CUPS upgrade question (output pages order reversed) (MOSTLY SOLVED)

[greengeek]

I am using Fossa64 9.5 and have installed a Brother inkjet printer (MFC-J6510DW) which prints fine but for some reason the pages come out in reverse order so I have to manually rearrange them.

When I google the problem the best I come up with is that there must be a "Print Control" fault (Mint forums)

I assume there may potentially be some benefit in upgrading CUPS but is that safe / easy to do??

I am running cups 2.3.1 but if I go to http://www.cups.org/ I see that there are two newer options:
2.3.3
2.3.6

Keen to know if a CUPS upgrade is straightforward in Puppy.

Cheers!

[Jasper]

@greengeek

I did compile CUPS 2.3.3 with only basic variables (there are a plethora of options), if you want to test it?

cups-2.3.3
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5ecfsei8 ... 3.pet/file

On the Home page the text states 2.3.1 (original application), however the Printers page states 2.3.3

.......... also the same result with Cups 2.3.6

cups-2.3.6
https://www.mediafire.com/file/uw1gaymf ... 6.pet/file

[p310don]

I'm not an expert on printers, but that sounds a whole lot more like a driver or more likely a settings issue for your printer, rather than a CUPS issues.

What driver are you using?

[greengeek]

I did compile CUPS 2.3.3 with only basic variables (there are a plethora of options), if you want to test it?

Thanks Jasper! I have downloaded both and will test them as soon as I understand what to do. I have opened the .pet and it seems there is quite a lot inside. More complex than I expected.

I will need to be careful how I add the new CUPS - i think I will have to fully remove the old version first.

[greengeek]

I'm not an expert on printers, but that sounds a whole lot more like a driver or more likely a settings issue for your printer, rather than a CUPS issues.
What driver are you using?

Yes, that was my first thought - that it should be an easy change to the driver settings. But no joy so far.
I got the drivers from the Brother website:
https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloa ... all&os=128

BroDrivers.jpg (46.67 KiB) Viewed 463 times

.

I found many internet reports of similar behaviour (not always Brother printers) and i was hopeful that this suggestion would help:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... er-746843/

OutputOrderReverse.jpg (29.73 KiB) Viewed 463 times

And i can see that this option is originally commented out in the PPD so I remove the %comment but still no joy.
(It is possible that I am making my PPD change too late in the install process and that CUPS has already grabbed the original unmodified PPD during the install)
.

Here is the PPD (can be opened as text once the false .gz is removed...)

etc_cups_ppd_MFCJ6510DW.ppd.gz

(REMOVE FALSE .gz)

(38.29 KiB) Downloaded 15 times

.
Some threads on the Mint forums suggest that the "Print Control" software is mishandling the PPD - so that's what made me think CUPS may be at fault.
.
There is also an interesting github reference too but i have not fully digested it yet:
https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups-fi ... -401431168
(Tried various combinations but no sweet spot yet...)

[p310don]

Does this printer print with the printed side up when the page comes out? I saw that mentioned in a few threads when researching your problem, and that simple thing is what causes the reversal. All the printers I own print face down, so everything comes out in the right order. If it were to print face up, the first page would be last.

Can you reverse the print order from where you're printing from? This is a screen shot from the print dialog in LibreOffice showing the option.

[greengeek]

Does this printer print with the printed side up when the page comes out? I saw that mentioned in a few threads when researching your problem, and that simple thing is what causes the reversal.

Yes, printed side up.
Apparently getting multipage printouts in the right order should be as simple as ticking the "reverse pages" checkbox in the print dialog (for pdfs or Abiword docs etc) on face up printers but that was never working for me.

I have spent all day trying to use the PPD "output order" modification I mentioned above but it just seems to kill printing dead. Have to stick with the original PPD.
Have also tried different methods of install (with/without lpr, with/without cupswrapper PPD) and have gradually improved my technique so that i am reducing the risk of overwriting things or installing unnecessary multiples.

Can you reverse the print order from where you're printing from? This is a screen shot from the print dialog in LibreOffice showing the option.

Hmmm, had not tried LibreOffice with this printer yet but just tried your tip and yes a docx prints in correct order. Thanks!
Not only that but the driver is now respecting the reverse output tickbox that was not working for pdfs in previous testing.
(Maybe my original install technique was stuffing up the pdf printing..)

So that is my major issue solved (many thanks!) - but I can't mark the thread fully solved yet as my questions about CUPS upgrade remain. Not sure if that should be easy or not but looks complex...

EDIT : The driver install seems to be more consistent when I don't install the lpr deb and only install the cupswrapper deb. Hmmm.