Brother MFC-490CW (solved)

[mr.magoo]

I took a look at the Mint User's Manual yesterday afternoon and I need to print it out. Went into Control Panel, clicked Printing, went to Brother models to find a driver. The models don't list mine. All the MFC printers have 4-digit numbers and nothing for 490. Which driver do I download?

After asking question above, I went to http://solutions.brother.com and got as far as "for Linux users." After that, it was gobbledygook to me. Incidentally, though a wireless printer mine is connected via USB. How do I get this blasted printer to spit out some pages?

[mr.magoo]

Figured I'd try to load the disk that came with the printer. Every file in it comes up with a command line error. The disk is designed for a Windows install.

[richyrich]

You must have just missed the Linux link . .

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... index.html

[richyrich]

I don't see your printer model listed anywhere . . you might have to try their support email? or try the cups method to see if it will work ?
It's not even listed at openprinting.org, but you could do a search of their Brother forum . .

sorry, can't be of more help . . richy

[pdc_2]

would this do?

It is a link to .. printer drivers for the Brother MFC-490CW ..........

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... #MFC-490CW

You can see there are rpm versions and .deb versions; most would recommend .deb versions for linux mint;

this page has instructions for installation

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... prn1a.html

and this page has two small supplementary steps that Brother recommends for ubuntu distros

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... e.html#002

let us know how you get along

[richyrich]

Thx , guess that's what I get for just searching Brother Canada . .

[mr.magoo]

The instructions say:

ia32-libs or lib32stdc++ is required to be installed.

Uumm. What? How? Where? I searched for both and evidently I have neither.

[mr.magoo]

Brilliant idea! Why don't I print the user's manual with the Windows driver from the MS OS? First run: got the papers turned around (I did tests first) and flubbed it. Second run: ran out of ink. I have more ink, but I got no sleep last night (I have horrible insomnia) and I'm tired and I'm just gonna call it a day, short as it is. Starting one's frustration at 4AM makes for a short day.

[mr.magoo]

All right folks. Maybe you can walk me through this. I've had zero experience with command lines so using the Terminal is going to be a rather steep learning curve for me. All the various acronyms for this or that are just strings of letters. I know several file extensions and I know the names of many of the languages, but just HTML sometimes gives me fits. So, for instance, what's the difference between an LNR driver and a cupsdriver? If I'm reading correctly, both are needed for the printer to function. Incidentally, I'm only really interested in the print, scan and copy functions. Fax is too expensive and wireless I might get into later. SUDO and SUSE are new to me as well.

This is my computer:

-Computer-
Processor : 2x Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P7350 @ 2.00GHz
Memory : 3092MB (1189MB used)
Operating System : Linux Mint 8 Helena - Main Edition
User Name : steve (Steve)
Date/Time : Sat 10 Apr 2010 05:35:33 PM PDT
-Display-
Resolution : 1440x900 pixels
OpenGL Renderer : GeForce 9700M GTS/PCI/SSE2
X11 Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
-Multimedia-
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
-Input Devices-
Power Button
Lid Switch
Power Button
Macintosh mouse button emulation
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
Video Bus
Logitech USB Receiver
Logitech USB Receiver
Chicony USB 2.0 Camera
PS/2 Mouse
AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint
HDA Digital PCBeep
-Printers (CUPS)-
Brother-MFC-490CW : <i>Default</i>
Print_to_PDF
-SCSI Disks-
ATA TOSHIBA MK2049GS
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50F
WD 2500BEV External
Brother MFC-490CW

This is the OS:

-Version-
Kernel : Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (i686)
Compiled : #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:04:26 UTC 2009
C Library : GNU C Library version 2.10.1 (stable)
Default C Compiler : GNU C Compiler version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu9)
Distribution : Linux Mint 8 Helena - Main Edition
-Current Session-
Computer Name : steve-laptop
User Name : steve (Steve)
Home Directory : /home/steve
Desktop Environment : GNOME 2.28.1
-Misc-
Uptime : 6 hours, 28 minutes
Load Average : 0.72, 0.21, 0.21

Once again, if I've jump off a cliff with this info, I'd be obliged if a moderator would edit out the potentially harmful info.

So, just what do I download to what location? What are the specific things I need to do before installing the driver? What are the exact commands I need to enter into the Terminal? Are there other features of the desktop I need to address before I get my printer?

I want to get working again, but there's so much to learn and re-learn!

[pdc_2]

If I try to help:
you may well have a directory called Downloads when you click on the icon on your desktop that says steve's home .......... or whatever you called your system

..... if you don't: click on the icon for steve's home (or whatever) .. to open; then right-click and create folder called Downloads

I am hoping from what I read that you have installed the 32bit system .....

so Brother say to log in as sudo: we will do that in a minute

first: create a symbolic link so copy and paste the command below into a terminal and hit enter

ln -s /etc/init.d/cups /etc/init.d/lpd

next: Step 3. Download drivers Download LPR driver and cupswrapper driver.

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... #MFC-490CW

go here: you can see the lpr driver is bigger at 1899Kb and click on the .deb version; Download it first

If you are using Firefox, it will ask you want to save or open: if you save it to your Downloads directory; now download the smaller cupswrapper file to the same place

Step 4. Install LPR driver and cupswrapper driver
4-1. Turn on the printer and connect the USB cable.
4-2. Open the terminal and go to the directory where the drivers are.

so open a terminal and type

ls

you should have a directory called Downloads

next type in

cd Downloads

now type in

ls

and you should see the mfc490.........i386.deb that is the lpr driver and mfc490cwcupswrapper.......i386.deb and the cupswrapper in its title is the giveaway that it is the cupswrapper file

4-3. Install LPR driver

so you are "inside" the Downloads directory:

now copy and paste the line below into your terminal

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwl

as soon as you get to that final l ........... after the cw ....... now press the tab key and the computer will enter the rest of the file; it should be selecting the lpr driver

you will be asked to enter your sudo password

if it gives the full title, now hit the ENTER key and it should run and install

4-4. Install cupswrapper driver

now copy and paste the line below into your terminal

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwc

as soon as you get to that final c ........... after the cw ....... now press the tab key and the computer will enter the rest of the file; it should be selecting the cupswrapper driver

if it gives the full title, now hit the ENTER key and it should run and install

4-5. Check if the LPR driver and cupswrapper driver are installed

in the terminal copy and paste this

dpkg -l | grep Brother

you should get some answers that say Brother ........ is so, so good so far ..........

now to open firefox and complete ..........

copy and paste this into the browser line at the top ..... it's open CUPS that runs printers on your computer only .....

http://localhost:631/printers

Check if the Device URI of your printer is "usb://Brother/(your printer's model name)" they give an example

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bs ... l#cwi_img1

.............. this should help you see what CUPS looks like .................

Step 6. Try a test print
6-1. Open a text editor, write something and select "print" from the menu.

Phew! see how you go on that

[mr.magoo]

Thank you so much. Just checkin' in today. Doubt I'll get much done, but I'll check back in when I've done the steps.

[mr.magoo]

I got to 4-3 and ended up with this in the terminal:

steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ ls
CreatureFeaturefinal.pdf mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb usersmanual.pdf
steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ cd Downloads
bash: cd: Downloads: No such file or directory
steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ ls
CreatureFeaturefinal.pdf mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb usersmanual.pdf
steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwl
[sudo] password for steve:
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for steve:
dpkg: error processing mfc490cwl (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
mfc490cwl

You see some extraneous stuff there because that's my Downloads folder in Home. In 4-2, I opened the Downloads folder and tried to select the two drivers, but all were placed in the terminal. In the terminal window, exactly how do I "go to the directory where the drivers are?"

And yes, based on empirical evidence I have a 32bit system.

cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:

Evidently, I need to create a file presumably labeled "drivers" somewhere. Now it say "file or directory." Now, as I understand it a file is an individual entity recognized with an icon (close as I can get; .doc, .xls, .png are files). A directory is an index containing files and folders. So, how do I set my machine up to accept these drivers?

And "Errors were encountered..." indicates to me that something else is wrong as well.

[pdc_2]

I am not clear if you are copying and pasting the suggested commands I gave you;

but your results say

Code: Select all

cd: Downloads

I suggested

cd Downloads

........... what I was trying to say was:

1) open a terminal
2) type

ls

. this asks the computer to list all the directories in your home; hopefully you have one called Downloads and it has the needed files in it; if you see Downloads in the list
3) type

cd Dow

stop there; hit the tab key and it should add in the final letters of that Downloads directory ........... ok? ................ now hit the ENTER key ............ ok?
4) if so, the terminal should say something like

steve's home/Downloads

............. if it does, you are "inside" the Downloads directory;
5) if so, type

ls

that asks to list the files in there;

how are we doing so far?

Please go over my first post and read it carefully; ..... several times ........... (because you haven't got a printer to print it out in big font!!!!!)

at one point I said

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwl

and IMMEDIATELY AFTER I said

as soon as you get to that final l ........... after the cw ....... now press the tab key and the computer will enter the rest of the file; it should be selecting the lpr driver

.......... seems to me you didn't do that ........... so the script wouldn't run .............

[mr.magoo]

Yup May have missed the tab.

Here goes again!

[mr.magoo]

Bout' the same.

steve@steve-laptop ~ $ ln -s /etc/init.d/cups /etc/init.d/lpd
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/init.d/lpd': Permission denied
steve@steve-laptop ~ $ ls cd Downloads ls
ls: cannot access cd: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access ls: No such file or directory
Downloads:
CreatureFeaturefinal.pdf mrmagoo.jpeg
mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb usersmanual.pdf
mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
steve@steve-laptop ~ $ sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwl
[sudo] password for steve:
dpkg: error processing mfc490cwl (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
mfc490cwl
steve@steve-laptop ~ $

[pdc_2]

symbolic link needs a sudo

so open terminal

sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/cups /etc/init.d/lpd

type in your sudo password when asked for: press the ENTER key (the big one to the right with the ARROW on it!!)

next

type

ls

and hit the ENTER key !!!!!!!!!!!

you should see the directories in your home; if you see Downloads

cd Downloads

and hit the wretched ENTER key !!! that's how you make things happen on computers ..............

now

type

ls

and hit the ENTER key !!!!!!!!!! (You should be inside your Downloads directory)

how is it all going?

If you have succeeded there,

we can try to move on ........... but ..........................

mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb usersmanual.pdf
mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
steve@steve-laptop ~ $ sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwl

you still haven't grasped what I was saying about these files:

so I can now give you the full, long, unedited version

to install you need to copy and paste these two commands into a terminal

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb

and then

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb

As you have quoted to me what are the files in your Downloads directory, I have now given you what should be the full commands; so you don't need the tab

If you get this far, you are at 4-5 on the first post

[mr.magoo]

I do know what and where the "Enter" key is, pdc! I have some trouble with the "Shift" and "Caps Lock" keys, however. OK. Almost there, I think, but something's still hinky. Results:

steve@steve-laptop ~ $ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/cups /etc/init.d/lpd
[sudo] password for steve:
steve@steve-laptop ~ $ ls
Desktop home_20100412212253.backup Pictures Videos
Documents Introduction_to_Linux_Mint.pdf Public
Downloads Music Templates
steve@steve-laptop ~ $ cd Downloads
steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ ls
CreatureFeaturefinal.pdf mrmagoo.jpeg
mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb usersmanual.pdf
mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package mfc490cwlpr.
(Reading database ... 105682 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mfc490cwlpr (from mfc490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb) ...
Setting up mfc490cwlpr (1.1.2-2) ...
mkdir: cannot create directory `/var/spool/lpd/mfc490cw': No such file or directory
chown: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/mfc490cw': No such file or directory
chgrp: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/mfc490cw': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/mfc490cw': No such file or directory
* Restarting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd [ OK ]

steve@steve-laptop ~/Downloads $ sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package mfc490cwcupswrapper.
(Reading database ... 105703 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mfc490cwcupswrapper (from mfc490cwcupswrapper-1.1.2-2.i386.deb) ...
Setting up mfc490cwcupswrapper (1.1.2-2) ...
* Stopping Common Unix Printing System: cupsd [ OK ]
* Restarting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd [ OK ]

[mr.magoo]

I don't know how, but this one's solved!

[pdc_2]

well done! I'm delighted for you that your printer is working; enjoy!

[erriberri]

I had the same problem but now solved.
Thanks a lot