I recently installed Vbox on my Debian Sid machine and installed Windows XP(guest). Now I would like to know if I can use my Brother MFC-5440cn network AIO printer using a NIC cable and Win XP?

I'm having a hard time getting the network printer setup through debian so wonder if I can use the printer using Vbox with XP inside it.

I already setup the drivers and the printer seems to be working except nothing prints when I try to print a test page or any page.

Also, how can I find the IP address of the printer? It doesn't show up in XP when I type 'ipconfig /all' command.

Thnx.

Please explain how exactly is this connection made. Do you mean your computer is connected to a network switch and the printer is connected to the same switch?

I guess it wasn't so clear.

Printer is hooked up to a Dlink router. Debian is my host, which the router is plugged into for cable internet and XP is the guest. I would like to be able to print from the XP guest.

Is this possible?

Thnx.

Did you assign this printer a static address on your subnet?

No, I was hoping dhcp would assign one.

If I did, how would I go about it?

Thnx.

A static address would be a good thing, best way do do it is through printer setup, read the manual that came with it. Other way would be thru your router setup, to associate an IP address with printer's MAC address.
BTW, this printer is reported to work perfectly under Linux, did you visit openprinting.org?

Thanks. I'll look into setting a static IP. I tried setting it up through Debian but I get nothing to print. Everything seems setup correctly but nothing comes out when time to print.

Are you sure the printer is OK, can it print a test page in it's own?
What version of CUPS are you using?

Yes the printer does work when I boot into Win XP (not the VM). Under Debian Sid, I had it setup but nothing would print from Cups admin page. I see a message as if it's printing but nothing would come out.

I have the latest version for Sid, I can't seem to get version number.

Thnx.

I see you do not want to put much effort in solving your printing problem. Also it seems you still did not visit Openprinting.org. I cannot see how I could be any help, will leave this thread now.

Sorry you're taking it the wrong way. I mention that I have setup the printer using openprinting.org and from Brother's website.

The printer seems to be setup but nothing prints. that is why I was trying to print from virtual box and win xp. And yes I am tired of messing with it under linux.

Thanks anyway for the help you did offer.

The command ipconfig /all only will show the network settings for that computer. It will not show what computer is on the network. There are many utilities to scan the network for computers and devices, but a simple script that loops through several thousand IP address by pinging them is the easiest to make but scanning will take a long time.

In /etc/cups/cupsd.conf change loglevel to debug or debug2 and restart CUPS. Remove all printers and add them again. If there are any errors, CUPS will tell you. If the new printer is ok, send a test page and check the logs. Use wireshark on a hub not a switch to find out if the data is getting to the printer and the printer is broadcasting. The command "lpinfo -v" should provide a list connections and printers.

Yes, it does help to have the printer on the network to have a static IP address. My computer that is sharing a Brother HL-5140 has a static IP address. I went a step further and used the hosts file to specify a name, so I do not have to setup the printer again when I change the IP address.

You were clear, but it seems you want us to do the work for you. We can not because of the location. You will have to do your part getting information such as the logs and provide detail steps.

Thanks for the info. Since the last time I setup the printer, I have reinstall debian and haven't tried setting it up. But I've just went through it again, setting it up using lpd and cupswrapper, following Brother's and Openprinting.org.

Everytime, I get something like this:

MFC5440CN "Network host '192.168.0.03' is busy; will retry in 30

Description: MFC5440CN AIO Inkjet
Location: Den Area
Make and Model: Brother MFC-5440CN CUPS v1.1
Printer State: processing, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: socket://192.168.0.03

The last time I used that IP address so I'm assuming it should be okay to use.

Someone else told me he's using same printer with the socket address line. The websites tell me to use the lpd line, which I have tried and nothing still prints.

One thing I don't understand with the lpd line, what does it mean when it show:

lpd://hostname/queue

The queue part?

***Edit***

Using lpd as recommended by cups admin page, I get this error:

"Network host '192.168.0.03' is busy, down, or unreachable; will retry in 30 seconds..."

Device URI: lpd://192.168.0.03/binary_p1 using this device.

aptitude show cupsys
Package: cupsys
State: installed
Automatically installed: yes
Version: 1.2.11-2

Thnx.

Try using USB instead of LAN to make sure the printer works. When I try using software from Brother, I had to set some symbolic links to make some scripts to run. I use the PPD from linuxprinting.org because it provides better quality than Brother's software.

Double check your IP address for your printer. I think you mistype it.