I want to purchase a new multifunction printer and am looking a lot at the brother printers. I like some of the Canon printers such as the MF6590 but don't think it works with Linux.
I am interested in the MFC8860DN specifically but would also consider the MFC8890DW, MFC8670DN, MFC8460DN, MFC8870DW, or MFC8480DN.
These all have features I'm interested in but I have checked both my Mandriva and Ubuntu machines and don't see a driver for either.
Yet I do see drivers such as MFC8420 8440, 8640 8820, and 8840. Would either of these Linux drivers work with the above printers? Unfortunately with mail ordering this printer I don't want to have to pay the return shipping if it doesn't work with Linux

Go to linuxprinting.org instead being dependent on the distribution supporting your printer.

Using multi-function printers in Linux is not easy. First you will have to install the require software. A novice Linux user will have some problems. Then set up the software. IMHO, the best way is buy stand alone devices that will make up a multi-functional device. To do this, you buy a shelf to place the printer and scanner. A fax machine is optional since a computer could do this and it can save you paper when there is incoming faxes. Also a service like efax or similar service could be used.

FYI, there is no such thing as drivers for printers in Linux because CUPS is a library system.

I have an MFC 465-cn, which is not listed in the drivers tag of the drivers in the repositories, yet they seem to work fine.

Brother's site:

http://solutions.brother.com/linux

has most of them individual. Check that.

Brother does have the drivers for the the mfc8860dn...

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/e...tml#MFC-8860DN

Just follow their cupswrapper install procedures.

I have a mfc5540cn and it works pretty much with Fedora 10 and Mandriva 2009.1. I have the scanner working with Fedora but haven't set it up with Mandriva yet. Since they're both rpms, I would assume it works with Mdv.

I am trying to setup the Brother MFC-8890DW network printing for my small office now. I will create a review no matter how it goes.

I got it network printing working from my Debian squeeze computer. The plug and pray approach did not work for this unit. When the GUI printing wizards failed I visited the Brother website.

The website was offered all the needed information and software but only in .deb and .rpm format. I used a LPR driver, cupswrapper, and ppd file downloaded from the Brother web site. I also had to set a static ip address in my dhcp server for the device and in my cups configuration file. I hope the Brother software finds its way into future Linux distros.

I am not sure if this unit will work with a distro not in Debian or Redhat Family.

I will continue this in a review of the product.

I use a lot of network printers and usually it just works.

This time, the New Printer didn't know about the printer, so I had to go to the brother site, Download Drivers For MFC-8890DW.

I downloaded both the LPR and the cupswrapper drivers as rpms and clicked to allow the default application to install them.

Then, I went to the start menu/System Settings/Hardware/Printer Configuration.

This was the only annoying part. It wanted the root password instead of using sudo and hence my password.

Then I clicked on New Printer, it found the network printer, I selected it, and clicked forward, then just followed the steps to the end.

Couldn't have been easier. After then, when printing from an application, it just showns up.

As part of the set up I could have clicked on Make Printer The Default but didn't. I use a lot of printers different places.

I use a Brother MFC printer which works fine using the Brother drivers.

One issue to be aware of was that I found that the printer would not work on Slackware 64 until I installed multilib. So there may be problems with pure 64bit systems.