Brother rpm driver fails to install. How do I trick it?
 

I have a Brother DCP-L3560CDW printer. Drivers are published in rpm and deb format. I picked rpm for no reason.


The instructions say to gunzip and run the linux installer, but omitted making the file executable.


Slackware don't seem to have a lpd-directory where Red Hat seem to have. Can I possibly move files around manually? Or create lpd in /var/spool? Maybe another driver would help? Or do I have a paper weight?

Thanks to Hazel for the blog post.

This helped me get my Brother printer/fax to work under Slackware

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...t-linux-37620/

You might have to tinker with the steps, but the post helped me get the printer working.

I can't find any info on the model # your provide. What sort of connection does it use?

I have a Brother MFC-L8900CDW colour laser printer, which connects via the LAN. I spent quite a bit of time figuring out where the DEB or RPM files wanted to end up, and how to get them to go where Slackware wanted them to be. I did manage to get the driver working, but a few features were glitchy/non-functional.

In the end, I installed the printer as a generic IPP printer. Still one or two features not accessible that way, but I haven't had the time to try to sort out why one or the other driver won't play ball.

I did keep notes on the things I tried/managed, but not in a coherent document.

Slackware 15.0 stable, with XFCE4 as my desktop (if it makes any difference).

I installed a Brother HL-L2320D using this How to:

http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:har...r_installation

The printer works fine on 15.0 and current. The only difference is the 32 bit files you need, depending if its 15.0 or current.

I guess no harm is done with
# mkdir -p /var/spool/lpd

Then the package installs OK :
# rpm -Uvh --nodeps dcpl3560cdwpdrv-3.5.1-1.i386.rpm

... The /var files, and files in /opt can be copied to more relevant locations if required. E.g. files.ppd are usually found in /etc/cups/ppd/
( The ppd file is /opt/brother/Printers/dcpl3560cdw/cupswrapper/brother_dcpl3560cdw_printer_en.ppd )

-

Slackware does have a directory /var/spool/lpd once the printer installation has completed.
You have to run bash while invoking the script as root.



You ran the manufacturer script linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.3-1 as root for your printer ?

I didn't use -p
# mkdir /var/spool/lpd
Will that make a big difference?


I just reran the installer

Is it ok if file exists already?

The printer started buzzing for a bit, but no test page came out.

Maybe I will tidy things up, but probably not. If I get it working, Ill be happy.

In localhost:631, CUPS reports it as installed, idle and accepting jobs. Same thing though. buzzing for a bit and then nothing.

As shown, the installer installs all the files it finds. Driver for printer, scanner and scanner key.

Xsane finds the printer too and acquiring the preview worked fine, but only if the paper was fed through the top. Actually scanning failed because now the feed tray was empty ...

Note the .i386 in the name. This suggests compilation for 32 bit architecture. Follow the instructions in the link in post#4 for installing the multilib glibc-solibs package on a 64 bit system.

Even better, follow all the instructions in that link. You will end up with proper Slackware packages that can be cleanly installed and uninstalled.

Re #8, @allend

The package dcpl3560cdwpdrv-3.5.1-1.i386.rpm contains the 32bit and the 64 bit {brdcpl3560cdwfilter, brprintconf_dcpl3560cdw} :

Well, I got that wrong.

If OP is using current or is on 15.0 and wants to install avahi from slackbuilds, since with avahi installed, CUPS supports driverless printing. It will find your printer on the network if it's connected and print and scan both work without the hassle of finding and installing print drivers.

On Slackware 15.0, it is not necessary to install avahi to set up the CUPS everywhere driver for a network printer. The required service discovery can be done using nmap.

I have looked at the Brother procedure for installing the Brother DCP-L3560CDW.
It requires the use of the linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.3-1 tool, that can be downloaded and extracted as per the instructions on the Brother page. This tool also handles scanner installation.

Initially when I ran the tool, I saw errors. Apparently the tool expects a /var/spool/lpd directory to exist. It also expects CUPS to running, otherwise the lpadmin tool fails. On completion, uninstaller scripts are created. The uninstall is not clean, leaving files behind. When I reran the installer tool after manually creating a /var/spool/lpd directory, the printer installation appeared to work OK. I did not attempt scanner installation, just answering no when prompted. Without the actual hardware, I cannot test any further.

I am sorry that this is not a direct answer to your question, but

I have been using a Brother hl-l8360cdw, which is now 4 years old. Not the newest tech.
It includes ftp-printing = it is running it's own ftp server, and any client pc wanting to print needs only to transfer (via ftp) a file. The file formats it accepts include .ps , .pdf , and others.

Probably other Brother printers might include ftp printing too.
Perhaps Cups can be configured for ftp-printing? That protocol has been around for a long time.

Many thanks for all the suggestions, and sorry for my rare responses. Life is crazy.

I still haven't got the printer working. I'm logged in to it. I can get it to print reports of itself.

After trying to send a test page in Cups, and then cancelling it:
In localhost:631 (cups), it is DCPL3560CDW (Processing, Accepting Jobs, Not Shared)

"Show completed jobs"
canceled at
sön 3 mar 2024 19:13:47
"Unable to locate printer "BRWC894023D1294"."

Why is it unable to be located?
Is there a point in trying to reinstall the driver?
Do I need to symlink anything?

You have not yet told us how you are connecting to the printer (network, USB?). That may be important.

As I mentioned earlier, I had issues getting a Brother MFC-L8900CDW working. Here are a few things from my notes:

• CUPS expects printer filter information in directory /usr/lib/cups/filter.
• The Brother installation placed these files in /opt/brother/Printers/mfcl8900cdw/cupswrapper.
• I created links in /usr/lib/cups/filter for the three files:
• --- brother_lpdwrapper_mfcl8900cdw
• --- brother_mfcl8900cdw_printer_en.ppd
• --- cupswrappermfcl8900cdw
• This still didn't work, so I turned on debugging log using “cupsctl –debug-logging” and restarted cups using “/etc/rc.d/rc.cuip restart”.
• When I tried printing again, I found an error log entry saying /opt/brother/Printers/mfcl8900cdw/lpd/brmfcl8900cdwfilter: No such file or directory.
• The file (plus one other) did exist one directory down:
• --- /opt/brother/Printers/mfcl8900cdw/lpd/x86_64
• I created two more links:
• --- brmfcl8900cdwfilter -> x86_64/brmfcl8900cdwfilter
• --- brprintconf_mfcl8900cdw -> x86_64/brprintconf_mfcl8900cdw

...and then I could print.

The files you need will have names matching your printer model (not mine). Try searching for relevant files and making those links. Turn on CUPS debugging and check the log for additional details on where it fails. That will help identify where it is looking, and for what files. Find where Brother placed those files and create links where CUPS is expecting them.