printing with Brother printer doesn't work

Tsuga · 08-15-2020, 05:27 PM

I have a Brother MFC-L2750DW from which I'm trying to print. I got the drivers installed. I have CUPS daemon started. But when I send a job to the printer, nothing happens. The printer will give the message "receiving data" and CUPS will show either the job completed or stopped.

I don't always have the printer connected. I use a USB connection when it is connected. I just now plugged in to try to test the printer again. On the CUPS page (localhost:631), when I go to Administration, then "Manage Printers", I get this message for status:

Code:

Idle - "File "/usr/lib64/cups/filter/brother_lpdwrapper_MFCL2750DW" has insecure permissions (0100755/uid=1002/gid=100)."

If I check the file:

Code:

bash-5.0$ ls -la /usr/lib64/cups/filter/brother_lpdwrapper_MFCL2750DW
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 55 Aug  7 16:01 /usr/lib64/cups/filter/brother_lpdwrapper_MFCL2750DW -> /opt/brother/Printers/MFCL2750DW/cupswrapper/lpdwrapper

I sent a print test page job and the CUPS page says this:

Quote:

Description: Brother MFC-L2750DW series
Location: Local Printer
Driver: Brother MFCL2750DW for CUPS (grayscale, 2-sided printing)
Connection: usb://Brother/MFC-L2750DW%20series?serial=123456
Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=na_letter_8.5x11in sides=one-sided

And the "state" below that summary says "stopped".

If I'm reading the permissions correctly, it looks like any user can execute commands on the printer? If I'm correct, why can't I print anything?

ferrari · 08-15-2020, 06:36 PM

You can clear any stuck/stale print jobs with

Code:

cancel -a

The printer can be re-enabled if necessary

Code:

cupsenable <name-of-printer>

*You can get the exact configured printer name using

Code:

lpstat -t

The existing CUPS error log can be removed with

Code:

rm -f -var/log/cups/error_log

It will get recreated when cupsd is restarted.

Put CUPS into debug mode (more verbose logging output) with...

Code:

cupsctl --debug-logging

Sen another print job and examine the resulting error_log file.

For example, you could check for filter and error output etc

Code:

egrep -iA3 "filter|error" /var/log/cups/error_log

ferrari · 08-15-2020, 06:42 PM

Also, since many of the Brother printer drivers are 32-bit, you may need to add the requisite 32-bit library support...
https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:ha...r_installation

Quote:

Brother printer drivers are 32-bit only (implied by Pre-required Procedure (5) on the Before the Installation page) so for 64-bit Slackware you will need to install at least the multilib glibc-solibs and cups-compat32 packages for your installation from http://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/people/alien/multilib/

StalocX · 08-17-2020, 01:45 AM

I have a similar MFC from Brother, however, it works over network. The only thing I've done to make it work (printing) is

Code:

lpadmin -p Brother -E -v ipp://192.168.77.111/ipp -m everywhere

according to this article. Since almost all modern Brother MFC support ipp this should work.

hazel · 08-17-2020, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferrari

Also, since many of the Brother printer drivers are 32-bit, you may need to add the requisite 32-bit library support...
https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:ha...r_installation

My Brother definitely needs 32-bit glibc. No other 32-bit software necessary.

phalange · 08-17-2020, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StalocX

I have a similar MFC from Brother, however, it works over network. The only thing I've done to make it work (printing) is

Code:

lpadmin -p Brother -E -v ipp://192.168.77.111/ipp -m everywhere

according to this article. Since almost all modern Brother MFC support ipp this should work.

I did something like this too, except I used a Raspberry Pi as a print server. In other words, once the printer was enabled in this way via cups, I just shared it. I did not need to install Brother's drivers on any device. Mine is MFC-j985DW.

ratfactor · 08-17-2020, 03:25 PM

It looks like PCL 6 emulation is supported by this printer (https://www.brother-usa.com/products...#specification):

Code:

Emulation(s) BR-Script3‡, GDI, PCL6 (PCL XL Class 3.0), PDF Version 1.7

If you have as much trouble with the official drivers as I did, you could try using it as a generic PCL 6 device. You may lose some features, but at least it will make marks on paper.

I wrote up my experience here: http://ratfactor.com/slackware/brother-printer

In short, you can set it up in CUPS as:

Make: Generic
Model: Generic PCL 6 LF Printer wide margin - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.11

Might be worth trying as a last resort.