cups config for Brother HL-L2340DW

[Pierre Frenkiel]

hi,
For the first time in my life, I was unable to configure a printer for
Linux,
Before trying to replace it, I'm curious to know whether
somebody could make it(or a similar model) to work.
I had no problem with the wifi config. and no problem also when printing
from Windows, but no way with CUPS. Of course, I looked at Google,
and tried several protocols, but none worked.
Has anybody an idea?

best regards,
--
Pierre Frenkiel

[Eduardo M KALINOWSKI]

This printer requires proprietary drivers, but they work well. Did you
try installing the drivers from
http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hll2340dw_us_eu_as


--
Coding is easy; All you do is sit staring at a terminal until the drops
of blood form on your forehead.

Eduardo M KALINOWSKI
edu...@kalinowski.com.br

[Siard]

Pierre Frenkiel:
> [...] but no way with CUPS.

Did you try the CUPSwrapper driver for your model supplied by Brother
itself?

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=gb&lang=en&prod=hll2340dw_us_eu_as&os=128

I have a similar driver for another Brother model, and it works fine
with it.

[Jape Person]

On 11/22/2017 01:52 PM, Pierre Frenkiel wrote:
> hi,
> For the first time in my life, I was unable to configure a printer for
> Linux,

Which GNU/Linux? Debian? If so, you should specify whether
you're using a release or testing or unstable. It could make a
difference, particularly with respect to the drivers available
in CUPS.

> Before trying to replace it, I'm curious to know whether
> somebody could make it(or a similar model) to work.
> I had no problem with the wifi config. and no problem also when printing
> from Windows, but no way with CUPS. Of course, I looked at Google,
> and tried several protocols, but none worked.
> Has anybody an idea?

Since you didn't say exactly what you tried, it's hard to know
what to suggest.

I'm sure most people just download and install the drivers that
Brother supplies on their support site. However, those are a
real mess, IMO. But they do work.

Let me suggest an alternate strategy if you wish to avoid using
the Brother drivers. I have a Brother MFC-9340CDW. It, like your
HL-L2340DW, is not listed in CUPS. I just use the CUPS driver
for the MFC-9320CW. Works like a charm, but for the printing
functions only. I use a Brother applet on my Android phone for
handling scanning. This allows me to use the printer and the
scanner without installing the driver package from Brother.

I notice there's a driver for the HL-L2320D or similar listed in
CUPS and in the system-config-printer utility. You could try
setting that as the driver for your printer. Can't hurt to try.

BTW, I'm using Debian testing. If you're using one of the named
releases, then CUPS may have fewer driver choices available for
you to try. Just try the driver whose supported model number
comes closest to your printer's model number.

My printer is actually supposed to be driverless, but Brother
screwed up (apparently) on its firmware so that it reports the
wrong resolution when queried by the system. This functionality
has to be disabled on my printer in order for me to be able to
use an alternate driver without having the printer show up twice
in CUPS or systems-config-printer.

If none of this applies to your situation, you'll probably need
to provide a great deal more information about things like which
OS (exactly) and desktop environment you are using. Also, you
should specify whether you are connecting to the printer
directly or via a router. I'm assuming it's a wireless
connection of one type or the other, since you mentioned
wireless configuration.

>
> best regards,
>

Good luck!
JP

[arne]

Hi,

Did yo install the file brother-HLL2340D-cups-en.ppd?

I have my Brother-HLL2340DW working with it, Debian Stretch.

John

[Ric Moore]

Agreed, once you figure out their driver install system, it works just
fine. But, I'm using USB to avoid adding wifi to the problem. I also
installed Gutenprint, which it seems to like. Ric


--
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
http://linuxcounter.net/user/44256.html

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Wed, 22 Nov 2017, arne wrote:

> Did yo install the file brother-HLL2340D-cups-en.ppd?
>

I would be glad to use it, but it is not listed in the download page
(the is no HL-Lxxx or HLLxx ppd). Where did you find it?

[arne]

Hi,

It is inside hll2340dcupswrapper-3.2.0-1.i386.deb.

In the /opt/brother/Printers/HLL2340D/cupswrapper directory.

I got this deb-file from:

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hll2340dw_us_eu_as

I guess you have to enable 386 files. I have an AMD64 system.

Hope this helps.

Greetings.

[Ben Caradoc-Davies]

I used to use the Brother i386 CUPS drivers, but when I switched to
"Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended)" (the open
source PCL6 driver in cups-filters), and removed Skype 4 i386, I was
able to remove the entire i386 architecture from my computer. :-)

Both my MFC-L2740DW and (according to the online specs) Pierre's
HL-L2340DW have PCL6 emulation.

Kind regards,

--
Ben Caradoc-Davies <b...@transient.nz>
Director
Transient Software Limited <http://transient.nz/>
New Zealand

[Ben Caradoc-Davies]

I have the MFC-L2740DW. I guess that it is similar, but with scanning
(and fax? Is that still a thing?)?

Mine works fine with these CUPS settings on my WLAN:

http://192.168.1.11/ipp
Name: Brother_MFC-L2740DW
Description: Brother MFC-L2740DW
Driver: Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended)

After configuration, the CUPS page reads:

Description: Brother MFC-L2740DW
Location:
Driver: Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended)
(color, 2-sided printing)
Connection: http://192.168.1.11/ipp
Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=iso_a4_210x297mm
sides=two-sided-long-edge

For the record (and I do not think you have scanning capabilities), the
only proprietary driver is the Brother scanner driver (brscan4 0.4.4-2
amd64). With this installed, I ran the following and the scanner then
worked fine in XSane:

brsaneconfig4 -a name=Brother_MFC-L2740DW model=MFC-L2740DW ip=192.168.1.11

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Thu, 23 Nov 2017, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:

> Mine works fine with these CUPS settings on my WLAN:
>
> http://192.168.1.11/ipp
> Name: Brother_MFC-L2740DW
> Description: Brother MFC-L2740DW
> Driver: Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended)
>
> After configuration, the CUPS page reads:
>
> Description: Brother MFC-L2740DW
> Location:
> Driver: Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended) (color,
> 2-sided printing)
> Connection: http://192.168.1.11/ipp
> Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=iso_a4_210x297mm
> sides=two-sided-long-edge

hi,
I don't see any way to configure these settings, either with
system-config-printer or http://localhost:631/admin/
Can you tell me how you do that, and what do you mean by "CUPS page"?

With my present config, the only problem is that the printer always
asks for "manual feed", although the input is set everywhere as "Tray1"

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Wed, 22 Nov 2017, Jape Person wrote:

> Which GNU/Linux? Debian? If so, you should specify whether
> you're using a release or testing or unstable. It could make a
> difference, particularly with respect to the drivers available
> in CUPS.

I was not aware that it was so important. My release is Stretch.
I did so many tries with all proposed URI (socket://, lpd://, ipp:// ...)
that it would too long to report all.
Anyway, I could get an almost working config with
DeviceURI lpd://BRWF8DA0C80F39D/BINARY_P1
and
brother-HLL2340D-cups-en.ppd
My problem is now that input setting is "Tray1", but
the printer ignores it, and asks for "manual feed",
I'll try whether this can be fixed with Windows, unless you have
an other suggestion.

[arne]

Hi,

Did you try:
http://your-printers-ip-number/general/status.html

You must log in
Then you are able to switch off manual feed:
http://your-printers-ip-number/print/tray.html

Hope this helps.
Regards.

[arne]

On Thu, 23 Nov 2017 10:56:37 +0100 (CET)
Pierre Frenkiel <pierre....@gmail.com> wrote:

I forgot to mention, when logged in:

http://your-printers-ip-adress/print/print.html

you can switch from 600 (standard) to 1200 dpi :)

Not well documented I guess, but gives nicer printout.

Regards.

[Ben Caradoc-Davies]

On 23/11/17 22:37, Pierre Frenkiel wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Nov 2017, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:
>> Mine works fine with these CUPS settings on my WLAN:
>> http://192.168.1.11/ipp
>> Name: Brother_MFC-L2740DW
>> Description: Brother MFC-L2740DW
>> Driver: Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor (recommended)
>> After configuration, the CUPS page reads:
>> Description:    Brother MFC-L2740DW
>> Location: Driver:    Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlcolor
>> (recommended) (color, 2-sided printing)
>> Connection:    http://192.168.1.11/ipp
>> Defaults:    job-sheets=none, none media=iso_a4_210x297mm
>> sides=two-sided-long-edge
>  hi,
>  I don't see any way to configure these settings, either with
>  system-config-printer or http://localhost:631/admin/

I use <http://localhost:631/admin/>. I see an "Add Printer" and a
"Manage Printers" button. I can click "Manage Printers" and select the
printer. I can select "Administration" / "Modify Printer" in the
dropdown menu, and am prompted for my local username and password. The
Defaults settings above were added automatically when I added the
printer; I included them for completeness.

Are you in the cups group?

>  Can you tell me how you do that, and what do you mean by "CUPS page"?

The printer information page. In my case:
http://localhost:631/printers/Brother_MFC-L2740DW

[arne]

On Thu, 23 Nov 2017 10:56:37 +0100 (CET)
Pierre Frenkiel <pierre....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

When you care about spending too much ink on printing while testing,
I can recommend

to install libreoffice writer

and then download

1cm-paper.odt ,this one spills minimal ink

You can download it here:

https://extensions.libreoffice.org/templates/1cm-squared-paper

This one is a good demonstration to compare printing in 600 dpi or
1200 dpi.

greetings.

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Fri, 24 Nov 2017, arne wrote:

> https://extensions.libreoffice.org/templates/1cm-squared-paper

hi Arne,
thank you.
I made the almost same grid with latex, but this one is also
interesting

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Fri, 24 Nov 2017, arne wrote:

> Did you try:
> http://your-printers-ip-number/general/status.html

yes, it's one of the different methods I tried to get rid of
this manual feed, but without success.
Anyway, thank you for your help.
After fighting a whole day with that damned Brother, I decided to
return it to the seller, and bought a HP Laserjet Pro M227sdn.
It is more expensive, but was configured in 30 seconds, and works
like a charm, either for printing or scanning.

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Fri, 24 Nov 2017, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:


> I use <http://localhost:631/admin/>. I see an "Add Printer" and a "Manage
> Printers" button. I can click "Manage Printers" and select the printer. I can
> select "Administration" / "Modify Printer" in the dropdown menu

As I said, I used either this method or system-config-printer,
but your driver was not listed in the available drivers.

> Are you in the cups group?

Curiously, I don't have a cups group

[Gene Heskett]

Did you even try brothers own drivers for that printer? I am sitting here
looking at two brother printers, one a $110 b&w laser, the other a color
inkjet/scanner MFJ-6920 that can do 11x17 both print and autofeed scan.
Using brothers own drivers, they Just Work(TM).

Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Fri, 24 Nov 2017, Gene Heskett wrote:

> Did you even try brothers own drivers for that printer? I am sitting here
> looking at two brother printers, one a $110 b&w laser, the other a color
> inkjet/scanner MFJ-6920 that can do 11x17 both print and autofeed scan.
> Using brothers own drivers, they Just Work(TM).

Of course it's the 1st thing I did!
The fact that some models works doesn't prove that all models work...

[Ben Caradoc-Davies]

On 24/11/17 21:20, Pierre Frenkiel wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Nov 2017, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:
>> I use <http://localhost:631/admin/>. I see an "Add Printer" and a
>> "Manage Printers" button. I can click "Manage Printers" and select the
>> printer. I can select "Administration" / "Modify Printer" in the
>> dropdown menu
>   As I said, I used either this method or system-config-printer,
>   but your driver was not listed in the available drivers.

Not under "Generic"? I see my driver mentions "foomatic". I have installed:

foomatic-db-compressed-ppds

>> Are you in the cups group?
>   Curiously, I don't have a cups group

Sorry, "lpadmin".

[Pierre Frenkiel]

On Sat, 25 Nov 2017, Ben Caradoc-Davies wrote:

> Not under "Generic"? I see my driver mentions "foomatic". I have installed:
>
> foomatic-db-compressed-ppds
>

thank you for this information, but this thread is now obsolete for me,
as I returned the Brother to the seller, and can't then do any further testing.