I have tried to install a brother hl2170w without success under Porteus a derivative of slax.

Here is the procedure that I have followed:

1) downloaded and converted them into slackware packages with rpm2txzthe two necessary printer drivers:
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... l#HL-2170W

- LPR: brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm
- cupswrapper:cupswrapperHL2170W-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm

2) downloaded and installed additional packages:
ghostscript-9.00-i486-2
ghostscript-fonts-std-8.11-noarch-1
gutenprint-5.2.6-i486-1

3) edited file:
/usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/cupswrapperHL2170W-2.0.2

changed this line:
port=usb:/dev/usb/lp0

for usb :
port=usb://Brother/HL-2170W%20series

Within kword HL-2170W is idle. Trying to print a job a message box opens and closes fast, but no printing. From http://localhost:631/printers/HL2170W, using the maintenance dialog box to get a print test page, there is no printing neither.

However, I get the following error message:
The page your are trying to view is the result of posted form data. If you resend the data, any action the form carried out (such as search or online purchase) will be repeated.

What do you suggest?

You must convert the rpms with alien. See http://welcome.solutions.brother.com...faq_prn.html#1. (The -c and -t options are critical.)

Brian

@Brian:
Thanks for your fast reply.

I did installed alien, I get the following error message:
bash-4.1# alien -t -c brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm
error: brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm: Header SHA1 digest: BAD
error: brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm: not an rpm package (or package manifest)
Error executing "LANG=C rpm -qp --queryformat %{NAME} brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm": at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0/Alien/Package.pm line 482.
bash-4.1#

It looks like the rpm file is corrupted. Try downloading it again.

Brian

Try printing directly to the device.

su -c 'chmod gou+rwx /dev/usb/lp0'

gs -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -sDEVICE=hl1250 -sOutputFile=/dev/usb/lp0 \
-dDOINTERPOLATE -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -r600 file.ps -c quit

My Brother HL2140 works fine with the above command. Writing to the device has fewer things that can go wrong than using Brother's software and CUPS.
Ed

1 members found this post helpful.

@Ed:
Thanks a lot for giving some help. Here is what I get using your strategy:

bash-4.1# su -c 'chmod gou+rwx /dev/usb/lp0'
bash-4.1# gs -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -sDEVICE=hl1250 -sOutputFile=/dev/usb/lp0 \
> -dDOINTERPOLATE -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -r600 file.ps -c quit
GPL Ghostscript 9.01 (2011-02-07)
Copyright (C) 2010 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
This software comes with NO WARRANTY: see the file PUBLIC for details.
Error: /undefinedfilename in (file.ps)
Operand stack:

Execution stack:
%interp_exit .runexec2 --nostringval-- --nostringval-- --nostringval-- 2 %stopped_push --nostringval-- --nostringval-- --nostringval-- false 1 %stopped_push
Dictionary stack:
--dict:1159/1684(ro)(G)-- --dict:0/20(G)-- --dict:77/200(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
Last OS error: 2
GPL Ghostscript 9.01: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
bash-4.1#

Meanwhile, I have installed gutenprint-5.2.7 along cups. I was able to install the brhl2170w thru cups. Do I persevere trying to convert rpm's?

I still get the error message:
The page your are trying to view is the result of posted form data. If you resend the data, any action the form carried out (such as search or online purchase) will be repeated.

Here's what I did to make my HL2140 works on Slackware 13.0:

1- Convert brhl2140lpr and cupswrapperHL2140 to .tgz using rpm2tgz, then install them using installpkg.

2- Create a symlink for cups in /etc/init.d
ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.cups /etc/init.d/cups

3- Run the following script (as root):
sh /usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/cupswrapperHL2140-2.0.2

Maybe similar steps would be applicable for yours.

The Ghostscript error looks like the input file was not valid Postscript. You first need to save the printout file as Postscript.

Since the printer is now working, you're done!

Ghostscript can already drive the HL-21xx printers without the use of Brother's software (which I suspect amounts to configuration files for a few Linux distributions).
Ed

I imagine that you meant:
/usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/cupswrapperHL2170W-2.0.2 -i

Alas it did not worked.

Thanks.

1) What was missing in the syntax so that the file printout could be saved as Postscript. I just copy/paste your suggestion without reference to any concrete file that I had on my computer.

2) The printer still does not print. Maybe, I did not express myself well. There is no printing at all. I wonder if cups was well installed in the first place on that distribution of mine. Is there any command to verify that?

3) With Gutenprint installed at least the brother manufacturer is offered as a choice to install the printer. This is an improvement over my former situation within cups. However, the printer does not print.

Any other suggestion. Maybe I should remove and reinstall cups a new. What do you think^

Just to be sure: Did you start cups (sh /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start) before you do printing?

In the app that you're printing from, select "Print to file", set the format to Postscript, and save "file.ps". Then, use the Ghostscript command above.
Ed

Francois
I have the same printer and I ended up using one of the other printer drivers (I think it was the HL1270, can't remember and it my laptop in front of me) and everything worked out fine.

Try one of the other brother CUPS drivers first since it worked exactly the same for me.

You should try again to convert. I just tested it and it worked fine, you probably just have a corrupted file. You will also need the cupswrapper.

Brian