Linux Printer via Brother Printers: HL-L2350DW
This article shows how to install the Linux printer drivers for Brother printers. In my experience, the software that installed from the manufacturer works much better and consistently than the choices made by my Ubuntu Linux distribution. After showing the method for printer driver installation, Linux printer system settings are discussed.
Initial Linux Printer Experience
Although the exact model I list here, HL-L2350DW, has been discontinued, the Brother printer driver installation script is a generic method that takes your printer model number during installation and gets the proper driver for your model. The Linux distribution I use, Ubuntu, recognizes the network printer and lists two instances in the Printers section of the Settings menu, but the one it uses by default just held jobs in a queue for me and didn’t print. Once the software from Brother was installed, the printer worked consistently well.
I like this printer a lot although I wish it had a Ethernet port so it could be wired to the network. I think the first time I used it I had to plug it in with a USB cable to load the Windows software. There is a tiny menu you can go through to do some settings but it is not convenient. Lately, my Linux distros just find it on the network.
Installing Linux Printer Drivers
The first thing you need is the software from Brother printer’s website. They offer the driver-only option, but I have always used the “Driver Install Tool” because it takes care of everything in one go. After you download the tool, simply double-clicking it in Ubuntu to unpack the compressed file. Then you would need to make this uncompressed file executable. In Debian-based distros, right-click the file and tic the box for “Executable as Program”.
Then you execute it on the command line (see pic) and follow the prompts. Here is a detailed view of what happens, and I have highlighted in white all the info I put in. Tip: I filled in all the answers, but if the y/n choice you want is capitalized, it means it is the default and you can just press Enter if that is the choice you want.
Note: You will eventually need to find the IP address of the printer to do the install above. You can navigate the tiny menu but I always find it easier to go to my router (usually 192.168.1.1) and use a process of elimination to find it there. Test the IPs and you will eventually find a page like this for the printer.
Linux Printer Settings Modification
Below is what the installed printers look like immediately after going through the above steps. I always rename the printer I installed manually so that there will be no confusion later on. All the actions start with the 3-dot menu to the right of the printer name.
Then I make sure to open up the new printer instance and make it the default, as well as changing the paper size to the local “Letter” size and trying to make “Duplex” the default, even though it doesn’t always stick and I may need to do it on a per-job basis.
Using the Linux Printer Once Installed
Not all programs or apps present the printer information in the same way. You may find that the original list of options is missing something you are looking for, like 2-sided printing for example. Here are two examples of how to get to more settings.
The first is with a web browser. Note that the smart thing to do most of the time is to “print to PDF” and save that file to your computer and decide later if it really needs to be printed. In the case you know you need a print out and are missing some settings, look for a link similar to “Print using system dialog”.
For a program like Libreoffice, there was a drop-down where you pick the printer instance you want. Right below that is a button for “Properties”, which will get you more options if they are not available.
Remarks
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I got this printer, but has been pretty much trouble-free once you go through the original Brother software install. This model is discontinued, but like I mentioned above, there is only one install script and it should work the same for other model numbers. *Should*. Other notes on hardware or Linux software would be in the Computers category of my website.
