway, but I've realised I should have added...

> The only exceptions to this rule are the two Tablets in the house... They
> can collect whatever DHCP addresses they want from outside the reserve.

With the Printer connected to the LAN (Not to a computer and Uniprint
clunky) We can of course print from the Tablets directly to the printer
wirelessly.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

T M Smith

unread,
May 24, 2013, 6:36:19 AM5/24/13
to
In message <5350c578...@argonet.co.uk>
Stuart <Spa...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

> In article <535090a...@davenoise.co.uk>,
> Dave Plowman (News) <da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
>>> SO, HOW DO I INSTALL this printer on the Ionix??, have I got egg on my
>>> face??.

>> Probably. If you want a printer that will work direct from your Iyonix,
>> you'll likely need to get one from a RISC OS dealer who will also supply
>> a driver for it.

> Which is the advice he was originally given but ignored.
Yes, not entirely ignored but an example of why one should not go
shopping until entirely clear about what one wants, and is available.

Looking at your advised printer it may well have been a better buy
than what I have finished up buying. But I did go to PC World with
colour in mind. However maybe not many people want to print on both
sides of a 'photograph'.

Thanks everyone for your input and help. I am sure I will be back when
I have got Uniprint

Malcolm

T M Smith

unread,
May 24, 2013, 4:10:30 PM5/24/13
to

Martin Wuerthner <spam...@mw-software.com> wrote:

> T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>> In message <20130523205458.086b73fa@debian>
>> Folderol <fold...@ukfsn.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I hate to say it, but you are probably not going to get it working.
>>> Brother have a diabolical reputation in that respect. The reason they
>>> are so cheap is that they are 'raster' printers, so the host computer
>>> does all the real work and the driver just spits lines of dots (in a
>>> obfuscated format) to the print engine.
>>
>>> ... well OK it's a bit more involved than that, but not much!
>>
>> Thanks for the quick reply Folderol, thats about as bad as it can get. It
>> looks like a trip back to PC World

> Please do not rush anything. As Chris Hughes pointed out, this printer
> supports PCL6, so it will work just fine with the HP LaserJet drivers. You
> just need to sort out the connection between the computer and the printer.
> There is no need to use UniPrint.

I have already bought Uniprint and I am just awaiting delivery so have
already 'rushed'. However Uniprint seemed to have attractions re
easier file transfer as well as access to multiple printers.

T M Smith

unread,
May 24, 2013, 4:20:18 PM5/24/13
to
In message <mpro.mnbdj000f7...@mw-software.com>
Martin Wuerthner <spam...@mw-software.com> wrote:

> T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>> In message <20130523205458.086b73fa@debian>
>> Folderol <fold...@ukfsn.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I hate to say it, but you are probably not going to get it working.
>>> Brother have a diabolical reputation in that respect. The reason they
>>> are so cheap is that they are 'raster' printers, so the host computer
>>> does all the real work and the driver just spits lines of dots (in a
>>> obfuscated format) to the print engine.
>>
>>> ... well OK it's a bit more involved than that, but not much!
>>
>> Thanks for the quick reply Folderol, thats about as bad as it can get. It
>> looks like a trip back to PC World

> Please do not rush anything. As Chris Hughes pointed out, this printer
> supports PCL6, so it will work just fine with the HP LaserJet drivers. You
> just need to sort out the connection between the computer and the printer.
> There is no need to use UniPrint.
I have just connected the Brother to the Iyo using usb cable (No
network cable yet or Uniprint). Loaded the laserjet 5 driver by drag
and drop from the selection which displayed and it prints fine.
When looking last night I could not find the printer drivers at all.
Arn't computers clever!!

Dave Symes

unread,
May 25, 2013, 1:01:30 AM5/25/13
to
In article <16e9045153...@thomas.smith57.virginmedia.com>,
T M Smith <thomas....@ntlworld.com> wrote:

[Snippy]
> I have just connected the Brother to the Iyo using usb cable (No
> network cable yet or Uniprint). Loaded the laserjet 5 driver by drag
> and drop from the selection which displayed and it prints fine.
> When looking last night I could not find the printer drivers at all.
> Arn't computers clever!!

> Malcolm

Menu-"Save choices" sometimes helps them to be even cleverer. ;-)

D.

--

Dave Triffid
0 new messages