I have wanted to replace my USB laser printer with a wireless one, to eliminate some cable clutter. It has been a low priority, since my printer works great and doesn't actually need replacement. Then I thought, I wonder if there's a wireless receiver gadget that would turn this USB printer wireless. I looked around a little, and found there is. (I'm not surprised.) One of them is https://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Ethern...ELESS+RECEIVER .

Does anyone have any experience with these receivers, regardless of make? Are they reliable? This one would be somewhat cheaper than the new printer I want, even at its used price, and I dislike getting rid of a device that has nothing wrong.

(Note to moderators: I meant to post this in non-NIX general. Please move it there if appropriate.)

Is your printer USB only or is it also network capable? The posted adapter looks like it works only with ethernet capable devices.

There are USB print servers but most are not linux compatible or only work with particular printers. This one may work.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16833114129

Otherwise I recently purchased a Netgear wireless range extender with an ethernet port from an office supply store going out of business sale which is somewhat similar to your posted adapter. Once connected to wireless network it didn't matter what type of device was connected to its ethernet port and works as expected. I suspect the IOGEAR to work in the same manner.

I don't know how comfortable you are with DIY projects but I have seen several websites on using a raspberry pi as a print server using Cups. A Google search will show several and the pi is fairly cheap.

just a thought

Oops, I forgot to consider that. Nope, I'm sure it's not Ethernet capable. Brother HL-2240.

We do have a wireless network at my house, so I'll ponder the server...

USB only. The pi will not work as a server for this printer since the driver is only for x86.

Actually Brother has source code packages on their support website to compile all of their CUPS driver packages. There is a tar package for the HL2240. You could then compile it with Raspbian for ARM Cortex. Since CUPS itself runs on the Pi all you would need to do is compile the Brother CUPS driver package for that model.

brhl2240cups_src-2.0.4-2.tar.gz (16.3KB)

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downl...ng=4&type3=576

I stand corrected...

Most routers have USB ports for printers. Just use a wireless router as a print server.

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Trouble is, the USB protocol is not the same as a TCP/IP protocol, and "network capable" printers usually have more on-board computing power. On a (cheap ...) USB printer, the so-called "RIPping" (Raster Image Processing) is done on your computer so that the printer can be made less expensive.

Me? I'd go buy a nice, network and wireless-ready, Hewlett-Packard® LaserJet® and be done.

You are talking about cheap Windows GDI printers which came out about 5 years ago. Ten years ago the situation was different. My Samsung ML-1740 from circa 2005 has only USB input but supports Samsung SPL language and only requires a 44K CUPS filter. Ten years ago it was common for PCL printers with a fairly powerful CPU to only have USB input. These days all but the cheapest have wireless/network.

The OP did provide the exact printer model in post #4 and you posted the cups driver package in post #6...

The question is whether a USB connection can be sent successfully over TCP/IP, and that the printer will correctly respond to it.

A "wireless/network printer" has "network print-server" software which allows it to participate as an independent entity on the network, making itself known on that network and accepting network-protocol print jobs. Merely attaching a wireless transceiver to a printer that does not have this additional functionality won't make it a "network printer."

A wireless network adapter for a printer will do what it is designed to do; that is accept network protocols.

You don't send a USB connection over TCP/IP at all. You never would as you can't. The printer requires a USB input but the laptop or desktop can send out print jobs over TCP/IP using IPP.

If using a Raspberry Pi as a print server the Pi3 has Wifi and USB2 connections. You would set up an IPP print server on the Pi using CUPS and visible over Wifi and simply connect the USB printer to a USB2 port on the Pi. The laptop or desktop would then print over the network to the IPP printer queue running on the Pi.


Some printers have Ethernet ports but no wireless capability. This was very common with office laser printers 10 years ago. They are network-capable but not wireless. Any printer with an Ethernet port would have "network print-server" software. A wireless-to-Ethernet adaptor might work in those cases. However the OPs printer has only USB input.