Brother QL-1100 Print Server for Raspberry Pi

Complete setup guide to configure your Raspberry Pi as a CUPS print server for the Brother QL-1100 label printer with network printing support.

Tested on: Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (ARMv7l/ARMhf)

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Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. System Preparation
3. Install CUPS & Dependencies
4. Disable Conflicting Services
5. Download & Install Brother Driver
6. Configure the Printer in CUPS
7. Lock Default Settings
8. Configure Network Access
9. Testing & Verification
10. Troubleshooting

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Prerequisites

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi (any model with USB and network connectivity)
• Brother QL-1100 label printer
• Brother DK-1247 labels (103mm x 164mm / 4.07" x 6.46")
• USB cable
• Network connection (WiFi or Ethernet)

Knowledge Level

• Basic Linux command line experience
• SSH access to Raspberry Pi (or keyboard/monitor)

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System Preparation

1. Update System

Refresh the package lists and upgrade all installed packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Note: If you see a message about system restart being required, reboot:

sudo reboot

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Install CUPS & Dependencies

1. Install CUPS and Required Packages

sudo apt install -y cups cups-bsd cups-client ghostscript avahi-daemon cups-filters psutils avahi-utils

What each package does:

• cups - The print server software
• cups-bsd - BSD LPD/LPR compatibility commands
• cups-client - Command-line printing tools
• ghostscript - Required for rendering PostScript/PDF to bitmap
• avahi-daemon - Enables network printer discovery via mDNS/DNS-SD
• cups-filters - Additional filter utilities for CUPS
• psutils - PostScript utilities

2. Verify Ghostscript Installation

The Brother driver requires Ghostscript to render print jobs:

gs --version

Expected output: 10.00.0 or higher

3. Add Your User to lpadmin Group

Replace pi with your username if different:

sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi

Important: Log out and back in (or reboot) for group membership changes to take effect.

Verify membership:

groups

You should see lpadmin in the output.

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Disable Conflicting Services

CRITICAL: The ipp-usb service can hijack the USB connection, preventing the Brother driver from communicating with the printer. cups-browsed can also interfere with printer configuration.

sudo systemctl stop ipp-usb cups-browsed
sudo systemctl disable ipp-usb cups-browsed

What this does: Stops and prevents these services from starting on boot, ensuring the Brother driver has direct USB access.

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Download & Install Brother Driver

1. Download the ARM Driver

CRITICAL: The QL-1100 requires the ARMhf version for Raspberry Pi.

wget https://download.brother.com/welcome/dlfp100581/ql1100pdrv-2.1.4-0.armhf.deb

Verify the download:

ls -lh ql1100pdrv-2.1.4-0.armhf.deb

You should see a file approximately 50KB in size.

2. Install the Driver

sudo dpkg -i --force-all ql1100pdrv-2.1.4-0.armhf.deb
sudo apt-get -f install

Expected output:

Selecting previously unselected package ql1100pdrv.
(Reading database ... )
Preparing to unpack ql1100pdrv-2.1.4-0.armhf.deb ...
Unpacking ql1100pdrv (2.1.4-0) ...
Setting up ql1100pdrv (2.1.4-0) ...

Note: The --force-all flag may be necessary if the CUPS wrapper script fails ARM dependency checks even though it will work correctly.

3. Verify Driver Installation

Check that the critical ARM binary is present and is the correct architecture:

file /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/rastertobrpt1

Expected output:

/opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/rastertobrpt1: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, EABI5 version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3, for GNU/Linux 2.6.32

Important: This confirms the ARM architecture. Some guides incorrectly state the driver is not available for ARM or is only source code.

4. Fix Driver Permissions

Ensure all Brother binaries are executable:

sudo chmod +x /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/rastertobrpt1
sudo chmod +x /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/cupswrapper/brother_lpdwrapper_ql1100

What this does: Brother Linux drivers often have incorrect permissions by default. This step prevents silent job failures.

5. Verify Driver Files

Check that all necessary components are installed:

ls -l /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/
ls -l /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/cupswrapper/

You should see:

• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/rastertobrpt1 (ARM binary rasterizer)
• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/filter_ql1100 (Perl filter script)
• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/brpapertoolcups (Paper tool utility)
• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/brother_lpdwrapper_ql1100 (Perl wrapper)
• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/cupswrapperql1100 (CUPS wrapper script)
• /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/lpd/brother_ql1100_printer_en.ppd (PPD file)

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Configure the Printer in CUPS

1. Connect the Printer

• Connect the Brother QL-1100 to Raspberry Pi via USB
• Power on the printer
• Load DK-1247 labels (103mm x 164mm)

2. Verify USB Connection

Find the USB device identifier:

lsusb | grep Brother

Expected output:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04f9:20a7 Brother Industries, Ltd QL-1100 Label Printer

The device ID 04f9:20a7 confirms the QL-1100 is recognized.

3. Find the USB URI

List available printer URIs:

lpinfo -v

Look for a line like:

direct usb://Brother/QL-1100?serial=000C5G830123

Note: Your serial number will be different. Copy this URI for the next step.

4. Create the Printer Queue

Restart CUPS to ensure it picks up the new driver files:

sudo systemctl restart cups

Add the printer using the USB URI from step 3 (replace serial=000C5G830123 with your actual serial):

sudo lpadmin -p Brother_QL1100 -E \
  -v usb://Brother/QL-1100?serial=000C5G830123 \
  -P /opt/brother/PTouch/ql1100/cupswrapper/brother_ql1100_printer_en.ppd \
  -D "Brother QL-1100 Label Printer" \
  -L "Office"

What the flags mean:

• -p Brother_QL1100 - Printer name (use underscores, not spaces)
• -E - Enable the printer and accept jobs
• -v usb://... - Device URI (replace serial number with yours)
• -P /opt/...ppd - PPD file path
• -D "..." - Printer description (optional)
• -L "..." - Printer location (optional)

5. Remove Auto-Discovered Printer Queue

If ipp-usb created an auto-discovered printer queue before it was disabled, remove it now:

sudo lpadmin -x QL-1100

Note: If you see "lpadmin: Unable to delete printer or class: Not Found", that's fine - it means no auto-discovered queue existed. This step ensures only your properly configured Brother_QL1100 queue remains.

sudo systemctl restart cups

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Lock Default Settings

This is CRITICAL to prevent network clients from sending incorrect media sizes or DPI settings that would cause the printer to reject jobs.

Important Note About Label Sizes: The rest of this document references 103x164 as the media size. This is correct for DK-1247 labels (4.07" x 6.4" / 103mm x 164mm Large Shipping White Paper Labels). If you are using a different size label, you will need to change the defaults and update each reference to the appropriate media size:

• 103x164 for DK-1247: 4.07 in x 6.4 in (103 mm x 164 mm) Large Shipping White Paper Labels
• 102x152 for DK-1241: 4 in x 6 in (102 mm x 152 mm) Large Shipping White Paper Labels
• etc.

Make sure your chosen size matches one of the available sizes in the output of:

lpoptions -p Brother_QL1100 -l | grep Media

1. Lock Paper Size and Quality

Change the media and PageSize below from 103x164 if needed:

sudo lpadmin -p Brother_QL1100 -o media=103x164 -o PageSize=103x164 -o BrPriority=BrSpeed -o printer-is-shared=true -o orientation-requested=auto -o fit-to-page=true

What this does:

• media=103x164 and PageSize=103x164 - Forces 103mm x 164mm label size (DK-1247)
• BrPriority=BrSpeed - Locks print quality to High Speed mode (300 DPI)
• printer-is-shared=true - Enables network sharing
• orientation-requested=auto - Auto-rotates the image to fit the page
• fit-to-page=true - Automatically scales the image to fit the page

Why this matters: Without locked defaults, clients may send incorrect paper sizes like "4x6 inches" (101.6mm x 152.4mm - WRONG) causing print failures.

2. Deploy Custom PPD File

If you want to be able to print from an iOS device and have the paper size defaulted correctly for your labels, you need to deploy a modified PPD file to the Raspberry Pi:

PPD File Edits:

1. Edit the PPD file Brother_QL1100.ppd to set the default media size and comment out unused sizes:

   Four sections to modify:

   • *DefaultPageSize: - Set default media size
   • *DefaultPageRegion: - Set default page region (should match PageSize)
   • *DefaultImageableArea: - Set default imageable area
   • *DefaultPaperDimension: - Set default paper dimensions

   Example edits for DK-1247 (103x164mm) labels:

   *% Section 1: Default PageSize
   *DefaultPageSize: 103x164
   *OpenUI *PageSize/Media Size: PickOne
   *OrderDependency: 11 AnySetup *PageSize
   *PageSize 103x164/103mm x 164mm(4.07" x 6.4"):	"          "
   *%PageSize 62x100/62mm x 100mm(2.4" x 3.9"):		"          "
   *%PageSize 62x29/62mm x 29mm(2.4" x 1.1"):		"          "
   *CloseUI: *PageSize
   
   *% Section 2: Default PageRegion
   *DefaultPageRegion: 103x164
   *OpenUI *PageRegion: PickOne
   *OrderDependency: 12 AnySetup *PageRegion
   *PageRegion 103x164/103mm x 164mm(4.07" x 6.4"):	"          "
   *%PageRegion 62x100/62mm x 100mm(2.4" x 3.9"):		"          "
   *%PageRegion 62x29/62mm x 29mm(2.4" x 1.1"):			"          "
   *CloseUI: *PageRegion
   
   *% Section 3: Default ImageableArea
   *DefaultImageableArea: 103x164
   *ImageableArea 103x164/103mm x 164mm(4.07" x 6.4"):	"2.88 14.17 290.79 451.67"
   *%ImageableArea 62x100/62mm x 100mm(2.4" x 3.9"):	"4.32 8.4   171.36 274.56"
   *%ImageableArea 62x29/62mm x 29mm(2.4" x 1.1"):		"4.32 8.4   171.36 73.44"
   
   *% Section 4: Default PaperDimension
   *DefaultPaperDimension: 103x164
   *PaperDimension 103x164/103mm x 164mm(4.07" x 6.4"):	"293.67 465.84"
   *%PaperDimension 62x100/62mm x 100mm(2.4" x 3.9"):		"175.68 282.96"
   *%PaperDimension 62x29/62mm x 29mm(2.4" x 1.1"):			"175.68 81.84"
   

   Key points:

   • Active entries have * prefix: *103x164/103 mm x 164 mm: ...
   • Commented entries have *% prefix: *%62x100/62 mm x 100 mm: ...
   • All four Default* directives must match your chosen media size
   • Keep at least one size active (uncommented) in each section
   • The default size must be one of the active (uncommented) options

   Why this matters: iOS AirPrint clients respect the PPD's default media size. Without this modification, devices may default to incorrect sizes or show unavailable options.

PPD File Deployment Script Configuration:

This assumes your Pi is already setup to allow ssh access.

1. Copy the example configuration file:

   cp deploy_config.example.sh deploy_config.sh

2. Edit deploy_config.sh with your Pi's details:

   REMOTE_USER="pi"
   REMOTE_HOST="pi.local"

PPD File Deployment:

1. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x deploy_ppd.sh

2. Run the deployment:

   ./deploy_ppd.sh

The script backs up the existing PPD file before replacing it at /etc/cups/ppd/Brother_QL1100.ppd.

3. Verify Settings

lpoptions -p Brother_QL1100 -l

Expected output should include the quality setting and only the sizes left active:

PageSize/Media Size: *103x164 102x152
...
BrPriority/Quality: *BrSpeed BrQuality
...

The * indicates the default value. Both 103x164 and BrSpeed should have asterisks.

Note: The default media size settings (e.g., 103x164) are named settings. If you change the names to other values that might be recognized by iOS or other print clients, you might not be able to print, because the Brother printing pipeline expects the exact names to be passed through.

4. Restart CUPS

Note that the deploy_ppd.sh script does this for you.

sudo systemctl restart cups

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Configure Network Access

Enable remote administration and printer sharing. Network devices will not be able to see the printer until print sharing is enabled, so that setting is necessary. Remote administraiton allows use of the CUPS admin portal on the network but is not necessary to enable.

sudo cupsctl --remote-admin --remote-any --share-printers

What this does:

• --remote-admin - Allows remote CUPS administration
• --remote-any - Allows access from any network interface
• --share-printers - Enables printer sharing on the network

Restart Services

sudo systemctl restart cups avahi-daemon

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Testing & Verification

Test 1: Local Print Test from Raspberry Pi

echo "Test print from Raspberry Pi $(date)" | lp -d Brother_QL1100

Expected behavior: Printer should immediately start printing a label with the text and timestamp.

Check job status:

lpstat -p Brother_QL1100

Expected: printer Brother_QL1100 is idle. enabled since [date/time]

Test 2: Verify Printer Queue

lpstat -p     # Check if printer is idle/ready
lpstat -v     # Verify the USB connection
lpstat -e     # List all available printers

Expected output from lpstat -e: You should see Brother_QL1100 and possibly Brother_QL_1100_Label_Printer_[hostname] (this is normal - CUPS discovers its own shared printer via the network). However, if you see an entry like "QL-1100" (without the "Brother_" prefix), this is an unwanted auto-discovered queue from ipp-usb that should be removed:

sudo lpadmin -x QL-1100
sudo systemctl restart cups

Test 3: Network Discovery Test

From another device on your network, verify the printer is advertised:

macOS/Linux:

dns-sd -B _ipp._tcp

or

avahi-browse -rt _ipp._tcp

You should see your printer listed.

Test 4: iOS/macOS (AirPrint)

1. On iPhone/iPad: Open any app → Share → Print → Select Printer
2. Your printer should appear as Brother_QL1100 or similar
3. On macOS: System Settings → Printers & Scanners → Click +
4. The printer should auto-discover via AirPrint

Test 5: Windows

1. Settings → Devices → Printers & Scanners
2. Click Add a printer or scanner
3. Windows should discover the printer automatically
4. If not: Click The printer that I want isn't listed → Enter http://<raspberry-pi-ip>:631/printers/Brother_QL1100

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Troubleshooting

Issue: Printer Not Discovered on Network

Diagnostic:

sudo systemctl status cups
sudo systemctl status avahi-daemon

Both should show active (running).

Fix:

sudo systemctl restart cups avahi-daemon

Issue: Print Jobs Stuck in Queue

Check logs:

sudo tail -20 /var/log/cups/error_log

Common causes:

• Wrong media size - verify locked defaults with lpoptions -p Brother_QL1100 -l
• Permission issues - re-run chmod +x on driver binaries
• USB connection - verify with lsusb | grep Brother

Issue: Printer Rejects Jobs (Red Blinking Light)

Cause: Usually incorrect media size or DPI mismatch.

Fix:

1. Verify locked defaults: lpoptions -p Brother_QL1100 -l
2. Ensure PageSize shows *103x164
3. Re-run lock command if needed (see Lock Default Settings)

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Additional Resources

• Brother QL-1100 Official Linux Drivers
• CUPS Documentation
• Detailed setup notes: See brother-ql1100-setup.md, setup1.md, and setup2.md in this repository

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Author Notes: This guide consolidates field-tested configurations from multiple Raspberry Pi deployments. All commands have been verified on Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm.