Instructor: In this lesson,
we're going to talk about printer connectivity.
When it comes to printer connectivity
there are three main types you're going to encounter.
This is a USB connection, an ethernet connection
or a wireless connection.
Now, when it comes to a USB connection
this is most typically what you're going to find
in a home environment.
Generally, you're going to be using a smaller printer
that's meant to support one user.
In these cases, you're going to be using a USB type B connector
on the back of the printer and then using a USB type A
or USB type C connector to plug into a free port
on your desktop or laptop.
Now, in most cases, when you plug in a printer using USB
your operating system is going to be able to detect
that printer and pick the right driver for it.
For example, if you're using Windows,
it has the ability to detect that printer
using plug and play and then installing
the driver automatically for you.
Similarly, if you're using a Mac system,
they have a similar type of technology
where they can detect that printer through USB
and select the appropriate driver
so it'll be ready to be used right away.
After you connect the printer
and the driver has been installed,
you'll be able to print out a test page
and then verify everything is working as it should.
Now, the second type of connectivity
you're going to come across is known as ethernet connectivity.
Now, ethernet is our network cables and this is going to plug
into an RJ45 port on the back of your printer.
If your printer supports a network based connection,
this means the printer already has a print server
embedded into it and you'll be able to use that
so that all the devices on your network
can print directly to that printer.
In the cases where the printer is acting
as the print server,
you're still going to need to install the drivers.
Most printers that have an ethernet capability
built into them will support using DHCP
or the dynamic host configuration protocol
to be able to automatically assign their own
internet protocol address
based on your router and your gateway.
In addition to that, you can always manually
configure your device using an assigned IP address
if you prefer.
The way you're going to configure your printer's
network capability is going to depend on the model
and manufacturer of that particular printer
so check your manufacturer's website for instructions
on how to do this.
Most modern printers will have a small LCD display
on the front of them.
That is a touch capable display that allows you
to set up things like the DHCP setting
or setting a manual IP address
if that's the way you want to configure it.
In addition to that front panel display,
many of these models will also support a web-based interface
so that once the printer has connected to the network
and you can identify its IP address,
you can type that into your web browser
and access a web console that will allow you
to change the settings on it
or check the current status of your ink and toner
on that particular printer.
The third type of connectivity you have
is known as wireless connectivity.
Now, wireless connectivity generally comes in two forms.
This can either be Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
When you're using Wi-Fi connectivity,
you can use either Infrastructure Mode or Wi-Fi Direct Mode.
In Infrastructure Mode, your print device is going to connect
to your access point just like
any of the other wireless devices on your network.
When it does this, it's going to get an IP address using DHCP
or you can statically configure it.
Once that occurs your device is now a part of the network
just as if you had plugged it in using an RJ45 cable
using the ethernet connectivity option.
From this point, everything we talked about already
with ethernet is still going to apply,
the only difference is you're using wireless
instead of using a wired connection.
Now, the second type of Wi-Fi you can use
is what's known as Wi-Fi Direct.
With Wi-Fi Direct, this allows the printer itself
to act as an access point.
So, if you set up a printer and you use Wi-Fi Direct,
that printer will send out its own SSID.
For example, mine might say Lexmark 123
if I had a Lexmark 123 model printer.
I can then connect to that using Wi-Fi from my laptop
and then I can print directly to it
over that wireless connection.
Personally, I prefer to use ethernet connectivity
or Wi-Fi in Infrastructure Mode
because I find it gives us the best performance
when trying to share a printer over our network.
The last form of wireless connectivity
you're going to come across is using Bluetooth.
That's right, alot of printers have the ability
to connect over Bluetooth.
This will essentially replace the USB cable
in our USB connectivity method.
Under this method we're using a wireless
point to point connection from the printer to our computer
instead of plugging a USB cable
directly from the printer to our computer.
So as you can see there are lots of different
connectivity options you have.
This includes using USB, ethernet or wireless using Wi-Fi
or Bluetooth to make the connection
between your printer and your computer.