Generally I try not to print very much -- paper is heavy to carry around, not very accessible if you don't, bulky to store, adds clutter, and excessive printing certainly isn't environmentally friendly.

However running a business there are certain things that need to be printed out, if only so that they can be signed and filed or signed and scanned to be sent off. So when I'm printing, generally I've been forced into printing something and thus have fairly limited patience for fighting with a printer to get a usable page out.

For at least a decade I've used a couple of HP LaserJet 4 printers (and more recently the "best parts of" both, cobbled together -- with additional RAM and network cards, plus a roller kit replacement at one point). Feature wise it did almost everything I required from a printer, except duplexing. It wasn't very fast, but I printed so little that didn't really matter.

Unfortunately over the last year or two even the "grandfather's axe" printer, from the best bits of 2-3 HPLJ4 printers, has been increasingly tempremental: the printed page has been increasingly "speckled" with small dots of toner, even the darkest setting has been relatively light, and particularly frustratingly while trying to print end of year accounts the printer kept jamming and crumpling up the pages. (The latter is a classic sign of the top roller getting old: the lower roller pushes the paper up faster than the top roller is managing to move the paper, and the paper crumples.) Cleaning the printer managed to get enough tolerable uncrumpled printouts, at the expense of last few pages having "roller" streaks along one side (which typically indicates toner drum or fuser drum aging issues).

While investigating the cost of trying to replace the HPLJ4 toner (still possible), and/or replace some of the items, I discovered that network-ready laser printers were surprisingly cheap these days: and several models had manufacturer rebates this month. After some investigation I was tempted by the Brother HL-2270DW, which is an ethernet/wireless/usb printer with built in duplexing, available for about $150 (even in New Zealand -- after the rebate!). (Obviously printers are very much the "razors and blades" model -- the printer is cheap, but the consumables are not that cheap -- and the balance seems to have shifted almost towards subsidising the printer these days. But for someone who prints very little that's actually a convenient trade off: the 12k pages life of the Brother drum should in theory last me a whole bunch of years, and the 1k pages of the toner ought to last a year or so.)

Printer network configuration

When the printer is first powered on, it is in a "out of the box" mode where the ethernet interface will do DHCP (and the wireless interface is (I believe, in ad-hoc wireless mode as "SETUP" -- I didn't get that working quickly so I just plugged an ethernet cable). The manual in the box explains in great detail how to run a setup tool from their CD-ROM, but if you know your way around IT equipment the tool is not necessary.

When the factory reset (see below) Brother HL-2270DW printer is plugged into a network that does DHCP, it'll get an address via DHCP. And then you can access the webbrowser built into it via DHCP. (You'll need to find the IP address that it has obtained -- either from the DHCP server logs for the device called BRW and the ethernet MAC, which is what I did, or by printing out the settings: when the printer is on and idle, press the "GO" button three times in quick succession. The IP address is on the third page printed.)

From there:

  • Go to http://DHCPIP/ in a web browser (with cookies enabled)

  • Click on the "Network Settings" link

  • Enter admin user/password (default: admin/access)

  • Click on the "Configure Wireless" link

  • Select "Communication mode" of 1) Infrastructure mode

  • Enter SSID for your wireless network

  • Set the wireless channel (or leave at 11; possibly not necessary to set in Infrastructure mode, since it should follow your access point)

  • Select "Authentication" of "WPA/WPA2-PSK

  • Select "AES" for the encryption mode (eg, for an Apple Airport)

  • Enter the passphrase for the wireless network

  • Submit the information from that form

After that the printer web page will ask you want to enable the wireless interface, and disconnect the ethernet cable -- choose "Yes", and then disconnect the ethernet cable. The printer will restart, and attempt to join the wireless network. Assuming it is successful, it will print out a success page with the details of the wireless network it has joined. (The wired MAC and wireless MAC are different, so it will get a new address from the DHCP server.)

If desired, you can set the "Location" and "Contact" information displayed on the home page of the printer website in "Network Settings"/"Password and Contact".

Device driver installation

At least on OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) if the printer is powered on, and connected to the network when you go into System Preferences -> Printers & Scanners, then you can click on the "+" to add a printer, and it will offer to add the "Brother HL-2270DW Series" printer. If you agree, it will download the printer drivers from Apple and install them, and the printer will be ready to go. Which is even easier than the (driver built in) configuration for the HP LaserJet 4.

Brother HL-2270DW factory reset

If the printer is not straight out of the box, and the configuration is not useful, a factory reset can be done by:

  • Turning the printer off

  • Holding down the "GO" button and turning the printer on

  • Keep holding it down until the top three printer lights come on (Toner/Drum/Error)

  • Release the "GO" button

  • Press the "GO" button six times in succession

Then the printer should reset its settings and reboot (from page 31 of supplied manual).