To freely set printing environment based upon panel operation provided for a printer with simple constitution using a simple constitution such that a network administrator sends mail to the printer connected on a network via the Internet.

A network interface 3 receives mail by a mail transmission and reception part 5 via the network, a command analysis part 6 interprets the contents of the received mail as a command, and according to the interpreted command, a command-processing part 7 controls the setting of print environment that can be set through operation on the panel operation part 8 of the printer.