On Thursday, March 20, 2025 4:52 PM, I wrote: > The software setup for my Brother DCP-L2640DW driverless laser printer is > confusing the hell out of me. I'm running bookworm. > ... CUPS (apparently) set up a printer Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB automatically. > ... I also installed the driver (DCPL2640DW) supplied by Brother.
Thanks for your suggestions on repairs. The Brother driver (DCPL2640DW) seemed to do everything right except that it shrank the page. I was able to fix that by changing DefaultPageSize, DefaultPageRegion, DefaultImageableArea, and DefaultPaperDimension from A4 to Letter in /etc/cups/ppd/DCPL2640DW and restarting cups. I think I may have a stable solution now. I have left Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB in place but expect not to use it. ________________________________________ From: Arbol One <arbol...@hotmail.ca> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2025 4:33 AM To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: Re: confusing printer definitions External Email: Use Caution I had a lot of printer problems too when I first install Debian, version 10 at the time. One day I did the following and all my printer problems were resolved : sudo apt install printer-driver-all -y I hope this also resolved your issues with the printer. Please note that I am not an expert Linux guru, I am just a Linux user. So, do your due research on my advice. On 2025-03-20 4:52 p.m., Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote: The software setup for my Brother DCP-L2640DW driverless laser printer is confusing the hell out of me. I'm running bookworm. The printer is connected via USB only (not wireless). When I first connected it, CUPS (apparently) set up a printer Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB automatically. A corresponding file in /etc/cups/ppd was there only when the printer was on. Because of a font-rendering problem, I also installed the driver supplied by Brother. Now there is a printer DCPL2640DW. It and its PPD file are always there, even when the printer is off. Sometimes there is also a third printer, DCPL2640DW_drx (drx being the desktop's name). Sometimes I want to use DCPL2640DW and sometimes Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB; they have performed with some differences I won't go into (e.g. note default paper sizes below). The problem is that Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB is by default absent. If I open a file in firefox and call print, Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB and its PPD file appear. If I cancel the print job, it disappears within 10 seconds. If I try to just ask lp to use Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB, it may say there's no such printer. Once I set Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB as the default printer, but as soon as that printer vanished, there was no default printer. Below are some descriptions I've captured. You'll see some inconsistencies, but I don't know which ones to correct. Can I make DCPL2640DW and Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB both be available full-time, with Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB as the default? Thanks. ----------------------- localhost:631 DCPL2640DW Description: Brother DCP-L2640DW (USB) Location: Driver: Brother DCP-L2640DW for CUPS (grayscale, 2-sided printing) Connection: ipp://Brother%20DCP-L2640DW%20(USB)._ipp._tcp.local/ Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=iso_a4_210x297mm sides=one-sided Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB Description: Brother DCP-L2640DW (USB) Location: Driver: Printer - IPP Everywhere (grayscale, 2-sided printing) Connection: ipp://localhost:60000/ipp/print Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=na_letter_8.5x11in sides=one-sided DCPL2640DW_drx Description: {printer_info} Location: {printer_location} Driver: {printer_make_and_model} (grayscale, 2-sided printing) Connection: {device_uri} Defaults: job-sheets={job_sheets_default} media=unknown ----------------------- /etc/cups/ppd: -rw-r----- 1 root lp 12450 Mar 20 16:19 Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB.ppd -rw-r----- 1 root lp 11268 Mar 20 16:19 DCPL2640DW_drx.ppd -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17898 Mar 20 16:14 DCPL2640DW.ppd -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17898 Mar 20 16:13 DCPL2640DW.ppd.O ----------------------- printers.conf shows just this Info DCPL2640DW MakeModel Brother DCP-L2640DW for CUPS DeviceURI ipp://Brother%20DCP-L2640DW%20(USB)._ipp._tcp.local/ even when Brother_DCP_L2640DW_USB is available -- ArbolOne ™ Using Fire Fox and Thunderbird. ArbolOne is composed of students and volunteers dedicated to providing free services to charitable organizations. ArbolOne's development on Java, PostgreSQL, HTML and Jakarta EE is in progress [ í ]