[SOLVED] Brother DCP-L3550CDW

[mb720]

I'd like to print in color with my Brother DCP-L3550CDW on Arch Linux. I've installed this driver (version 1.0.2-2) which is a repackaging of the Linux driver that Brother offers here.

Using system-config-printer, a CUPS front end, I'm able to print the "Self-Test Page". This is a maintenance command that checks whether all jets on the print head function and that the print feed mechanism works.

With this driver, it's not possible to print the CUPS test page, the one with Tux and a stylized printer next to it. After pressing "Print Test Page", I can see this in /var/log/cups/access_log.1:

localhost - - [08/Feb/2020:13:32:35 +0100] "POST /printers/Brother-DCP-L3550CDW-2 HTTP/1.1" 200 421 Print-Job successful-ok

There are no entries in /var/log/cups/error_log.

When switching drivers to "Generic PCL Laser Printer [en]", printing pages in black and white works fine; printing in color does not work however.

 

[mb720]

This was solved with the kind help of user stewi on aur.archlinux.org: Using the CUPS web interface at http://localhost:631/admin, add a new IPP printer.

As the URL, use ipp://<your_printer_ip>/ipp/port1 or ipp://<your_printer_hostname>/ipp/port1. In my case, I used ipp://BRWC0B5D72A0B89/ipp/port1.
To find the name or IP of your printer, you can scan your local network with nmap. For example:

nmap -sP 192.168.178.*

In CUPS' web interface, you should then see two drivers, pick the one literally named {current_make_and_model} - IPP Everywhere ™:

This way, I got printing in color working smoothly on my Brother DCP-L3550CDW.

What tripped me up was the fact that system-config-printer does not offer to select this driver, but picks Brother DCP-L3550CDW CUPS (en) whose name looks right but doesn't seem to work at all.