Can't duplex print in 12.04

[Patrick Asselman]

On 2013-01-11 10:42, David Fletcher wrote:
> On Fri, 2013-01-11 at 09:39 +0100, Patrick Asselman wrote:
>> (I'm not sure this is possible, but...)
>>
>> How about this:
>> * install CUPS on the server and make sure it prints OK to the 
>> printer
>> * share the printer on the server same as you have always done
>> * point all the other desktops on the network to the server, same as
>> you have always done
>>
>> I'm not sure if this is possible, but this would seem like the way 
>> to
>> go for me.
>> A possible nuisance is that the desktops will see two printers on 
>> the
>> network: one is the printer itself and one is the shared printer on 
>> the
>> server. Now they have to pick the right one.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Patrick Asselman
>>
>
> Yes, that's exactly what I want. CUPS has already been running on the
> server, doing its job just fine for nearly 3 years, BUT it doesn't 
> know
> how to drive a Brother HL-3040CN.
>
> There's a couple of things I can now try -
> 1) The .deb files from Brother are installed and working on my 
> desktop,
> although I've not yet tried any printing from the Gimp, only from 
> Libre
> Office and the pdf viewer. So, next test would be to share the 
> printer
> from my desktop and see if this machine then operates as a print 
> server
> for my son's desktop or a friend's laptop.
>
> 2) Like I said last night, set up Ubuntu Server as a virtual machine,
> copy over the Brother driver debs, install them and see if they pull 
> in
> a load of stuff that I don't want on the server or not.
>
> I know that the printer doesn't have to be plugged into the network - 
> I
> did get a test print when I was fiddling around with it plugged into 
> the
> USB socket of this little netbook. Plugged into a USB socket on the
> server it would only be able to appear once.
>
> In order to execute test 2 I'll probably need to know how to log into 
> a
> virtual machine from its host. I'm using Virtualbox. I've not looked
> into doing this yet but if anybody can give me a quick tip I'd be
> grateful.
>
> The seemingly daft thing about this particular printer, is that 
> logging
> into the server with a web browser on port 631 and opting to provide 
> a
> ppd file does not work. I'm sure I did this before with a large (A2 
> or
> A1) Epson inkjet and it worked just fine. It seems that you have to
> install the .deb files then re-create the printer queue with the web
> browser interface, by drilling down to the .ppd file, only the .ppd 
> can
> only be found on the machine with the web browser.
>
> The sooner everything gets added to CUPS the better.
>
> Dave

This might be useful:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1602075

Another idea is to try the printer driver of a similar printer that is 
known in CUPS, such as the HL2700-CN or the HL3450CN.
Usually the different models are not that different, at least not 
regarding software.

Best regards,
Patrick Asselman