Brother Printer Problem

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

I am re-posting this because I thought it was solved, but it was not.

I have installed my Brother MFC-J480DW printer/scanner in Mint Cinnamon 20.3 using the Brother supplied driver setup through the terminal. It appears in my printer folder, is selected as Default. It is attached via USB.

The test page prints; I can print from Libre Office; I can print a pdf saved in Files. I CANNOT print an email, or a document from Docs, or selected text and then right-click. For those items, the printer simply does not show up as a choice, or if it appears and I choose it, it sits there "looking for printer information".

Either I have done something wrong, or there is a bug in 20.3 re: USB printer handling.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the scanner part of the printer is working just fine.

Anyone???
Thanks

[brian_p]

I am re-posting this because I thought it was solved, but it was not.

Let's see if we can get you on the road to Nirvana.

• Disconnect from USB.

• Install ipp-usb.

  Code: Select all

  apt install ipp-usb

• Reconnect to USB.

• Give

  Code: Select all

  avahi-browse -rt _ipp._tcp

  Code: Select all

  avahi-browse -rt _uscan._tcp

  Code: Select all

  driverless

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Thanks for the help Brian, but it's still not working.

I entered all the commands you suggested in the terminal...they processed without problem. But I still cannot print an email by clicking on the printer icon in the email. The first screen that opens offers Print to PDF and if I choose to find another location, the system just sits and keeps looking for a destination. If I then use the CTRL-Shift-P option to use the system print option, the printer name displays, but if I click on it to select, it just sits with the caption Looking for Printer Information.

Oh well..... maybe I'll update to 21 and find better printer handling.

[brian_p]

Thanks for the help Brian, but it's still not working.

I entered all the commands you suggested in the terminal...they processed without problem. But I still cannot print an email by clicking on the printer icon in the email. The first screen that opens offers Print to PDF and if I choose to find another location, the system just sits and keeps looking for a destination. If I then use the CTRL-Shift-P option to use the system print option, the printer name displays, but if I click on it to select, it just sits with the caption Looking for Printer Information.

Mintybobbobbysmint, the idea was for you to provide outputs for the three commands I gave. Please post them. Knowing those, we can try to get some basic printing going and then move on.

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Sorry I misunderstood. Will try again after I figure out how to record the outputs so I can post them here. It's not something I've done before.
Bob

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Brian: here is the result of the commands you suggest:

bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$ apt install ipp-usb
[sudo] password for bob:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ipp-usb is already the newest version (0.9.19-1+50.1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 19 not upgraded.
bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$ avahi-browse -rt _ipp._tcp
+ enp2s0 IPv6 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
+ enp2s0 IPv4 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
+ lo IPv4 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
= enp2s0 IPv6 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
hostname = [bob-Ouvislite.local]
address = [fe80::c481:86adec5c]
port = [631]
txt = ["printer-type=0x80101E" "printer-state=3" "Duplex=T" "Color=T" "TLS=1.2" "UUID=276c81d7-20f1-3465-48dd-ebd6f21708c8" "URF=DM3" "pdl=application/octet-stream,application/pdf,application/postscript,image/jpeg,image/png,image/pwg-raster,image/urf" "product=(MFC-J480DW)" "priority=0" "adminurl=https://bob-Ouvislite.local.:631/printers/MFCJ480DW" "ty=Brother MFC-J480DW CUPS" "rp=printers/MFCJ480DW" "qtotal=1" "txtvers=1"]
= enp2s0 IPv4 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
hostname = [bob-Ouvislite.local]
address = [192.168.7.195]
port = [631]
txt = ["printer-type=0x80101E" "printer-state=3" "Duplex=T" "Color=T" "TLS=1.2" "UUID=276c81d7-20f1-3465-48dd-ebd6f21708c8" "URF=DM3" "pdl=application/octet-stream,application/pdf,application/postscript,image/jpeg,image/png,image/pwg-raster,image/urf" "product=(MFC-J480DW)" "priority=0" "adminurl=https://bob-Ouvislite.local.:631/printers/MFCJ480DW" "ty=Brother MFC-J480DW CUPS" "rp=printers/MFCJ480DW" "qtotal=1" "txtvers=1"]
= lo IPv4 MFCJ480DW @ bob-Ouvislite Internet Printer local
hostname = [bob-Ouvislite.local]
address = [127.0.0.1]
port = [631]
txt = ["printer-type=0x80101E" "printer-state=3" "Duplex=T" "Color=T" "TLS=1.2" "UUID=276c81d7-20f1-3465-48dd-ebd6f21708c8" "URF=DM3" "pdl=application/octet-stream,application/pdf,application/postscript,image/jpeg,image/png,image/pwg-raster,image/urf" "product=(MFC-J480DW)" "priority=0" "adminurl=https://bob-Ouvislite.local.:631/printers/MFCJ480DW" "ty=Brother MFC-J480DW CUPS" "rp=printers/MFCJ480DW" "qtotal=1" "txtvers=1"]
bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$ avahi-browse -rt _uscan._tcp
bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$ driverless
bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$

[brian_p]

Thank you for the info, Bob. Unfortunately, it does not provided what I was looking for. A definite imdication of any way forward would be given from seeing what you get with

Code: Select all

lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Brian... I'm feeling a bit stupid. I can't seem to copy and paste the command line you suggest, and I can't find that vertical separator line you have in that command so I can type it manually.

Suggestion, please.
Bob

[pdc_2]

you select the text .... ie

Code: Select all

lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7

then to paste into the terminal, several options;

1) the control and the shift and the v key all held down ......... pastes (unlike just control and v in most programme)

2) top of the terminal are some lines of text: file? edit? view? ........... scroll down in EDIT and find PASTE .......

3) right-click on the flashing light in the terminal; select PASTE

..... hopefully at least one of these may work for you

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Think I figured it out, thanks to good old Google. Here's what I got--

bob@bob-Ouvislite:~$ lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
bInterfaceClass 7 Printer
bInterfaceSubClass 1 Printer
bInterfaceProtocol 2 Bidirectional
iInterface 0
can't get debug descriptor: Resource temporarily unavailable
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing

[brian_p]

Your printer is not capable of IPP-over-USB, so you are faced with sorting out the Brother drivers.

[Mintybobbobbysmint]

Thank you for all your effort, Brian.

The printer worked fine with Ubuntu...it only started doing tricks when I moved to Mint.

I don't really print that much, so I will try to get by with the workaround of downloading as pdf and then printing the pdf. Or I can switch back to LibreOffice which prints with no problem and then move the files to Drive for storage and tablet/phone access.

Anyway...thanks again.
Bob

[stringfellow]

I have a very similar Brother MFC printer. Here are the steps I documented for myself to get the printer to work the way it should.

Of course, substitute MFC-J480DW where you see MFC-l2710DW. And get the two drivers from Brother's site.

It isn't as easy as just installing the drivers. I had to do a few extra steps outlined below. I'm using 20.3 and printer connected via USB too. This should work for you.

unplug usb cable
install mfcl2710dwpdrv-4.0.0-1.i386.deb
install brscan4-0.4.10-1.amd64.deb
remove ippusbxd if installed
in Printers app delete automatically added printer if any
in Printers app click Add
select 'Generic CUPS-BRF' then click Forward
select Brother then click Forward
select MFCL2710DW for CUPS then click Forward
rename fields appropriately then click Apply
plug in usb cable
right-click on printer and select Properties
click Change next to Device URI
select Brother MFC-L2710DW (USB) then click Apply then click OK

Reply here if questions.

[JerryF]

Brian... I'm feeling a bit stupid. I can't seem to copy and paste the command line you suggest, and I can't find that vertical separator line you have in that command so I can type it manually.

Suggestion, please.
Bob

Click on the SELECT ALL that is immediately after CODE:

Then right-click on that selected text and select copy. You can then paste that copied text into a Terminal window.

FYI when posting text from Terminal to a post:

Click the </> button from the mini toolbar above the text box where you type your reply.

Code tags [code][/code] will be inserted. Place your cursor between the code tags and paste the results of the command between the tags. Example: [code]copied results[/code].

[brian_p]

in Printers app click Add
select 'Generic CUPS-BRF' then click Forwar

BRF stands for Braille-Ready Format. One of its uses is as a specialized digital text format to create embossed braille. I s there come reason why it is needed to set up a Brother printer?

[stringfellow]

Hey Brian. I can't really say why I did it this way back when I did. Most likely I was using the trial and error method. Maybe only that selection then opened up the list of printers I needed or some such.

Mike

in Printers app click Add
select 'Generic CUPS-BRF' then click Forwar

BRF stands for Braille-Ready Format. One of its uses is as a specialized digital text format to create embossed braille. I s there come reason why it is needed to set up a Brother printer?