Post History

how to use a Brother QL-1100 label printer in Arch Linux

I just bought a Brother QL-1100 label printer. I set it up in Arch Linux using the following steps:

- install the [CUPS](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/cups/) package, and systemctl start `cups.service`

- install the QL-1100 printer driver, which is available in the [brother-ql100](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/brother-ql1100) AUR package

- configure the printer using the `lpadmin` command below (where the USB device URI was determined with `$ lpinfo -v`, and the ppd file was determined with `$ lpinfo -m`):
  ```
  $ lpadmin -p QL-1100 -E -v "usb://Brother/QL-1100?serial=000L0Z58359" -m brother_ql1100_printer_en.ppd
  ```

- print a label pdf with this command:
  ```
  $ lpr -P QL-1100 /path/to/file
  ```

However, when I try to print something, the light above the power button goes from solid green to blinking red, and nothing prints.
How do I get it to print?