[cups] Setting up a brother that can do duplex, to make it do duplex?

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 29 October 2016 02:26:07 Helge Blicke wrote:

> Gene,
> though I myself do not own a
> Brother printer, I proposed to several
> List participants to use Brother's
> BR-script which seems to be a fairly
> good PostScript 3 emulation. The best way to get the suitable PPD is
> to copy it from a Windows 7 (or even,
> sigh, from an outdated XP) installation.
> This requires, of course, that the printer
> is equipped with this option.
>
> Helge
>
> > Am 29.10.2016 um 04:42 schrieb Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net>:
> >> On Friday 28 October 2016 18:40:24 Jerry wrote:
> >>
> >> On Fri, 28 Oct 2016 18:08:44 -0400, Gene Heskett stated:
> >>> Greetings;
> >>>
> >>> Asking here because its a PITA to try and talk to Brother, they
> >>> know zip about linux or cups. Folks here are generally quite
> >>> knowledgeable, and I appreciate it.
> >>>
> >>> If I want to use this printers 11x17 print mode, I found I had to
> >>> setup a profile just for 11x17 paper.  Thats understandable.
> >>> Feeding the paper straight in is a PIMA, but thats the rules of
> >>> this game.
> >>>
> >>> But for normal printing, it seems as if I ought to be able to
> >>> select the tray of paper to use, and whether or not I can want
> >>> duplex, with either tray, or even paper orientation vs image on
> >>> the paper.  Or paper weight.
> >>>
> >>> But I can't, so I gave up and just let it use tray 1 full of
> >>> heavy, glossy on both sides, photo paper for a 50 page B&W text
> >>> job.  Then it came out wrong side up and to put it in page order,
> >>> I had to turn a 50 page, nearly a pound of paper over one page at
> >>> a time. Not to mention that each page laid on the stack, must be
> >>> held there for a couple seconds to keep it from floating off the
> >>> table, which is level.
> >>>
> >>> I am beginning to think I am going to have to add 3 or 4 more
> >>> "Printers", each one configured to do just a single style of job.
> >>>
> >>> Is this the usual procedure, or are the brother drivers being
> >>> super pickity about what they deign to do?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks everybody.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> >>
> >> I have two Brothers printers, both laser jets, and they work
> >> reasonably well. Not as well as they do under Windows, but I am on
> >> a FreeBSD machine and Brother does not make drivers for FreeBSD.
> >>
> >> Brother does make drivers for Linux,
> >> http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/linux/en/index.html?c=us_ot&lang=
> >>en& comple=on&redirect=on
> >
> > I think I am useing those.
> >
> >> You did not mention what model printer you have.
> >
> > MFC-J6920DW, and its a fully uptodate debian wheezy install on quad
> > core amd64 hardware.
> >
> >> In my case, they did
> >> not have a specific PPD file for my printer, so I copied the PPD
> >> file that came with the Brother printer. It was supposed to work
> >> under Windows; however, it worked fine under CUPS.
> >
> > Humm, never gave that a passing thought, my bad. I don't recall
> > looking on the cd that came with it.  I'll do that tomorrow if I can
> > find it.
> >
> >> You should probably check out this page too:
> >> http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/linux/en/evaluation.html?c=us_ot&
> >>lan g=en&redirect=on
> >
> > BTDT, is where I got these drivers.  Even for a wheezy install, they
> > are all ancient.
> >
> > Thanks for the nudge in the ribs, Jerry.

New problem, apparently a given printer can be given only 2 
configurations.

Every time I "add" a new printer, and set it for the options I want 
that "printer" to default to, an existing, working profile disappears 
from localhost:631/printers. So I am stuck with an HL2140 that gets a 
lot of use because its not lieing when it says 19 ppm. 2 versions of 
this printer, and of course cups.pdf, which I may have used twice in the 
years it has been available. That appeared to work, but I never did find 
the output pdf file. I wound up send the guy a huge png from gimp, 20x 
the size the pdf would have been. So cups.pdf could disappear and I 
wouldn't notice it.

So, how do I break that 2 profile limit, and set it up with enough 
profiles that it is useable as
1. simplex rear fed 11x17 (borderless tabloid)
2. simplex tray 2 (plain 24 lb duplex paper)
3. duplex tray 2 (plain 24 lb duplex paper)
4. simplex tray 1 (double sided 40 lb glossy photo)
5. duplex tray 1 (double sided 40 lb glossy photo paper)

Thats 5 profiles I need to have on tap just by chooseing that profile 
from the systems print menu that evince or geany and its ilk brings up 
when you click on print?

So how do I find and nuke that 2 profiles per printer limit I am running 
into?, ISTM its an artificial limit.

Thanks Helge

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>