HOWTO: Ubuntu All Brother Printer & Scanner Driver Installation for Newbies!

[newguyjan2010]

Hi all;

I found this thread and it partially helped, thanks to those who started / updated. In that spirit I'm adding what I did to resolve my issue.

My problem: getting my Brother MFC-6800 scanner to work.

My uname -a: Linux xxxxx-desktop 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu

My resolution:

1) I plugged the USB cable from the MFC-6800 into my computer

2) lsusb showed (relevant line only)

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04f9:0111 Brother Industries, Ltd MFC 6800

(I believe that if you can't see the device, you need to establish why that is, before proceeding further - may be a cable issue, USB port issue, etc.)

3) the file I then edited was

/lib/udev/rules.d/40-libsane.rules

4) just before the end of the file, I added the following lines:

# Brother MFC-6800
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0111", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

This is because the other device descriptors used that syntax, in my system.

5) Then, in my GUI console (F7), I chose Applications --> Graphics --> XSane Image Scanner

The application scanned for, and found, my device.

At that point, you should be able to scan and save images from the device.

Hope this helps.

Best regards, all.

[yaku85]

Hi, i have a printer/scanner BROTHER DCP 8065DN i was trying to install brscan driver but i see the page says Scanner driver does not support print server connections.
I must use the scanner with a print server (edimax), is this possible? the print fuction now work with no problem, but the scanner with xane doesnt work, it know the device but i get an error when i try to scan.
thanks...

[_dino_]

Hi,
Thanks for providing this great HOWTO Install Brother HL-2170W on Ubuntu Desktop 9.10. I followed your steps and everthing installed successfully, however, I still can not print Test Page. When I hover over the printer icon, it shows message "Printer HL2170W may not be connected" and the test page will not print. This is wireless printer and when I open Printer Properties, it says that Device URI is usb:/dev/usb/lp0.
Any idea what could be wrong and how to fix it.
Much Appreciated,
_dino_

[cmfeeney]

uh... yeah. That looks easy. <sarc/> I know it's not OS X, but for a printer install, it all seems a bit much to me.

[burdebc]

.

[confused57]

I found this thread after using the instructions on the Brother website for installing Linux drivers, which required over an hour to get everything working...somewhat difficult navigating the website to find everything I needed. May not help anyone, but here's basically what I did:

Prerequisites:

sudo aa-complain cupsd
sudo mkdir /usr/share/cups/model
sudo mkdir /var/spool/lpd

Installed sane-utils & psutils from Synaptic...tcsh wasn't needed for my printer.

Downloaded the drivers I needed for my MFC295CN:
LPR driver: mfc295cnlpr-1.1.2-1.i386.deb
Cupswrapper driver: mfc295cncupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
Brscan3 32-bit: brscan3-0.2.9-1.i386.deb
Scan-key-tool 32-bit: brscan--skey-0.2.1-3.i386

Then connected & turned on the printer, cd to Desktop, where I downloaded the drivers.
Issed the following commands to install the drivers:

sudo dpkg -i --force-all (driver name)

I tried installing the cupswrapper driver first, but couldn't because the lpr driver was listed as a dependency...worked when I installed the lpr driver, then cupswrapper.

Then checked if they were installed:

dpkg -l | grep Brother

Opened Firefox: http://localhost:631/printers, which showed the printer listed.

At first, Xsane couldn't find a device, but a quick reboot remedied this.

I'm not sure if this was needed, but I found in another thread that I needed to modify permissions for a normal user in /etc/udev/rules.d/40-basic-permissions.rules(I'm using 8.04, may be different for other versions), changed the line: SUBSYSTEM=="usb"ENV{DEVTYPE}...MODE="0664" to SUBSYSTEM....MODE="0666"

The description of the printer in "Ubuntu Printers:
Description: MFC295CN
Device URI: usb://Brother/MFC-295CN
Make&Model: Brother MFC-295CN CUPS

I must admit, there was some trial-and-error to finally get the printer added & working. I think the scan-tool-key is just a command line method of scanning & isn't needed. I can scan directly from the printer/scanner, but have to turn off Firestarter(don't really want to open the necessary port)...easier to scan using Xsane.

Installed the MFC 295CN on a 2nd pc running 8.04, which required all of about 10 minutes to get everything working.

Update: These instructions work equally well with Ubuntu 10.04 over Linksys router network, I just put in the URI: http://192.168.1.100:631/printers/MFC295CN of the computer the printer is connected to.

[redsoul]

Omg guys, i followed the Confused57 reply and it seems that my printer is installed (it is a brother mfc-295cn) but i have this printer connected by network. And i cannot print anything anyway.it just says that printer may not be connected. Pls help, there is a way to install this ***** brother and have it to work by network???? tnx and i'm newbie so pls be simple!


OK! I SOLVED! i tnx all of u and confused57 in particular way. I followed his instruction and the printer worked. For the problem about the network i solved like this:

i went to properties of the printer and where there was the url of the printer i just put the address of the printer like this --> lpd://192.168.1.54/BINARY_P1 where obviusly that is my printer ip address. I'm sorry for my english but i hope u understand anyway. Tnx to all again..

[tommynz1975]

Much thanks for this.

After a clear sober head I was able to follow the instructions. I am confident now that when sister gets her A3 printer that it will install painlessly


due to brother changing stuff on their web site could you please update the links

Main linux page
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com.../en/index.html[

printer drivers lpr and cups

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com...nload_prn.html

scanner drivers

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com...nload_scn.html

Also on the 15th of the month, I guess usa time. the site will have an outage for server upgrade or some such fluff

[saabaru]

BoardDworld, THANK YOU for your original writeup! I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to get this working. I followed your steps/instructions you posted and I CAN PRINT! thank you again!

*ps- using 9.10. THANKS!!!

[Beowulf.1000]

And we wonder why people avoid linux, sigh. I love linux, but I tell you I can easily return to Windows because of what should be basic simple stuff that steals time and causes headaches. Sigh. Unbelievable. I recall in Ubuntu 6 I easily added a printer, now with 9.10 I can not figure out whatsoever how to add the same damn printer, nothing has changed except ubuntu.