Problems with Brother MFC250C under Xubuntu 17.10

[raphaell2]

I'm trying to get a Brother MCF250C combined printer/scanner to work under Xubuntu 17.10.

I downloaded two deb files from the Brother website ( http://support.brother.com/g/b/downl...od=mfc250c_all ), then I followed all the applicable instructions on another brother website ( http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/li...ll&redirect=on ), and then I installed the two deb packages.

Now, the scanner side of the device doesn't work at all under Xubuntu, but that's not my main problem. On the printer side, it's apparently a matter of luck whether something gets printed out correctly, or perhaps it depends on the type of file I'm trying to print. The printer test page prints out perfectly fine. When I tried to print a fairly colorful pdf file, it was printed in monochrome or near monochrome (and I checked the settings; the printer wasn't set to greyscale). When I tried to print a small text file directly from the text editor (mousepad), only the lowest parts of the letters in the last line were printed at the very top of the "printed" page. Then I opened the same text file with LibreOffice Writer, and I could print it just fine.

It's not really a serious problem for me - I dual boot, so I can always just print stuff under Windows. But it would be nice if I could print reliably from Xubuntu as well.

[kurt18947]

I wonder if 17.10 has some sort of issue with SANE or something. I have two networked Brother printers installed and both work as expected for printing but scanningg? Nope, no how. I also have a Samsung SL-M2870 (I think that's the model) and it won't scan either but will print as expected. The fact that the Samsung doesn't work either makes me suspect it's an Ubuntu problem not a Brother or Samsung problem. All the machines scan as expected under 16.04 using the same manufacturer provided drivers.

[raphaell2]

For the record, I've now switched to Xubuntu 16.04, and it's still the same - scanning doesn't work (neither through Simple Scan nor Skanlite nor Xsane), and the colorful pdf file still gets printed less colorful than under Windows.

[pdc]

you don't mention if this is a wireless connection; when one uses the Brother Installer Tool, I think it covers the several hurdles one needs to cross with a Brother scanner

Brother provide an FAQ http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/li...en&redirect=on

1) install libusb ..... even if wireless

2) copy the files that are covered here http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/li...rect=on#f00101

3) if wireless this may not apply http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/li...rect=on#u13.04 but I suspect still worth doing

[gifford]

Are you setting this up as a network printer or is it attached to your computer? Sometimes Brother printers/scanners can be finicky and require using the terminal to set them up.

[raphaell2]

It's not a network printer - it's directly connected to my pc through USB. Sorry for not mentioning those things before. I've now followed all the instructions in the links posted by pdc (except installing libusb - when I tried that, I was told that it is already installed), but it's still not recognized as a scanner and the printing is still less than perfect.

[gifford]

The only suggestion I can offer is to go through the process of installing drivers again using the command line following the instructions on the Brother site. When you download the drivers, the site will offer instructions on how to install using the terminal command line. In my experience of using several Brother MFC devices in Ubuntu, I have always used the terminal to install drivers and configure the OS for installation. Although there are several tools for installing, it seems that often you find in the forum that using them can cause issues. As I indicated before, I have never had a problem installing using the command line for printing or scanner use.

[kurt18947]

You have to use the command line to install Brother's drivers or to use Brother's installer. If I wanted to install Brother's .deb files I'd just keep the page with examples open and open a terminal on top. Copy/Paste while making any required modifications works just fine and prevents typos.

[raphaell2]

Thank you, everyone. I have now deinstalled the special Brother packages, and reinstalled them using the script provided by Brother, and it still won't scan. Sigh.

[pdc]

there seems to be something special about 17.10 whereby quite a few folks have reported scanning issues; if you report this as a bug to Ubuntu; we can only hope that by April; with 18.04 as the LTS; that all is resolved;