Official CUPS and LPR drivers from Brother
They can be found from http://solutions.brother.com/bsc_ph/os/linux/index.html and have been compiled for a variety of distributions (RPM and DEB packages are provided).
Note that they only include source code for the CUPS wrappers, which isn't that interesting really.
If you want an Open Source driver with full source code then use Arn's CUPS driver below as the one released from Brother is mostly binary.
Thanks to Nephi531 for pointing them out.
CUPS driver for the P-touch Printer family Version 1.2, updated 22Nov2006:
You can download below the work done by Arne John Glenstrup () based on the current protocol findings and the cups driver for the P-Touch 2450 done by Geoffrey Teale.
This is, however, a full implementation that extends greatly all previous work.
While you can get the latest software from Arne's website, I will include below the latest mirrored version. Please let me know if I'm falling behind.
The major update to 1.0 update included much improved support for the PT family of printers (with extensive testing on the PT-2420PC) and a ConcatPages option to scale multi-page into one for those pesky applications that do not support label-sized pages.
Minor update to 1.1 doesn't inlcude any new functionality. Just improvements on packaging for Fedora Core 5 and 6. There is no need to install this version if you already have 1.0 working. Minor update to 1.2 allows you to download just the filter or just the foomatic data as needed.
ptouch-driver-1.2.tar.gz - Source tarball for version 1.2
ptouch-driver-1.2-1.i386.rpm - RPM file containing the raster filter, compiled on Fedora Core 6. ptouch-driver-foomatic-1.2-1.i386.rpm - RPM file containing the foomatic XML data, compiled on Fedora Core 6. ptouch-driver-1.1-1.fc6.i386.rpm - Fedora Core 6 RPM standard i386ptouch-driver-1.1-1.fc6.x86_64.rpm - Fedora Core 6 RPM 64bit versionSend feedback on this driver directly to Arne John Glenstrup (), with copy to me if you don't mind () so I can follow.
Older Versions (FC5)
ptouch-driver-1.1-1.i386.rpm - Fedora Core 5 RPM standard i386ptouch-driver-1.1-1.x86_64.rpm - Fedora Core 5 RPM 64bit versionptouch-driver-1.1.tar.gz - Source tarball for version 1.1Older Versions (FC4)
ptouch-driver-1.0-1.i386.rpm - Fedora Core 4 RPM standard i386MD5: 25918217028bd6d232a235ff037f77efptouch-driver-1.0-1.x86_64.rpm - Fedora Core 4 RPM 64bit versionMD5: 4f24ad6e02ae05e1686a7b8705aba369ptouch-driver-1.0.tar.gz - Source tarballMD5: e4c7f56fae95abe210987c9722164a6cInstallation
| Binary Packages |
| If you build packages for other distributions, please send them and I'll host them here for others to find. |
To install the tar file distribution, run
# cd ptouch-driver-1.1
# ./configure
# make
# make install
If you do not have root access, you will probably need to use the --prefix=... option to ./configure. Run ./configure --help to view available options.
Reporting Bugs
If you think you have found a bug and want to report it, follow these instructions and report your findings to :
- Find a minimal input example PostScript document that elicits the bug.
- Set up CUPS for debugging by setting
LogLevel debugin/etc/cups/cupsd.conf, and restart CUPS, e.g. byservice cups restart. - Redirect the raw printer data to a file by setting print to file in your printer configuration application. If you use
http://localhost:631to do this, click on Modify Printer, Continue, select AppSocket, Continue, and then enter a device URI likefile:/home/myname/ql500-data.raw, Continue. - When submitting a bug report, include
- A good description of the bug symptoms and circumstances.
- The PostScript input example file.
- The CUPS error log excerpt from
/var/log/cups/error_log. - The raw printer data file.
- All possible details about your printer: model number, type of connection, type of tape used.
Alternative ressource
Thomas Seiler () contacted me a few weeks ago with his first shot at a cups driver.
His work is based on the original dymo cups filter and requires you to replace the original cups source for rastertodymo.c with his version and then compile cups as usual.
While this version is not as extensive as Arne's it may be a useful departure point for other implementations.
Links
- John Glenstrup's official p-touch cups driver page.
- complete cups source including filter for the P-touch 2450 by Geoffrey Teale.
- Other ressources on the QL500/QL550 on this site.
for some reason the printer alwas feeds alot of paper. no matter which paper size i use. things like "negative" work perfect... i use "kprinter helpme.pdf" to print the file. and yes, the file is only as big the text is :)
Arne added option ConcatPages to version 1.0 of the driver. This should solve this issue.
The feeding seems to be related to default 100mm length, so no matter how small a page is, it will always spew out 100mm (about 4 inches) for every print. Is there a way to vary the length instead of always printing 100mm, short of editing the PPD file everytime the length changes? BTW, ptouch driver also works with PT-2300 and PT-2300 is not shown in the hardware list.
KC: Problem is that foomatic doesn't support fixed-width-variable-height page sizes, only fixed and custom-height-and-width sizes. If custom page size doesn't work with CUPS, you might be able to use the ConcatPages option to get what you desire. What are the options you used for PT-2300? Are they PageSize=24x100mm, Align=center, BytesPerLine=14, LabelPreamble=0, PixelTransfer=RLE, Resolution=180x180, SoftwareMirror=0 ?
It's largely working for m on my new ql-500, but I find that with the standard 29 x 90mm label roll, it always feeds about 1cm too much after doing the label and I have to open the printer and back up the roll before cutting it. It also starts too soon, in that once I have cut the strip between the precut labels, I do need to add about .6cm of margin on the left. Are there places where I can tweak my settings?
Ok, I wasn't paying close enough attention -- I was having the same problem. concatpages almost fixes it, I will continue looking at it.
I have to modify the ppd file (PageSize, PageRegion, ImageableArea, PaperDimension) so whenever you found [82 255] will need to be changed to [82 230]. These numbers are image area. And when creating label in your PDF writer, the page size will need to be 29x80mm, not 29x90mm. So, it should fix the over feeding problem.
I know this is some what of an old article, but I would like to point out that I have found Offical Brother Test Drivers. I don\'t know for sure if they have anymore as this is the only page I was able to find. With a little copying and paste of the ppd file in the right location for ubuntu I was able to get it to work. (ppd file should go in /usr/share/ppd, copy it form /usr/share/cups/model/brql5*0.ppd). Here is the link. solutions.brother.com/bsc_ph/os/linux/linux_ql500550.html
Thanks al lot Nephi513, I have amended the page to point to them.
It's nice that Brother provides Linux drivers now, but where did you get the source code for it? On the download page I only find the source code for the CUPS wrapper, but not for the drivers?
You're right, I was a bit too quick: the source code is only for the wrappers, wihch isn't that interesting. There is no source code for the drivers themselves and only some OS are supported.
To compile in debian / ubuntu you need to install these packages: aptitude install build-essential libcupsys2-dev libcupsys2-dev
I also had to install libcupsimage2-dev for compiling on Ubuntu8.10. And I added the include limits.h to rastertoptch.c. I also followed the other instructions here; www.openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Brother-QL-500 and now I can install the driver. But I can only print a test page which looks a bit weird. When I try to print something from ex gedit I just get line feeds and no text. But when I print a large text I get some characters from the middle of the text. So I guess it's something with the layout. I tried Brothers templates for OpenOffice. But I don't get all the text from them. Is it possible to get the printer to print what I send to it somehow?
Hi, Using this driver with a QL-570, basic printing works but I had to hack around to get auto-cut working (finally last night at 2.00am!). I need to clean up the code and works out what really makes it work. @BenA: The default margins on Ubuntu are rather large, you can prevent this by edditing ../driver/ptouch.xml to include some margins. IE add: --
mungewell, I would love to get my QL-570 autocutting. Would you please tell us how you did it? Any info at all?
@grant. Here's my changes http://www.mungewell.org/linux/ptouch-driver-1.3-sdw-20090408.tar.gz which probably break every other printer in this pack. It will only cut tape/labels as 'cut after job' so you have to print individual pages and you should set 360dpi. Don't forget to use "./configure --prefix=/usr" if you're on Ubuntu.
Hello, any ideas to get Brother P-Touch 2430PC to work? I tried the drivers but it will not work on my SUSE 11.1 64-bit system.
@Herby2: Did you succeed in getting the P-touch 2430 PC to print anything? I've bought myself the same model and I'm desperately trying to get it to work. No success so far ...