Printing from Macbook Air with no Wi-Fi (wired)

[simonvee]

Hi,

I have a Brother printer/fax at work. There is no Wi-Fi. I want to print from my Macbook Air (if possible) using the printer/fax. I have attached a photo of the back of my printer showing a port. I have no idea what that port is for...I just thought I will give it a try in asking. Maybe there are adapters of some sort I can connect between my Air and fax/printer

Thanks in advance

 

[RadDave]

Hi,

I have a Brother printer/fax at work. There is no Wi-Fi. I want to print from my Macbook Air (if possible) using the printer/fax. I have attached a photo of the back of my printer showing a port. I have no idea what that port is for...I just thought I will give it a try in asking. Maybe there are adapters of some sort I can connect between my Air and fax/printer

Well, there is no photo attached and you needed to provide the exact model of the printer - on most printers (even older ones), a USB port should be available; an ethernet port would be another consideration; now if it's an 'ancient' printer, then a parallel port could be present (BOY, that takes me back to my first printer, i.e. an Epson dot matrix) - attached is a pic of a DB-25 parallel printer port - I'm assuming that you know the appearance of the others?

So, once you figure out the printer's port, a cabled connection, and likely a need to put printer driver software on the Brother machine would be necessary. Good luck - Dave

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[simonvee]

I'm not at work right now so I wouldn't be able to tell you the model of the printer. However, I bought it this year, it is very new. I will look for a USB port tomorrow on the printer. My Air does not have a ethernet port so I don't think it can connect to the printer that way.

 

[RadDave]

Hello again - that's just the other male end of a USB cable - the one you likely know goes into your computer; the other is for the printer (or scanner, etc.) - so you simply need a USB cable w/ the different male ends - then visit the Brother website and look for driver (et al) downloads for the printer. Dave
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[simonvee]

Wonderful! Thanks!

 

[pigoo3]

My Air does not have a ethernet port so I don't think it can connect to the printer that way.

If the printer has an ethernet port…and if it's a newer MacBook Air with a Thunderbolt port…then I believe you need a Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter for an ethernet connection. Or you can get a USB to ethernet adapter.

Edit: Or go the USB route RadDave mentioned.

- Nick