My story getting CUPS to work with my Brother printer [seatd] [openrc]

10 August 2022, 22:06:06

Here is what I needed to do to get my printer to work (using CUPS).

First, my system:

- Artix with 5.18.16-artix1-1,
- OpenRC
- seatd (and elogind uninstalled with pacman -Rdd elogind)
- internet connection: LAN (ethernet) in order to "see" the printer also connected to the LAN

My printer:

- Browser HL-2270DW, connected in ethernet to my LAN

1- Getting CUPS to work at all (in a browser on localhost:631)

First, I installed cups:
$ sudo pacman -S cups-openrc
This will also pull down the package cups, as expected.

Don't forget to add it to your boot sequence:
$ sudo rc-update add cupsd default
And to start it immediately to be able to use it without rebooting:
$ sudo rc-service cupsd start

For CUPS to work, I needed to add myself to the sys group, by editing /etc/group.

2 - Install the Brother drivers from AUR

I used the package brlaser (AUR)

3 - Install the avahi magic

On my system, avahi was already installed but not nss-mdns:
$ sudo pacman -S nss-mdns
You need to activate the avahi daemon though:
$ sudo rc-update add avahi-daemon default
And to start it immediately:
$ sudo rc-service avahi-daemon start

But you also need to take nss-mdns into account in domain name resolutions:
edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and put mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] before resolve, so that the hosts line becomes (in my case):
hosts: files mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] dns

4 - Add your printer

Launch the CUPS interface in a browser by opening localhost:631,
then select Administration -> Add Printer, select your printer that should be recognized on the network, select the drivers and your model that should be present too, and finish by selecting Add printer at the bottom.

Now launch a test print, or print anything, you should be good! (if I haven't forgotten anything, which I probably did)

Re: My story getting CUPS to work with my Brother printer [seatd] [openrc]

Reply #1 – 08 September 2022, 22:40:25

This was amazingly helpful with setting up my Epson ET-4750 printer with OpenRC today, thank you!
Actually made an account here just to say thanks.

Re: My story getting CUPS to work with my Brother printer [seatd] [openrc]

Reply #2 – 10 September 2022, 22:52:15

Wow! Thanks a lot!!

Re: My story getting CUPS to work with my Brother printer [seatd] [openrc]

Reply #3 – 07 December 2023, 21:34:05

thanks

Re: My story getting CUPS to work with my Brother printer [seatd] [openrc]

Reply #4 – 22 December 2023, 05:09:47

Thank you thank you thank you!
I've been struggling with this for days. I have a feeling I would never have got my printers to work without this walkthru, but they both are now (a Brother laser and an Epson dot matrix).
I was all ready to quit Artix and try something else. Probably Debian based, as I have found with those distros I have to do precisely nothing for my printers to work. Debian just finds them and sets them up automatically. All that happens is that a dialog pops up on the screen saying 'your printer has been added'. Why can't Arch do that too? Why is all this incredible rigmarole required? Installing services and editing system files. Surely there is an easier way for us plain users who would like to use an Arch based distro without the dreaded systemd.
Anyway, happy camper now, so thanks again.
;-)