Sharing USB printer (Brother DCP-7055) with Android and iOS

[gorman]

I have the printer in the subject connected to my machine through USB port. It's shared over the network and I've managed to access it from a Windows 10 machine on the same network.

I've tried several options to share it with Android (my smartphone, on Android 13/LineageOS) and iOS (an iPad Pro 12.9" 2nd generation).
On Android I've installed Android CUPS Print, on iOS I tried connecting through the bonjour service.

I have both CUPS and avahi services running. I *think* I've opened the relevant ports in the firewall...

So both Android and iOS "see" the printer... but when I try printing they don't even start. They get stuck "retrieving info" from the printer but they never print.

Don't know if it could be useful but here is my system info (taken from the suggested instruction in the "how to get help" post):

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-73-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0
    Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8 tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Mini-pc System: Intel Client Systems product: NUC11TNKi3
    v: M11929-405 serial: <superuser required> Chassis: Intel Corporation
    type: 35 v: 2.0 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Intel model: NUC11TNBi3 v: M11908-404 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: Intel v: TNTGL357.0064.2022.0217.1550 date: 02/17/2022
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    smt: enabled arch: Tiger Lake rev: 1 cache: L1: 160 KiB L2: 2.5 MiB
    L3: 6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1045 high: 1081 min/max: 400/4100 cores: 1: 1072
    2: 1081 3: 1008 4: 1022 bogomips: 23961
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: DP-1
    empty: DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a78
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.7x15.0")
    s-diag: 777mm (30.6")
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Philips 272C4 serial: <filter> res: 2560x1440
    hz: 60 dpi: 109 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.2") diag: 686mm (27") modes:
    max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (TGL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.5
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Thesycon System & Consulting GmbH DX3 Pro type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio bus-ID: 3-7.1:45 chip-ID: 152a:8750 class-ID: fe01
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-73-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a0f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I225-LM driver: igc v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 58:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:15f2
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp88s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: eddie state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0026 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 16.6 TiB used: 13.19 TiB (79.4%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Crucial model: CT250P2SSD8 size: 232.89 GiB
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: P2CR048
    temp: 40.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD Elements 25A3
    size: 16.37 TiB type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1031 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 227.68 GiB used: 50.78 GiB (22.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 1.44 GiB (71.8%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: 2648 apt: 2636 flatpak: 12
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu jammy stable
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mediaarea.list
    1: deb https://mediaarea.net/repo/deb/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mkvtoolnix.download.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/gpg-pub-moritzbunkus.gpg] https://mkvtoolnix.download/linuxmint/ vanessa main
    2: deb-src [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/gpg-pub-moritzbunkus.gpg] https://mkvtoolnix.download/linuxmint/ vanessa main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list
    1: deb https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/musicbrainz-developers-stable-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/musicbrainz-developers-stable-jammy.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/musicbrainz-developers/stable/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http://linux-mint.froonix.org vera main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qbittorrent-team-qbittorrent-stable-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/qbittorrent-team-qbittorrent-stable-jammy.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sonarr.list
    1: deb https://apt.sonarr.tv/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntuhandbook1-apps-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/ubuntuhandbook1-apps-jammy.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ubuntuhandbook1/apps/ubuntu jammy main
Info:
  Processes: 307 Uptime: 2d 1h 4m wakeups: 0 Memory: 15.32 GiB
  used: 6.81 GiB (44.4%) Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers:
  gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11/12 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: gnome-terminal
  inxi: 3.3.13

[AZgl1800]

I make sure the Printers are on the WiFi network,
after that, Android or iOS will print to them just fine.

change the way you have the computer configured.
USB is a major PITA for printers.

[gorman]

I make sure the Printers are on the WiFi network,
after that, Android or iOS will print to them just fine.

change the way you have the computer configured.
USB is a major PITA for printers.

Yeah, well... they are on the same network, as I mentioned both Android and iOS devices "see" the printer.
But when I send a file to be printed, it does not get printed. iOS complains that "there has been an error". Android just keeps "quiet" and doesn't print.

I can print from Mint and from Windows 10. Mint is USB, Windows is accessing the shared printer (but probably through SMB).

[gorman]

Anyone else? I'm ready to run tests to diagnose what the problem might be...

[gorman]

Bump

[gorman]

Printer connected through USB to the Linux machine. It's a Brother laser printer, if that matters.

I tried debugging the problems I have on the specific printer forums but I'm not getting any answers there, I suppose there's too little traffic there, too few eyeballs looking at discussions.

I can provide further info but lots were provided already here.

[SMG]

Printer connected through USB to the Linux machine. It's a Brother laser printer, if that matters.

I tried debugging the problems I have on the specific printer forums but I'm not getting any answers there, I suppose there's too little traffic there, too few eyeballs looking at discussions.

Please follow forum rules and [8] Do Not Cross-Post.

I will merge this topic with your original one on the issue.

[SMG]

But when I send a file to be printed, it does not get printed. iOS complains that "there has been an error". Android just keeps "quiet" and doesn't print.

What errors, if any, come up on the printer? Either on the printer itself or in the Printer app in Linux Mint?

[gorman]

But when I send a file to be printed, it does not get printed. iOS complains that "there has been an error". Android just keeps "quiet" and doesn't print.

What errors, if any, come up on the printer? Either on the printer itself or in the Printer app in Linux Mint?

As I mentioned in the OP there is no error. They simply get stuck at "retrieving info"...

[SMG]

As I mentioned in the OP there is no error. They simply get stuck at "retrieving info"...

I don't have the Android or IOS apps to help, but perhaps you can use the email them to the computer to print them method.

[gorman]

As I mentioned in the OP there is no error. They simply get stuck at "retrieving info"...

I don't have the Android or IOS apps to help, but perhaps you can use the email them to the computer to print them method.

And the unexpected happened!

Thanks to your reply, I went and tried once more to print. I have recently updated Mint to the latest release (from 21.1 to 21.2), that's the only thing I can think of. But now printing works, both from Android and iOS. I did not touch anything regarding print services. And I surely had rebooted more than once (you know, one reaches a point where everything is tried).

I would have loved to understand what was wrong previously, but I'll be content with finally being able to print, which was what I wanted in the first place.

Thanks for chiming in and prompting me to try one more time. I had abandoned hope.