Ethernet Connection to Epson

[John R Smith]

I see that the new Epson R3000 has an ethernet connection as an alternative to the usual USB. Is this a fairly simple matter to set up to a Windows 7 PC, or does it involve some arcane and complex rituals?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

John

[Justan]

I can’t speak to the particulars of the Epson but cobbling together a home network or adding a printer to an existing network is pretty simple.

There is overwhelming pressure on manufactures to make the process of adding a printer to a network as easy as possible. Due to this most printers get their network related information by what is called DHCP. In most home networks DHCP is controlled by the device that brings access to the internet to your home.

What the technobabble above implies is that the process is only a little more involved than connecting the printer to power and also to your home network. Typically the printer’s setup software will do all the work for you.

[stefano]

I can't speak for Windows 7, but I just recently installed an Epson 4900 on my home network and it pretty much only required connecting it to my switch and then adding it to my system printers like any other printer. In OS X you get a choice of TCP/IP or Bonjour as protocols to connect to the printer - I went with TCP/IP.
Overall pretty much self explanatory, Windows 7 is probably similarly straightforward.

Stefano

[Farmer]

It's absolutely dead simple.  The software will find your printer on the network in most cases and just add it in.

[John R Smith]

Thanks for the reassurance, chaps. I rather fancy the new R3000 to replace my 2400, in due course.

John

[bill t.]

It might save some trouble if your computer and the printer are connected to each other through a "router" rather than a "switch."

Those things are very similar in appearance and function, but there are differences, and there are places in the network where a "switch" can be problematical.  I found this out the hard way.

As a simplification, if your computer is plugged into the same physical junction box as your cable modem, that junction box had better be a "router" and not a "switch" if you plan to later add a printer or other computers to the network.

But be prepared for the arcane and have that tech support number handy.  USB is your friend. But networking is too often the demon you thought you knew but didn't.

[Farmer]

Unless you're trying to bridge multiple networks (such as between the internet and your local network), there's no need for a router.  A hub or switch will do the job perfectly well, unless you've really, truly, screwed up the way you've set up your local network :-)

[howardm]

just to make it more confusing (see, we told you )......

the box you likely have is a combination router and switch.  You must have a router to get you onto the 'net but on the home network side of things, it acts like a switch.  So bottom line:  don't worry about that.  the box knows what to do.

IMO, the bigger issue is that if the printer gets it's 'IP address' via DHCP, then it (the address) can, at some point, change.  If that happens, things stop working and you're left scratching your head with a 'this used to work fine yesterday but now doesn't'.

[Justan]

It might save some trouble if your computer and the printer are connected to each other through a "router" rather than a "switch."

This is not generally true. The case where it would be true is if the router or the switch supported several separate subnets or so-called vlans. One doesn't often see this capability in home network hardware.

Those things are very similar in appearance and function, but there are differences, and there are places in the network where a "switch" can be problematical.  I found this out the hard way.

What took place? What you describe would most likely be true if the switch was defective, or if the switch was a managed switch, that wasn't managed very well. With a managed switch, the switch itself can have some of the capabilities of a router. But again, most home networks don't have managed switches.

But be prepared for the arcane and have that tech support number handy.... networking is too often the demon you thought you knew but didn't.

Heh, i might put that on one of my office doors... 

[Justan]

just to make it more confusing (see, we told you )......

IMO, the bigger issue is that if the printer gets it's 'IP address' via DHCP, then it (the address) can, at some point, change.  If that happens, things stop working and you're left scratching your head with a 'this used to work fine yesterday but now doesn't'.

True dat! And given a power hiccup it could happen at some point. The formal cure for that problem requires something that can provide both dhcp and also ip reservations. Another cure would be give the printer a static ip address that is outside of the dhcp scope.

[John R Smith]

Aaaaagh!

Hold on folks. I wasn't thinking of this at all, it was all going to be much simpler than that. My photo editing PC is not connected to the internet (I have a separate PC for that) and is not connected to a network either.

I was just going to run a cat 5 cable from the PC network socket straight to the printer. That should work, shouldn't it? Or was that too much to hope for . . .

John

[howardm]

maybe, possibly, and it depends.

if the PC is modern (keyword:  gigabit Ethernet) then the ethernet port/socket on the back will auto-configure and you can just slap a cable between it and the printer, set the IP address, subnet mask and gateway on each and you're done.  If it's (the PC) is older, then you'll need a less common type of ethernet cable called a 'crossover' cable.

setting the address, mask and gateway isn't a big deal but you need to a sense as to what will work. The numbers below will work in your
situation (1 PC connected to the printer and no other networking involved)

PC:
IP address:  192.168.0.10
mask:          255.255.255.0
gateway:     192.168.0.1    (this value actually doesn't matter at all since you're not connected to a larger network)

Printer:
IP address:  192.168.0.11
mask:          255.255.255.0
gateway:     192.168.0.1    (this value actually doesn't matter at all since you're not connected to a larger network)

** notice that the only difference between the 2 is the IP address **

[Jeremy Roussak]

was just going to run a cat 5 cable from the PC network socket straight to the printer. That should work, shouldn't it? Or was that too much to hope for . . .

John

That's very unlikely to work.

Any device on an Ethernet network needs an IP address (generally, four numbers in the range 0 to 255, separated by dots, such as 192.168.10.42). Some other device is needed to allocate an IP address, generally using a process called DHCP. Usually, your Internet "modem" will include a DHCP server: it will allocate a unique IP address to any new device plugged into the network, in response to a request from that device for such an address. The setup you propose will have no DHCP server, so neither device will be allocated an IP address. Macs will "self-assign" IP addresses in the 169 range but they're of limited use.

The explanation I've given here is grotesquely over-simplified. Ethernet is not USB! I think for what you propose, you'll have to stick to USB.

Jeremy

[John R Smith]

Oh Bother 

The PC is a pretty new laptop, and I just wanted to free up a USB port, that was all, 'cos I have too many things to plug in and a USB hub as well and it's all rather a mess. In my innocence, I just assumed that this was a different bit of cable which I could use. Well, what else do you expect from a man who still uses a mechanical camera made in 1971?

John

[bill t.]

FWIW, a few minutes at www.techsupportforum.com sorted out my network problems that 2 hours of trans-pacific manufacturer's support could not.

Also FWIW, I managed to get my iPF8300 hooked up via the network, and I can therefore say from experience that it works not one wit better than when it was hooked up USB.

But if you must persist with the network thing, just be sure the veebleflitzer transmutator is cogently biplanar to the craznian token, that should do it.

[howardm]

fear not, I still have vacuum tubes in my stereo.

if you want to chat, PM and I'll give you my cell #

[artobest]

I simply hooked up my Z3200ps to my computer's gigabit socket and hey presto, it worked without a hitch. The only problem after that was dropping the connection because of the changing IP issue, but I fixed that by giving the printer a static IP address.

I have just upgraded my network by connecting both printer and internet to my new computer via a simple Netgear gigabit switch, again without problems. One thing I would suggest is to ensure you use properly rated cables - Cat 5e or Cat6.