Brother printers & Multi-Function Centres in Slackware64-15.0

Brother printers & Multi-Function Centres in Slackware64-15.0

Step by step. [Scroll down for instructions on installing Scanner drivers]

For printing to work, your user must be in the "lp" group. Check that they are, with the "groups" command. This group is included by default if you press the up arrow at the 'additional groups' stage when adding a user with Slackware's adduser script.

Also, before starting, ensure that the printer is turned on and connected.

1. (as root) # chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups
2. (as root) # /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start
3. Log out of root account
4. Log into or return to GUI
5. Open a web browser
6. In the address bar, enter: localhost:631
7. Click "Administration"
8. Enter root user name and password at the prompt
9. Click "Add Printer"

For printers connected to your LAN (either WiFi or cabled) continue to step 10. For a USB connection, go to step 18.

LAN Connection
10. Choose "Internet Printing Protocol (ipp)" and click "Continue"
11. In the "Connection" box, enter "ipp://" followed by the printer's IP address, eg: ipp://192.168.x.x then click "Continue"
12. Enter a name, decription and location for the printer, following the guides as to what is acceptable input in each box, then click "Continue"
13. On the next screen, click "Brother" and then "Continue"
14. On the next screen, click "IPP Everywhere" and then "Add Printer"
15. On the next screen, click "Set Default Options"
16. Wait a few seconds, and the printer's admin page should appear. At the top of the screen you should see the printer name (Idle, Accepting Jobs, Not Shared)
17. If you click the 'Maintenance' drop-down, you can then click on 'Print Test Page' to test it.

USB Connection
18. The printer should appear in the list at: 'Local Printers' select it and click "Continue"
19. Enter a name, decription and location for the printer, following the guides as to what is acceptable input in each box, then click "Continue"
20. On the next screen, click "Brother" and then "Continue"
21. On the next screen, try to find a model that either matches or is pretty close to your model number, highlight it and click on "Add Printer"
22. On the next screen, click "Set printer options" and choose your default preferences, then click "Set Default Options"
23. Wait a few seconds, and the printer's admin page should appear. At the top of the screen you should see the printer name (Idle, Accepting Jobs, Not Shared)
24. If you click the 'Maintenance' drop-down, you can then click on 'Print Test Page' to test it.
25. If the printer doesn't respond at all at step 24, then you have to choose a different model at steps 20 and 21. "Generic" -> "PCL5" should work for most printers, you could try that. Otherwise, you may be able to find a PPD file for your printer on the Brother website, and at step 20 click "Browse" to provide a PPD file.

Note:
- Even though it is called Internet Printing Protocol, it doesn't automatically put your printer on the internet. That is beyond the scope of this blog entry.

The above methods, both LAN and USB were tested using Slackware64-15.0 (without Multi-Lib), with the following printers:

- MFC-8910DW manufactured in 2015
- MFC-L8690CDW manufactured in 2018
- MFC-L2750DW manufactured in 2019
- MFC-L8690CDW manufactured in 2023

The default settings on the printers were not changed, apart from setting static IP addresses when using the LAN connections.

The computers used:

- Home built with MSI MAG-B365M mother board, with a 9th gen i5 CPU and 16Gb RAM
- Intel NUC 8th generation i5 with 32Gb RAM
- Dell XPS 15 - 9560 with a 7th gen i7 and 32Gb RAM


SCANNING

The scanner will require a driver downloaded from Brother.

I haven't tested scanning via USB connection, but I'd assume it'd be easier, since you can skip step 10 and possibly others.

Here's what I did to get SANE to recognise the newer MFC-L8690CDW listed above, via LAN connection:

1. Brother website -> Support & Downloads -> enter model number -> Downloads & Drivers -> Linux (rpm)
2. Scroll down to 'Scanner drivers'
3. Click on 'Scanner driver 64bit (rpm package)'
4. 'Agree to EULA and Download'
5. Open a terminal window
6. $ su -
7. # cd /home/user/Downloads
8. # rpm2tgz ./brscan4-0.4.11-1.x86_64.rpm
9. # installpkg ./brscan4-0.4.11-1.x86_64.tgz
10. Edit /etc/sane.d/net.conf, and enter the printer's IP address at the end of the text (eg: 192.168.x.x)
11. Edit /etc/sane.d/dll.conf, and add the text "brother4" (without quotes) to the end of the list

Note - the number '4' may be different for you. You'll need to use the number which comes after "brscan" in the file name of the driver you downloaded.

12. # exit (to log out of root)

At this point, the driver is installed and ready to use. There is just a small amount of setup remaining.

13. Ensure that your user account is in the "scanner" group: $ groups

If 'scanner' doesn't show up in that output, you'll need to add your user to the scanner group before continuing. Once your user is in the scanner group, continue to step 14.

14. $ brsaneconfig4 -a name=scanner_name model=mfc-l8690cdw ip=192.168.x.x
15. $ scanimage --list-devices

You should see something similar to this:

device `brother4:net1;dev0' is a Brother *myscanner mfc-l8690cdw

At this point your scanner should be recognised by SANE, and should also work in programs such as Skanlite.


HOW TO FIX CONSTANT PAPER JAMS

Is your printer jammin' more often than Stevie Wonder? (Sorry)

This is not strictly a Linux thing, but if your Brother laser printer is often having paper jams, the problem could be insufficient lubrication of the fuser from the factory. Apparently it's a common occurrence, but easy to fix if you know how to wield a screwdriver. A little fiddly perhaps, but not difficult.

The fuser in Brother units is rated to 100,000 pages, but can fail around 20,000. The one in my unit had done 27,000 pages and reached the point where it was jamming on every single print.

I'm not affiliated with this person, but he has two videos showing:

1. How to remove & replace the fuser unit
2. How to dismantle, clean & lubricate the fuser unit

These instructions worked for me on the MFC-8710DW mentioned above. The grease I used was a high temperature synthetic PTFE thickened grease I bought at an electronics shop.

What he doesn't mention in those videos is that the actual fuser sleeve itself is quite delicate. You have to be quite careful to not apply too much pressure while sliding it off the carrier.

The results I got were nothing short of excellent, and well worth the $10 I paid for the grease and the 40~ish minutes it took me.