Yeah, that’s the way I’ve always tested the printer… by printing a test page. It’s there, I do it and it doesn’t work lol.
And, I’ve just been fiddling with that URI and nothing happens. It sends a request and renders the print but nothing happens.
And yeah, I’ve just taken the USB connecor out.
M.
Rather than using the CUPS web interface, go in the Control Center → Printers. You should see one printer (right?). Right click and select Properties.
There, I assume that the state is the same (Idle - Unable to add documents to print job)? If you click Edit next to the URI field and wait a few seconds, does it find several ones?
In the properties, in the second category on the left, I assume the relevant options are checked (active ans accept print jobs, especially)?
In the second category, no user is forbidden to use it?
Okay... let's go one by one. There is only one printer there now... in my fiddling i did create a second and a third just trying things out... but at the end I just deleted the others.
Now, here's a weird thing. Right clicking and selecting properties just gives the printer status as 'idle'. There is zero mention of being unable to add documents to the print job at all.
Clicking on policies does indeed have enabled and accepting jobs ticked. And, access control has ticked that everyone is allowed to use the printer except those mentioned (but, of course, nobody is mentioned, so yes, everyone has access).
One more comment about the policies section - operation policy has 'default behaviour' selected. There are two other options though - authenticated or kerberos (the second one is meaningless to me lol).
When I click edit in the URI filed I get the following screenshot - thought irt best to simply include the whole thing:
The only interesting thing, to me anyway, is the mention of LPD/LPR Host or printer. The 2710 is both LPD and LPR where my old one was only LPR. Of course i don't really know what all this means lol. The other interesting option is the one that describes the Brother machine and you can see the start of the IP address at the end of it. I have tried this option before though with no more luck.
Unless of course the two ipp options mentioned ending in printer-queue and ipp respectively were the things you were looking for?
Cheers
Michael
Everything seems to be ok. What I was looking for is the Connection field, just in case if had other options or set a different device URI but nope.
If you connect it again in USB, this dialog box should display also USB in connection. You can try to see if it changes anything but I guess that’s what was used before when you did some tests.
(As for the one you see in Network printer with the beginning of an IP address, it’s because the printer is shared on the network. It’s probably useless to select it on your PC as it’s directly connected.)
EDIT: maybe something to try there: https://askubuntu.com/questions/683713/brother-printer-not-printing
Set the IP address for your printer in your router (just to be sure it always has the same IP and it’s not dynamic), then try a lpd:// address with the IP.
Yeah… been fiddling and diddling with the USB one again and made it the default. Up to 30 prints now and nothing is printing lol.
OMG… set my IP address in my router??? Now, I KNOW I’m in trouble lol.
I’ll have a read of the link you set, but I am worried as I’ve never ever fiddled with a router before lol… not even sure I’d know where to start lol!
Technology 
At least my agility program works lol.
Cheers
M.
Hey… pretty much bedtime in Oz, so once again thank you for all the wonderful support and advice. I certainly wouldn’t have got this far without you!
Just need to sleep on the next step lol.
Cheers
Michael
OMG... set my IP address in my router??? Now, I KNOW I'm in trouble lol.
It's just to have a fixed address for your printer but you can start by trying with the current one and just set a lpd:// URI.
Okay… I agree that one I can try lol… but tomorrow
Cheers bud
Michael
Tried the lpd://IP address but still no luck.
A friend suggested there might be a front end for Brother printers that might make the USB option set up directly?
Cheers
M.
What did you ty as lpd:// address exactly?
AFAIK, there’s nothing besides the packages you’ve installed. If you plug the printer in USB, go in the printer properties (in the Control Center), click on “edit URI” (i.e. the diablog from your 7 messages above) and select USB, what URI does it set?
EDIT: I don’t remember if you mentioned it but if you send a document to print, does it appear in the queued jobs list or not at all (you can check in the CUPS web interface)? If so, what’s the status displayed?
Yeah, I typed in lpd://IP address I gave you in a previous post.
I’ve also tried USB and whatever it came with automatically… and other variations it allowed… and it is always the same result.
It always seems to send to print, but it never actually prints. I have cancelled prints a few times, but let me check if there is anything still there.
On the CUPS only one when I restarted the print it comes up as ‘processing since plus time and date’ and it also gives this message “Bad value (0) for orientation-requested, using 0 degrees” And, it will just stay there until I end up cancelling it.
On the USB one it says ‘processing since plus time and date’ and it also says ‘processing page 1’ and again it will stay like that till I cancel it. The USB one is currently set to CUPs settings as well though.
Clearly there is something basically wrong above and beyond all the usual things people could try (you’ve tried them all lol).
Could it just be an Ubuntu 17.10 issue? I’ve had some printing issues in other distros with a similar (but not totally the same printer) but this is the hardest it’s been to make anything work. Because all my hardware is so new, I’ve been trying different distros to see what the best fit is. That said, I intend to eventually use one of Solus, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mint as my main distro but I also intend to run the other three distros part time on my older computer when i can finally get rid of Windows. I’m waiting for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to try eventually and Mint 19 after that but will also look at Solus 4 sometime as well.
Maybe you’ve already done too much to try and help me given where I’m currently at? But, it has been a really good learning experience for me plus I have my agility program and WINE and that is important for me as well. If you feel there is nothing more to try I’m quite happy to accept your expertise on that and tick it off as finalised.
And, once again, I can’t tell you how much I’ve really appreciated your effort to get this to work for me… it’s been totally amazing.
Need to head out again… will check back later.
Cheers
Michael
Yeah, I typed in lpd://IP address I gave you in a previous post.
I can't find it in the multiple messages, could you repost it? Just asking because it seems that it needs to have a specific address with the model and you might have to try variations (like lpd://xxx.xxx.xx.xx/mfcl2710dw, lpd://xxx.xxx.xx.xx/mfc-l2710dw...).
It always seems to send to print, but it never actually prints. I have cancelled prints a few times, but let me check if there is anything still there.
On the CUPS only one when I restarted the print it comes up as 'processing since plus time and date' and it also gives this message "Bad value (0) for orientation-requested, using 0 degrees" And, it will just stay there until I end up cancelling it.
Ok, so it looks like the connection is ok and we're looking at the wrong issue. It would rather be either a driver issue or options to set. Have you checked the basic options of the printer, especially as there's a message about orientation? Paper size, paper orientation and so on.
I think you have a status screen on your printer, right? Does it display anything when you try to print? Does it list jobs status and errors?
Could it just be an Ubuntu 17.10 issue? I've had some printing issues in other distros with a similar (but not totally the same printer) but this is the hardest it's been to make anything work. Because all my hardware is so new, I've been trying different distros to see what the best fit is. That said, I intend to eventually use one of Solus, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mint as my main distro but I also intend to run the other three distros part time on my older computer when i can finally get rid of Windows. I'm waiting for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to try eventually and Mint 19 after that but will also look at Solus 4 sometime as well.
You can try any distro as LiveCD as the driver installation doesn't need a reboot of the system. For a start, you can give it a try with Ubuntu 16.04.x. If you have time, you might also try different flavors (e.g. Ubuntu MATE and regular Ubuntu), though I don't think the printer management is different between them (but not 100% sure). Brother also has RPM packages to download so you can try Fedora derivatives. I don't know if the installation script (rather than packages) is distro-agnostic and would work on anything or if it only handles Debian & Fedora derivatives like the packages.
Some good points there. I didn’t add printer model after it and that is definitely worth trying.
I had checked things like orientation etc but not every time - I know you had me checking heaps of things at different times lol. Some of the time I didn’t know if I was Arthur or Martha lol. But yeah, i can go back and check the basics out as well.
It’s a bit hard for me because I’m really new to both computers and Linux. The first time I was ever inside a computer case was October last year and that was when I started building my own computer (needed to get over being scared of them lol). I managed to get the mobo to post first time, but damned if I could get Linux onto my Gigabyte mobo… got an expert involved and he couldn’t do it either till I went and bought an Asus mobo. Even then the only distro that would go on was Solus. Because I had a Ryzen CPU I needed a later level kernel… all sorts of issues lol. So, i only started playing sometime with Linux last November. Solus had some issues but was at least reliable. When Manjaro came out with a 4.14 kernel in January i put it on for a while and really liked it. Then decided i needed to see what the LTS distros like Ubuntu and Mint could offer. Still haven’t even been able to try Mint, don’t think the 4.10 kernel is quite high enough.
I had a Brother 2700 printer that my dog killed (lol) but I managed to set it up wirelessly (eventually lol) and I could print on that in both Solus and Manjaro (couldn’t scan though as the dog killed that part of it when it ripped out the USB cable connector). The new 2710 printer has the same driver package (2.2.0-1) so i thought it would be okay. That said, the printers are a bit different and i find this one a bit more complex than the 2700.
I’ve played with lots of distros as live DVDs but I also found them somewhat different when installed… dunno why but they were. I loved Ubuntu Mate 17.10 as a live DVD, and i still like it now a lot despite all the silly things happening. And i’m really keen to try the 18.04. Have had quite a few issues with screen tearing as well… not horrific but noticeable so I’ve been working through that in Solus and Manjaro as well. I think that maybe rolling distros ‘might’ be better in that area than LTS ones but not sure. I also think the desktop environment might have an impact on screen tearing but not 100% sure there either lol.
Kind of been a baptism of fire with Linux But i’ve loved every minute of it anyway Just thought it might be useful to give you a bit of history re my newbiness lol.
Interesting that you mentioned Fedora. I like that as well but it isn’t that friendly to newbies with NVIDIA GPUs lol. I looked at their instructions in that area and just thought - no thanks lol… bit above me just yet! But yeah, i do like the polish of what i could see of fedora on live DVD.
My system - 250Gb M.2 SSD, Ryzen 5 1600x CPU, NVIDIA GTX1060 3Gb GPU, Broadcom wireless adapter (don’t laugh lol) but also a direct ethernet cable attachment now as well, Noctua DH-15 CPU fan, Fractal Design Define R5 case and a few other bits n pieces.I tried to find stuff that was Linux compatible but it’s really hard from outside the community. But I’m learning, albeit slowly
I kind of thought the RPM packages were only good for distros that were more rolling and probably even Arch based? The Deb packages should be okay for the LTS ones like Ubuntu/Mint though. But really, I don’t know why the Install .gz package just didn’t work straight up… oh well, such is life huh.
Let me finish dinner and try your suggestions
Cheers
Michael
Okay, just quickly, checking the printers (USB and wireless) there is an issue with the wireless one. The 'orientation' field is blank and when i reset it to 'automatic', close it and then come back again, it has changed itself back to blank when i come back again. This wireless version doesn't respond to a right click properly compared to the USB one This is on the GUI in Ubuntu... nothing specific shows up on the CUPS schema. I might try deleting it through CUPS and then adding it again through the GUI and see what happens.
Interesting. It won't let me delete this printer either through CUPS or the GUI! Maybe that is one of the issues, maybe it's somehow interfering with the overall process? Maybe i should try deleting it through terminal... but you'd need to give me the command lol. What do you think? Wondering if it's even worthwhile trying the other options on the USB variant if there is a 'faulty' printer in the system that can't even be deleted!
I do remember this from yesterday actually, but I obviously forgot to mention it last couple of nights.
Cheers
M.
But if you try now, either in USB or ethernet with the original ipp// address, do you still get jobs enqueued? If so and they mention orientation, is everything ok in the options? Have you tried different paper sizes and orientations?
Yeah, the point is not that you should use Fedora but just to check if the printer works. It's only to check if your printer behaves differently: if it does, we can assume the issue lies somewhere in Ubuntu MATE; if it doesn't, it's unlikely that the distro used is the cause.
The package format isn't tied to the kind of distro (rolling or not) but really the distro itself: DEB is a format created by Debian and used on its derivatives (like Ubuntu), RPM is a format created by Fedora and so on. I'm not sure Arch uses packages, as the distro is a rolling release but I've never really tried Arch, I don't know much about it.
Anyway, for the tests with LiveCDs, you can use the script from Brother rather than the packages, it will be easier to install.
I'm a bit lost: is your printer wireless (wi-fi) or is it connected through ethernet? Do you now have two printers appearing in the settings (Control Center or CUPS web interface)? If so, how did this happen: did you add one or was it automatic after doing something else?
I don't know how to manage CUPS from the command line, can't give you a command to remove a printer, sorry.
Well, like I said in one of my last two responses, I could print in both Solus and Manjaro with my 2700 wireless printer and looking at the Brother website the install package for the 2710 is exactly the same as for the 2700 (2.2.0-1). I have had problems printing in live DVD mode with some distros but found they worked when they were put on my SSD. I’m not sure that trying to print on live DVD will automatically tell me anything. Fedora was actually one of the difficult ones lol. Couldn’t print with it at all, but the ISO I chose of both Fedora and Mint was Cinnamon and that only works in software rendering mode for me in live DVD so far, and i’m sure that doesn’t help lol.
M.
Yeah, I have two printers showing up in both CUPS and the onboard GUI. I have tried to delete it a couple of times now and it just won’t let me. The one that won’t be deleted is working as a wi-fi printer. I can actually delete the one that has the USB connection though, or even take the USB connector out and work it as a wireless printer.
Is it possible that there is a conflict between the two printers? Something that is stopping the USB one from working?
When I do send stuff to print, nothing happens on my printer at all. It doesn’t light up the interface, it doesn’t make any noises… nothing. I can’t remember how i got it to force print either unless it is in CUPS somewhere and I was playing around and that happened.
M.
I just added a printer by GUI and then removed it so it can be done. Stuffed if i know why the other one won’t let me touch it lol.
M.
It's quite possible that the install script has the same version number for every Brother printer, or for the same families, but it doesn't mean that the driver is the same. It would be interesting to see if your 2710 can print on Solus or Manjaro but I'm not sure they provide LiveCDs.
Have you checked in CUPS (web) if they both use the same driver? Also, is there a difference (in the jobs list or printer behaviour) when using one or the other?
I'm not sure but it's quite possible that the wi-fi one is not a real printer but a kind of shortcut for the main one with a different interface. I.e. if you print on the first one, the system will send data through the USB port while on the second one, it will send data through wi-fi. This would explain why you can't access properties on the one in wi-fi or remove it, but it would also imply that there's no conflict.
