Brother HL-2040 - ArchWiki

# Brother HL-2040

This guide explains how to install a Brother HL-2040 laser printer using CUPS.

Note: If you already attempted (and failed) to install the driver in CUPS, remove it before proceeding with this tutorial.

## Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes you have already configured the CUPS printer server. There is plenty of existing information to get this working.

## Download Brother HL-2040 drivers

Create a temp directory such as `~/brother`

Download the RPM packages of the LPR driver (HERE) and the CUPS wrapper (HERE) and place them into your newly created temp dir

You may also download a ppd for HL-2040 from here. This one has the margins problem fixed.

## Extracting the RPM files

You'll need to grab a script to extract the files from the RPM packages, so first install rpmextract.

Then extract both RPM files:

    $ rpmextract.sh brhl2040lpr-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm
    $ rpmextract.sh cupswrapperHL2040-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm

You should now have two sub-directories: usr and var

## Editing files to make them work with Arch

Arch Linux uses its own filesystem hierarchy, so you must edit some files to match it. We'll assume you created the temp directory brother in your home directory as mentioned earlier. Use your favorite text editor (i.e. kate, gedit, or vi) and open `~/brother/usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/cupswrapperHL2040-2.0.1`. Replace all instances of `/etc/init.d/` with `/etc/rc.d/` Save and close

Next, edit `~/brother/usr/local/Brother/inf/setupPrintcap`. Replace all instances of `/etc/printcap.local` with `/etc/printcap` Save and close

Now we're ready to copy the files to their respective places on our system (you'll need to be root for this)

    # cp -r ~/brother/usr/* /usr
    # cp -r ~/brother/var/* /var

## Installing the driver and printer

Now let's run the installation script (again, as root):

    # cd /usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/
    # ./cupswrapperHL2040-2.0.1

Upon completion the script will attempt to restart the CUPS daemon if it was running. Now browse to the CUPS server : http://localhost:631/

Under the Administration category, choose Manage printers. You should now see your HL2040 printer automatically installed and configured.

Print a test page and configure the printer settings to your liking.

### Enable cups daemon

Enable cups daemon to start cups on every reboot:

    systemctl enable org.cups.cupsd.service

## Regional Settings

Make sure to set your printer preferences to match your region. For example, if you live in North America (Canada, US, Mexico) your paper size should be changed from the Default "A4" to "Letter". Sometimes this will be done automatically by your Desktop Environment (e.g. KDE) but it's worthwhile to check it yourself or the text on your pages won't align properly.

## Alternate Method (foomatic)

NOTE: If you are having alignment issues using the standard HL 2040 driver, try this method or using the standard CUPS setup to select the 'Brother HL-2400CeN Foomatic/hl1250' driver.

### Install Required Packages

Install cups, foomatic-db, foomatic-db-engine and foomatic-db-nonfree.

### Start Cups

Start/enable `org.cups.cupsd.service` using systemd.

### Finish Installation from the KDE menu (Optional)

This assumes that you are:

1. Using KDE
2. Your printer is connected on LPT1 - parallel port.

    Go to K menu -> settings -> printers
    Click administrator mode
    Enter root password
    Click "add printer"
    Click next
    Choose local (top one)
    Click next...the port should be lpt1
    Click it... then next
    .......builds database
    Choose brother

    Then the hlwerfjefja one we all know and love HL-2400CeN hl1250
    Click next then test
    Set dpi to 600, test again.
    no banners... no quota... denied users...
    Give it a name
    Click next
    You should be done

Category:

- Printers