Brother QL-580N doesn't print from CUPS
 

Hello all.

I have a network printer from Brother, model QL-580N, which I'm trying to print from CUPS using the Print Test Page option. The job reports success but I never see anything coming from the printer.

But... if I send a job from Brother's software for Windows, Ptouch Editor 5.0, after the printer starts I can print from CUPS successfully. Maybe the driver lacks some kind of initialization procedure...

Software in use is:

• net-print/cups-1.3.10-r2
• net-print/foomatic-db-3.0.20060720
• net-print/foomatic-db-engine-3.0.20060720
• net-print/foomatic-db-ppds-3.0.20060720
• net-print/foomatic-filters-3.0.20080507
• net-print/foomatic-filters-ppds-20070501

Besides these Portage packages I've also installed the ptouch driver released by Arne John Glenstrup so I can use the rastertoptch binary. Without this app CUPS returns foomatic-rip failed error.

Brother QL-580N was configured in CUPS using the following options:

• Device => AppSocket/HP JetDirect
• Device URI => socket://10.16.1.4
• Make => Brother
• Model => Brother QL-550 Foomatic/ptouch (en)

Note: There is no Brother QL-580N in the model list so I've selected QL-550.

Any help/hints/questions would be very appreciated. I can post here CUPS error logs, wireshark logs from CUPS and from Ptouch Editor (Windows) or anything else if needed.

Thanks!

Have you tried printing something other than the CUPS test page? At one time my Brother DCP-110C would not print the CUPS test page but would happily print everything else! I never did get to the bottom of the problem, but I suspected that a font was being used in the test page that was not installed on my system.

Have you seen this page? Maybe you need the package for linux from Brother.

allend, tredegar: thanks for your suggestions.

allend: yes, I tried to print something other than the CUPS test page. CUPS test page, labels templates made by Brother for OpenOffice, image files... all fail. The weird thing is I can print all of them if the first print job comes from Ptouch Editor (Windows).

tradegar: I'm already using those drivers. I have one configuration with foomatic/ptouch and another with cupswrapper from Brother. Both fail.

More suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

That printer doesn't seem to need firmware uploading before it'll work (my first thought).

If it works with CUPS when windows has used it, then CUPS is OK.

Maybe windows is doing something to the printer's LAN address. Do you have it set to a static IP? Can you ping the printer when it is first turned on, and before you have run windows?

I am suspecting network-mischief.

Both my laptop and printer are on a LAN served by a router were I've registered both MACs so the printer has a fixed IP. I can ping the printer without Windows interference.

I have logs from Wireshark from the interaction between the printer and two laptops running Linux/Windows. If you need any info network related feel free to ask. Thanks again.

Have you seen this page: http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_us/faq_esp.html ?
Maybe try FAQ #1:

[1] Print from windows (so it works)
[2] "Change the paper size setting from the cups web interface ("http://localhost:631/printers" -> "Set Printer Options") and perform "Print Test page" (The setting will be saved when you perform a printing)"
[3] "Edit the paper size parameter in "/usr/local/Brother/PTouch/inf/br(model name)rc" to the paper width.

***The available parameter value is in the /etc/cups/ppd/(model name).ppd file.
***This action will change the default printout paper size."

Good news. The printer is working! :D

I've been playing with both foomatic/open-source-ptouch-driver and cupswrapper from Brother and finally I got it working with Brother/cupswrapper. The foomatic/open-source-ptouch-driver still doesn't work and I stopped trying to get it to work.

I'm not sure what made it to work but the info posted by tradegar is really important! Thanks a lot for pointing that out.

There is a really nice manual called "QL-580N Linux Printer Driver Manual" but I can only find it in Japanese (which is not ok for me :P). It is available here. I've asked Brother for the english version and they sent me the manual for QL-1050, which they told me, work the same way. So if anyone needs this guide just PM me.

Again, thanks allend and tradegar ;)

Well done.
As there was precious little on the WWW when you first posted here, a few more details might be helpful for others finding this post with a search engine. Google re-indexes this site with scary regularity (perhaps because it realises that useful information is often posted here).
Errr, which information please, I was just "taking a stab in the dark".
Please do your best to write a HOWTO of the steps you took ( and next time - keep notes as you go along, otherwise you might find you have to start again solving a problem you have already solved, but "forgot" HOWTO )

Thanks for the follow-up anyway.

QL580 works well with Fedora 32 bit.
 

I have been using this regularly for a couple years with the driver downloads from the Brother site. However, I recently upgraded to FC 17 and in 64 bit mode, and these drivers do not work any more. Actually, I figured that if I can locate a PPD file, then it should be easy to make CUPS handle it - but no luck so far getting one for the QL580.

Any advice?