Brother CUPS wrapper fails to change LPR driver settings

[Andreas Modinos]

Binary package hint: brother-cups-wrapper-extra

Using Lucid Lynx Beta 1 together with Brother DCP-135C I observe the following:

With Brother drivers installed through the repositories printed pages are cut off from the top or otherwise slightly misaligned.
This happens even when page size in the applications as well as CUPS is set correctly to A4.

However printing is properly aligned after running the LPR driver configuration script to set the page size manually.
In my case this is 'sudo brprintconf_dcp135c -pt A4'. For users of other Brother printers the command is changed to reflect the model. Because this works it means that the settings from the CUPS/application interface are not being properly passed to the LPR driver.

What makes this bug devious is that the user thinks the paper size is set correctly and might not know or understand to run the configuration script for the LPR driver. The interaction between the GUI/CUPS and the LPR driver must be fixed to avoid further confusion and to avoid mixing this bug with other printer related bugs.

This bug is for Brother printers only, do not comment or confirm unless you have a Brother printer!

package-hint: brother-lpr-drivers-extra

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: brother-cups-wrapper-extra 1.2.1-0ubuntu3
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-02063209-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Mar 29 11:12:49 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100224.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=fi_FI.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: brother-cups-wrapper-extra

[Matthew Shipton (matthew-shipton)]

Confirmed. I also have a Brother 135-C and the repository drivers cut off the button and top of the document. Running the script fixes it, but this is not obvious and changes to /etc/papersize or cups config does not help.

[Matthew Shipton (matthew-shipton)]

(that is, it was defaulting to letter rather than my desired size of A4). This also means that every time I want to change paper size I have to adjust run the script to change to the desired size e.g. envelope etc.

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

I have the same problem with Lucid AMD 64 and a Brother DCP130C: I was therefore very grateful to find this work around rather than having to use "force architecture" to install Brother drivers.

[Valombre (valombre-d)]

I have the same problem top of A4 pages is cut, with Lucid AMD64 and a brother DCP130C.
To print correctly i have to use another PC in lan where i kept karmic on it.
Waiting for update i'm going to try the workaround.

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

As well as the paper size, none of the other settings seem to work, either.

Any printing I do now where I want anything other than the "Normal" resolution, I have to do via XP running in VirtualBox.

This is a huge regression from Karmic

[Enrico Fusto (rikettsie)]

I also confirm the reported bug.
I am using a Brother DCP-195C in Ubuntu 10.04
and did resolve launching '/usr/bin/brprintconf_dcp195c -pt A4'.
Enrico

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Gave up on the Ubuntu drivers, and installed the 32 bit Brother drivers for my DCP130C using "-force all". (There are clear instructions on the Brother Printer Driver webpages: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/index.html )

First attempt failed, and I had to create a number of directories (as per the failures shown in the terminal during first install attempt), second attempt was successful. Now things work again - welcome back printer.

Regards,
Bruce.

[nencio (f-nencio)]

I confirm this bug.
Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 with Brother DCP-115c (using the drivers for the MFC-210c as suggested on the brother website).

[Arthur Hartwig (a-hartwig)]

I have also seen this bug in Ubuntu Netbook 10.04 with a Brother MFC-5460CN printer. The suggested workaround of
    # sudo brprintconf_mfc5460cn -pt A4

before a print attempt worked for me.

Its not (yet) clear how often I need to invoke brprintconf_mfc5460cn: after every system restart? after every printer power cycle? before every job? ...

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

As far as I know you only need to use the utility once (or until you want to change the settings again).

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

This is not a bug of Ubuntu or any software shipped with it. It is a bug ot Brother's driver packages. The driver is not following the CUPS standards where default option settings are set in the PPD in /etc/cups/ppd/ by CUPS and drivers read the defaults from there. I am also not sure whether per-job options, which CUPS supplies to all its filters via the fifth command line argument get used by Brother's CUPS wrapper (can someone here test?).

This is a bug of the architecture of the Brother drivers. The drivers themselves are made for the LPD spooler and a simple CUPS wrapper was written to make them working with CUPS, but it seems that the CUPS wrapper is not passing settings over from CUPS to the LPD driver. The LPD driver seems to always take the settings from its on configuration file which is specific to the driver and so no printing dialog or printer setup tool uses it.

Please contact brother via the web site

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/index.html

and ask them to make drivers which really work with CUPS.

At Ubuntu we cannot do anything here. Closing ...

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

And yet the drivers from the Brother site work fine? Go figure.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

I mean both here, the Ubuntu packages and the packages from Brother.

[Ian Dimond (mail-dimond)]

I have exactly the same problem in Ubuntu 10.10 with a Brother DCP-560CN printer. Also, sudo brprintconf_dcp560cn -pt A4 works for me (thanks Andreas).

[Andreas Modinos (blueturtl)]

I have now sent an inquiry to Brother about the matter using their localized feedback form. Let's see what comes of it...

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

I just expirienced this bug with Maverick. I have A4 paper and A4 set in the printer options and also in OpenOffice or any other programm i was printing from.

It would always cut of the first 2-3cm of a page until I just found this command in the bug report and ran it. It solved my problem instantly:

$ sudo brprintconf_dcp560cn -pt A4

I have send a support request to Brother and asked them to fix this bug. Maybe if enough people complain they might really do something about this. You can find the support formular here:
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public/ContactUsTop.aspx?reg=eu

[Maarten Kossen (mpkossen)]

Still happens on the latest Natty, so I've set this to new as it seems to be the most appropriate status.

[Laurent Dinclaux (dreadlox)]

I confirm: the bug is still there in Natty

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Got my hopes up way too soon about the drivers downloaded from Brother (#13 above).

As suggested in #17 I too have contacted Brother, and I have to say their lack of interest leads me to have little hope of them providing a fix any time soon.

Does this problem plague other Debian distros, or is this confined to Ubuntu? I've gotten comfortable changing paper, resolution etc by using "sudo brprintconfig_dcp130c" and picking the commands I need from the list ('cos I'm a bit challenged when it comes to using the terminal), but it is a bit of a nuisance.

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

Upgrading from maverick to natty caused this bug to surface again. Running the above workaround solved it again.

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

Today I got a mail from brother support:
Run:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libpaper1
There you can set the default settings for your computer which should affect all printers. On english systems it seems to be set to letter instead of A4.

It doesnt solve the problem but its a more comfortable workaround than having to set it for each printer installed.

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

I have confirmed this bug on my computer several times.

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

Shows that the Cups dialog is still displaying A4 even if the printer settings were set to Letter, for example with:

sudo brprintconf_dcp560cn -pt Letter

[Laurent Dinclaux (dreadlox)]

In natty the bug is stll there: printed paged are cut off from the top, I have selected A4 and I use A4 paper.

Will that bug get any attention one day ?!? It is more than one year old

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Note that I told earlier that this is a bug in Brother's drivers. I have already contacted the developers of Brother's driver packages and they are working on LSB-based CUPS-conforming packages currently.

Please do not reopen this bug. It is not a Ubuntu bug.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Note also that the Ubuntu packages of the Brother drivers (like brother-cups-wrapper-extra) are all deprecated, as they caused a lot of work to maintain and the volunteer creator and original maintainer of these packages does not maintain them any more. So please do not report further bugs on these packages.

[Laurent Dinclaux (dreadlox)]

Until natty, the drivers downloaded from brother website didn't have the issue...

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

As I mentioned earlier, I have been in touch with the German brother support about this bug. A few days a go they send me a file with updated drivers. I was hoping some one else could also test them and give me a response on whether they are working before I reply to the support person. Unfortunately for me the update seems to have no effect.

To install just do as follows:
1. tar -xvzf ink3_patch_1.0.2-0.tar.gz
2. cd ink3_patch_1.0.2-0
3. sudo ./install

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Installing the patch does nothing for me, either, with regard to paper size.
Of course, as well as paper size we sometimes want to change paper type and resolution as well, and these options are no longer changeable with the Brother drivers.
I have gotten no worthwhile advice from Brother in New Zealand: the number of Ubuntu users with affected printers in my country is probably way too small for them to bother with. If we all went out and bought another brand of printer tomorrow the effect on Brother's sales wouldn't even register.
Sometimes size does matter!

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

Well, try this, which HAS worked for me:

- opened the patch file with the archive manager.
- opened the folder ink3_patch_1.0.2-0 and then opened the folder bin.
- copied the file brcupsconfpt1.
- in a terminal, gksudo nautilus, go to /usr/Brother/Printer, trash the brcupsconfpt1 that is there, and paste the new one in its place.
- enjoy the paper size and resolution changing when you reset them in System Settings>Printing>(my case)dcp130c>properties

You'll gather I'm not much of a one for the terminal - too old to remember commands! I haven't yet checked if this works for all paper sizes and types, very late at night here, so tomorrow I'll try photo paper, envelopes and so on.

[Bruce Crowther (bwucie)]

I can now confirm all my printer settings are reset when I print from LibreOffice or Image Viewer, using the Ctrl+P print dialog, which is a first for a very long time.

I can print DLE envelopes, first time I have managed this without a major fight with Ubuntu, so I will no longer have to start my Virtual Box WinXP to print an envelope.

Borderless printing of photos is still a job for Windows, though. I have always gotten a very fine border on three sides of a photo printing with Ubuntu on my DCP130C, and this remains so. Not a problem if you are going to put a photo in a frame, but annoying if you want to post a photo to Granny, or give your friend a quick print for a keepsake.

Otherwise a major improvement for normal printing - I like.

[Sebastian Geiger (lanoxx)]

Copying the files this way seems to solve the problem for me. At least I can no longer reproduce the problem with cut of text.

[David Ayers (ayers)]

After installing some update this issue reappeared for me.
I purged the all brother drivers (printer scanner fax),
reinstalled brother-cups-wrapper-extra and ran:

sudo brprintconf_mfc260c -pt A4

after which I could successfully print again.

I suppose I could have run that without purging/reinstalling but I wanted to insure I started with a clean slate. It is very annoying that these printers/scanners/fax-devices cannot simply work with drivers the manufacturers should be maintaining upstream under Free Software licenses.

Thanks for those of you publicizing their solutions.