I have an old Brother HL-2300D, and an Asus AX86U. How do I achieve AirPrint?

[staralfur12]

Hi all

I have an old Brother LH-2300D and I'm looking to run an AirPrint server on my Merlin flashed AX86u

Here's my amateur attempt so far: I've done a lot of googling and I've installed Entware on a USB Drive and all and installed CUPS, ran cupsd but I went to 192.168.50.1:631 on my computer browser and connection refused

Here's my amateur thinking of what I need to do:
1. somehow wget cups installation into the router's native storage,
2. install cups onto the router, configure cups for my brother printer I guess
3. make a script that runs cupsd everytime router boots/reboots.

Otherwise I'm kind of out of my wits end. I would love any help. There's very little tutorials or even forum threads out there on this topic.

 

[ColDen]

I do not use AirPrint but this link ([Troubleshooting] How to fix AirPrint cannot print through wireless router?) may be usefull to you: https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1051110/

 

[Crimliar]

As it's a USB only printer, https://www.asus.com/uk/support/faq/114046/ may be more pertinent!
*And hats off to you for keeping that printer working for so many years!

 

[staralfur12]

As it's a USB only printer, https://www.asus.com/uk/support/faq/114046/ may be more pertinent!
*And hats off to you for keeping that printer working for so many years!

Oh I do have the EZPrint thing working, but my family is half iOS/Mac and half Windows. I would love to enable AirPrint so I can print from every device including mobile.

 

[staralfur12]

I do not use AirPrint but this link ([Troubleshooting] How to fix AirPrint cannot print through wireless router?) may be usefull to you: https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1051110/

The Brother HL-L2300D is wired only, so basically I have to figure out a way to do this:

Brother <-> ASUS AX86U (Printer Server) <-> PC/iOS/Mac

 

[bennor]

If you haven't done so already, use the forum search feature to search for "CUPS" and search for "AirPrint". There are a number of past discussions on both on this forum, and various attempts to use them.

You could go the add-on Entware route and then install CUPS/AirPrint through Entware. Some discussion here on Entware and AirPrint here:

GitHub - davygravy/AirPrint-on-Entware: AirPrint emulation on Entware with fewer hiccups

AirPrint emulation on Entware with fewer hiccups. Contribute to davygravy/AirPrint-on-Entware development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Using Entware CUPS

Dear All! I am using RT-AC68U and actually I am happy with it. also I have Epson Stylus Photo TX650 printer connected to the router via USB Hub. To be able to work with EZ Printer sharing function I am using this trick. Some days ago I have successfully installed Entware. According to the...

www.snbforums.com

Or if your router is supported by other firmware like DDWRT or Tomato or OpenWRT you could see if those firmwares support CUPS/AirPrint.

 

[Crimliar]

I assumed there were MAC users due to the reference to AirPrint, which means you should try to use the LPR protocol. Note my own experience with this was patchy!

 

[staralfur12]

If you haven't done so already, use the forum search feature to search for "CUPS" and search for "AirPrint". There are a number of past discussions on both on this forum, and various attempts to use them.

You could go the add-on Entware route and then install CUPS/AirPrint through Entware. Some discussion here on Entware and AirPrint here:

GitHub - davygravy/AirPrint-on-Entware: AirPrint emulation on Entware with fewer hiccups

AirPrint emulation on Entware with fewer hiccups. Contribute to davygravy/AirPrint-on-Entware development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Using Entware CUPS

Dear All! I am using RT-AC68U and actually I am happy with it. also I have Epson Stylus Photo TX650 printer connected to the router via USB Hub. To be able to work with EZ Printer sharing function I am using this trick. Some days ago I have successfully installed Entware. According to the...

www.snbforums.com

Or if your router is supported by other firmware like DDWRT or Tomato or OpenWRT you could see if those firmwares support CUPS/AirPrint.

That github tutorial seems very promising however I ran into a snag, my Entware architecture doesn't seem to match any of the ones in this tutorial

 

[ColinTaylor]

@staralfur12 What Entware packages exactly did you install? There is a metapackage for AirPrint that you should have used.

opkg install airprint

 

[bibikalka]

@staralfur12

I had a USB Tomato router serve as a WiFi bridge to my printer, see these instructions:

Configure Printer in Windows - TomatoUSB

tomatousb.wikidot.com

Hopefully you can replicate that with whatever setup you have now.

P.S. Here is what Asus says about this:

[Wireless Router] How can I use EZ printer sharing with ASUS wireless router? (for Windows OS only) | Official Support | ASUS USA

 

[staralfur12]

Ok so I did somehow miraculously get CUPS to run its server on localhost:631

I can confirm this because inside the router ssh I did wget localhost:631 and it downloaded index.html which has CUPS contents in it.

However, on my PC browser it doesn't allow me to connect to 192.168.50.1:631 citing connection refused. Does anyone know how I can allow an external LAN computer to access port 631?
Thanks.

Here's a snippet from /opt/etc/cupsd.conf (my PC is DHCP static ip'ed to 192.168.50.12)

UPDATE: Fixed this myself by adding to cupsd.conf:

Listen 192.168.50.1:631

Whether this is janky or not, idk but it allows me to connect to my CUPs via external browser.

 

[staralfur12]

So I've hit another knowledge gap. Presented by the CUPS screen, I have no clue how to configure my Brother HL-L2300D for it. I know it's connected to the router and it's under the "lp0" in usb devices, other than that I don't know how to get its IP address or whatever to add it to CUPS.

 

[sfx2000]

I assumed there were MAC users due to the reference to AirPrint, which means you should try to use the LPR protocol. Note my own experience with this was patchy!

LOL - my Brother MFC supports AirPrint out of the box - it doesn't need any router support.

It just works...

With AsusWRT - make sure you have the full Avahi packages, along with a recent CUPS, and it should just work with the printer attached over USB

Worst cast - use a RPi - install the full packages there, and attach the printer, again, should just work.

 

[Crimliar]

LOL - my Brother MFC supports AirPrint out of the box - it doesn't need any router support.

The OPs printer is USB only, and I made the hats off comment because I always had the impression they were unreliable. I'm pretty sure I've set more than one of these up on Netgear routers using ReadyShare - and it wasn't that difficult, but it's probably a decade-ish ago!

 

[sfx2000]

The OPs printer is USB only, and I made the hats off comment because I always had the impression they were unreliable. I'm pretty sure I've set more than one of these up on Netgear routers using ReadyShare - and it wasn't that difficult, but it's probably a decade-ish ago!

The Brother HL-L2300D is the same printer we had in our office a couple of jobs back - and the RPi with CUPS was what we did to enable both network sharing with Windows and AirPrint - worked great and everyone was happy...

 

[sfx2000]

Here's a quick walk-thru on using the Pi

Guide: Make almost any printer AirPrint compatible with a Raspberry Pi in 20 minutes! | GEEK!

Got a printer kicking around that you wish had AirPrint? Maybe it's one you've had for several years, or maybe it's a cheaper one you recently picked up and wished it had support for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. In any case, if you've got yourself a Raspberry Pi, have 20 minutes to spare

www.geekonthepc.com

And if one has the Pi on 24/7, can always leverage that as a PiHole, killing two birds with one stone

 

[ColinTaylor]

So I've hit another knowledge gap. Presented by the CUPS screen, I have no clue how to configure my Brother HL-L2300D for it. I know it's connected to the router and it's under the "lp0" in usb devices, other than that I don't know how to get its IP address or whatever to add it to CUPS.

View attachment 61517

Use socket://localhost:9100. Alternatively you could use the LPR protocol and specify LPRServer as the queue name. FYI device /dev/usb/lp0 has been created because you have (correctly) enabled the router's Network Printer Server option.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hi all

I have an old Brother LH-2300D and I'm looking to run an AirPrint server on my Merlin flashed AX86u

Here's my amateur attempt so far: I've done a lot of googling and I've installed Entware on a USB Drive and all and installed CUPS, ran cupsd but I went to 192.168.50.1:631 on my computer browser and connection refused

Here's my amateur thinking of what I need to do:
1. somehow wget cups installation into the router's native storage,
2. install cups onto the router, configure cups for my brother printer I guess
3. make a script that runs cupsd everytime router boots/reboots.

Otherwise I'm kind of out of my wits end. I would love any help. There's very little tutorials or even forum threads out there on this topic.

Is the router near enough to your printer that you could plug a USB cable from the printer into a USB port on the router? If yes you can make the Brother into a network printer. That is how I have my old Brother laser printer connected.

 

[Siff]

@staralfur12: Did you manage to access CUPS from a PC/Mac browser?

I haven't installed CUPS in ages (I have a RPi2 2B running as an AirPrint server since 2015), but I recall that there was a change that I had to make for CUPS to be administered remotely (i.e. outside the local host), so you might check the following in your cupsd.conf file (this is what is in mine, yours might be different. If I recall correctly, I just added "Allow @Local" in the places below):

...
# Restrict access to the server...
ServerAlias *
<Location />
  Order allow,deny
  Allow @Local
</Location>

#Restrict access to the admin pages...
<Location /admin>
  Order allow,deny
  Allow @Local
</Location>

#Restrict access to configuration files...
<Location /admin/conf>
  AuthType Default
  Require user @SYSTEM
  Order allow,deny
  Allow @Local
</Location>

#Restrict access to log files...
<Location /admin/log>
  AuthType Default
  Require user @SYSTEM
  Order allow,deny
  Allow @Local
</Location>
...

HTH

 

[staralfur12]

SIDE UPDATE: I got it working, BUT with a Beelink mini PC with Ubuntu server installed.

Brother HL-L2300D <- USB -> Beelink Ubuntu Server <-> Cups

I loosely followed this tutorial: https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/set-up-cups-print-server-ubuntu-bonjour-ipp-samba-airprint

But basically I installed CUPS according to that tutorial

Then I went to Brother website Driver Install Tool (The Driver Install tool is a must, manually installing drivers won't work)

Follow the instructions on Brother's website for installation (I followed along with it as a USB device)

Then basically the printer was automatically added to CUPS. As long as it's set as a shared server and AirPrint works pretty much out of the box.

NOTE: I'm not sure if Brother's Driver Install Tool works with ASUS Router's Linux distro. But if it did, then I have no doubt that you can get CUPS server working on it. I personally had a hard time with the Router's linux filesystem (especially when cups has to be installed on USB stick), vs just installing it on a Beelink dedicated home server with the printer connected to it.