Which is better to convert to use on Slackware...
a .deb or an .rpm?
I just ordered a Brother printer (HL2280DW), and Brother supplies drivers for linux but only as .deb or .rpm I just remembered about rpm2tgz but can't remember for the life of me if there's a way to change a deb to a tgz so I can install it on my Slackware 14 system. |
Debian package to tgz :
$ ar -x <package.deb> && mv data.tar.gz <name>.tgz |
I'm pretty sure you can use src2pkg on either .dep and .tgz to create a slackware package.
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D1ver, you are right. Using src2pkg to convert rpm or deb packages will not ensure that the programs run on Slackware, but it will at least avoid borking your system due to bad perms or permissions.
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Thanks guys. I also kept looking and looking and eventually found this - deb2tgz. It's 5 years old, here's the website http://code.google.com/p/deb2tgz/downloads/list
I'll try src2pkg first...just because it's a stock install (isn't it?) than the deb2pkg thing. Heh...nope, I see it isn't. Got it now and installing it to see how it'll do. |
Actually "deb2tgz" is as primitive as $ ar -x <package.deb> && mv data.tar.gz <name>.tgz
deb2tgz, line 105 : mv $TMPDIR/data.tar.gz $(basename $i .deb).tgz Why not use the suggested src2pkg : Very easy to install .. http://distro.ibiblio.org/amigolinux...8-noarch-1.txz > src2pkg-2.8-noarch-1.txz - |
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Here's my own little HOWTO on the subject (scroll down a bit): http://www.microlinux.fr/slackware/L...CUPS-HOWTO.txt If you install it on Slackware64, be sure to install the basic set of Multilib packages. Cheers, Niki |
irgunII,
I own Brother HL-5340D printer. I tried both DEB and RPM drivers with it and there’s no difference. Finally I decided to use PPD driver (the text one). Unfortunately Brother doesn’t offer PPD driver for your HL-2280DW but you could try the PPD driver provided for the similar printer such as HL-4070CDW: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com...nload_prn.html *** By the way: are you willing to perform some font tests using your Brother laser printer? My printer causes some problems with GNU FreeFont family. I tested that a lot and described these problems here and there. I could provide you the test file. To perform the test it’s enough to install GNU FreeFont, print the file, and evaluate the results. |
RPMs can be installed directly. Just use Slackware's included RPM with --nodeps.
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This is what worked for me with a Brother MFC-J825DW printer/scanner.
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:har...r_installation |
A little off topic to your original question, but if you have no luck with installing it as a package, this thread might help you: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...h-cups-846633/
I had a problem installing printer drivers for a Brother printer, and ended up managing it with the ppd file instead. |
Wow! Thanks for all the tips and help folks! What a great place, heh!
@w1k0 - Once I have the printer here and actually have it running (supposed to get here Monday), I'll get the font you're talking about and let you know when I'm ready to test it...so long as it's not going to eat a buttload of paper or toner (I'm a monetarily poor SoB and this printer was a 'splurge' and that's because I was able to get it at half price, heh. I still have yet to get some paper also...and a usb cable as I'm not too comfortable with the network setup stuff...unless networkmanager will see it automagically for me and set it up for me when I plug in an ethernet cable). And just in case anyone coming by and reading all this and asking themselves why get a Brother if it's not nearly as easy to get up-and-running as, say an HP of some kind - it's because I've read nothing but good reports about Brother printers lasting forever and working well. Every other company I've read about (well, not 'every', but many) makes nothing but throw-away stuff. I used to like Epson for their work with Linux, but the price of inkjet and the things just falling apart after a year or two just couldn't be afforded by me anymore. Hell, I've got an old Epson Stylus C86 sitting in the closet right now that I don't know what to do with, heh. |
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There was a thread in the Hardware forum recently where someone was trying to get a Brother printer working using a USB connection. After much discussion it was found that the user was using a USB 3 port, which was not working with the printer on the hardware being used. Personally, I like Brother devices (I am on my second), as they provide good Linux support and I have received very quick, courteous and knowledgeable responses when I have emailed queries. |
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Okay...got the printer to print (I had to go get a USB cable and it actually worked...the network cable on the ethernet was just too confusing and was working nor was the wireless even though the printer itself got on the wireless setup).
The problem I'm having now is I can't get it to scan. I've installed the brscanner things and done everything on all the pages you guys have shown me to read. The only thing left I want to try is this: #brsaneconfig4 -a name=SCANNER model=HL-2280DW ip= Only I don't know how to get the ip address for the printer. Any ideas? Remember, it's usb connected. |
I initially tried using wireless with my Brother, and it worked, but I had problems with getting the connection re-established after the router had been power cycled. I suspect that this is my hardware. I have found that if my router (set to use WPA2 only) receives an initial attempted connection using WPA, it then refuses to accept a subsequent WPA2 connection. YMMV.
People who persecute forests need to be taught/forced to use virtual pdf printers. |
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On scanning, a few things to check. Is your user a member of the lp group? (Your user also used to need to be a member of the scanner group, but I believe that is obseleted.) Perhaps try as root, in case there is a permissions isssue. Does 'scanimage -L" show the scanner? Is there an entry at the end of /etc/sane.d/dll.conf for your device? (e.g. brother2, brother3, brother4) How did you actually install the drivers? |
Just had another thought. With my device the scanning software (xsane, skanlite) defaulted to using '24bit Color[Fast]' as the scan mode. This did not work for me. Use '24bit Color' instead.
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#scanimage -L shows: No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different, check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Nothing in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf for brother anything. I downloaded the brscan-skey-0.2.4 and brscan4-o.4.1 rpm's, did src2pkg on each one then did installpkg on each one. Okay, your last question made me go back and look at what I'd done. Apparently changing them to slackware packages screws something up, so, I installed them like plain ol' rpm's with #rpm -ivh --nodeps blah.rpm and now I have a scanner, although xsane froze up on me when I clicked 'preview'. Skanlite seemd to work okay though, so I'll mess with it some more and see what's going on. Thanks a million allend and everyone else! |
Allright, I don't know why xsane froze a little bit ago, but it worked this time. Looks like I've got a nice printer/scanner going for me now. Y'all are the best and I sure do appreciate the time you spent helping me. Thanks again.
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Just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat. Glad you got it working! |
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$ ar p packagename.deb data.tar.gz > packagename.tar.gz Code:
$ bsdtar xOf packagename.deb data.tar.gz > packagename.tar.gz It is no harder with rpms, just use bsdtar (provided by libarchive, which many apps depend on) to convert the internal cpio into a gzip compressed tar: Code:
$ bsdtar czf packagename.tgz @packagename.rpm So really you shouldn't do these kinds of tricks at all but rather open the packages and then recreate the out tar contained again with makepkg. By the time you have gone to this level of effort you might as well write a simple SlackBuild or just use a dedicated tool like src2pkg. Quote:
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rpm -q --scripts -p packagename.rpm Code:
rpm -qlp packagename.rpm |
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I also agree that installing rpm's directly is not good practice. Far better to convert to a native Slackware package and install that. Then it is easy to uninstall if required. Quote:
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Uh, src2pkg does a lot of checks and corrections on the content before creating the archive. None of the other tools mentioned here do that. I'm just now working on a new tool which duplicates the content-checking steps of src2pkg -but without actually making any corrections.
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I tried src2pkg with the rpm's and installed those packages and they didn't work.
@allend - I *thought* I'd done that on the slackdocs site, but could have missed it trying all the other suggestions. I'd *much* rather have prefered that a slackware package been installed than have done the rpm thing. Maybe there's a way to 'uninstall' that rpm and try the pkg2txz thing? <later>...I just tried rpm -e brscan4xxx.rpm and I got back that it's not installed. Didn't think to try a scan right then and instead did the rpm2txz on the rpm and installed that and my scanner is still(?) working, but I can't say if it's from the installed rpm or from the installed txz. :( |
@w1k0 - Which GNU Freefont should I download and install, the ttf, otf, sfd?
Next, how should I use these in your test? Would using kate be okay by just changing the font it uses to the Freefont and printing your test? Let me know and send the test too. |
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-S extracts the install scripts to be executed on package installation Another thing that none of these techniques will do is create a symlink (ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.cups /etc/init.d/cups). This allows the Brother install scripts to stop and start the CUPS daemon during the package install. Quote:
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irgunII,
the problem that I encountered is complicated so I described it in the separate thread: Brother laser printer and GNU FreeFont. Your printer isn’t PostScript one but I think it’s good idea to test GNU FreeFont using some non-PostScript laser printer made by Brother as well. So if you’re still willing to perform the test I’m inviting you to the mentioned thread. |
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