Re: Does anyone know how to configure a Brother MFC-J5720DW with cups?
On Sat 12 Mar 2016 at 09:56:37 (+0000), Brian wrote:
> On Fri 11 Mar 2016 at 12:39:58 -0600, David Wright wrote:
>
> > On Fri 11 Mar 2016 at 17:48:01 (+0000), Brian wrote:
> > >
> > > The AirPrint facility handles a PDF (it has to).
> >
> > I don't understand this statement. If a printer doesn't have a PS
> > interpreter (or emulation thereof), are you saying that it acquires
> > one by virtue of supporting AirPrint?
>
> No. (I think you meant PDF).
I guess so. Using your terminology below, "PDF converter" is ok with me.
> The PDL of choice for AirPrint capable devices is PDF. A PDF document
> sent to an Airprint capable printer is converted to BUL (the Brother
> Unknown Language) as it would be if it was processed on a workstation by
> CUPS.
>
> Note that this is a conversion, not an interpretation. An interpreter
> produces a raster image and this happens later when the RIP deals with
> BUL.
So you appear to be saying that what passes through the AirPrint wire
or wifi link is a PDF. The printer then converts it to BUL, then raster.
> > > Whether the printer
> > > handles direct PDF printing is questionable. But it's a decent idea to
> > > try.
> >
> > It would seem odd to support PDF printing and be silent on the matter
> > in the printer's literature, eg www.printerbase.co.uk/spec/pdf/brother-mfcj5720dw.pdf
> > http://support.brother.com/g/b/spec.aspx?c=eu_ot&lang=en&prod=mfcj5720dw_us_eu_as
>
> The important word is "direct". The MFC-J5720DW doesn't have a PDF
> interpreter. Hence the silence.
So if a PDF arrives by AirPrint, how does the MFC-J5720DW interpret it
if it doesn't have a PDF converter? (I am genuinely ignorant and confused.)
I'm used to this:
Paper -> scanner -> PDF containing image -> [...wifi...] -> computer
where the PDF is really just a container with an image in it.
And then its converse (but not its inverse):
Computer PDF -> CUPS -[convert]-> BUL -> [...wifi...] -> BrotherPrinter -[RIP]-> paper
where the Computer PDF contains some postscript-like code mixed
in with fonts etc which has to be "converted".
So now with AirPrint we have:
Phone PDF -[no-driver]-> [...wifi...] -> AirPrint -[convert]-> BUL -[RIP]-> paper
Linux computer PDF -> CUPS -> [...wifi...] -> AirPrint -[convert]-> BUL -[RIP]-> paper
but what does the backend of CUPS have to do? Why not just
cp ~/my-file.pdf dnssd://Brother%20Printer...
if you're not bothered about queueing/scheduling etc.
Cheers,
David.
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