need help installing print driver (Brother MFC-L2710DW)

[ginahoy]

18 months has passed since I switched to Linux and with 180 posts in the LM forum under my belt, I shouldn't be asking newbie questions. But here I am again. My newest toy (Brother MFC-L2710SW All-in-One) has me pulling my hair out.

The installation guide advises to insert included driver & utility installation disk and follow the onscreen instructions. However, the autorun feature doesn't work, presumably because the executable 'start.exe' is a Windows file? This printer is supposed to be compatible with Linux, so where's the Linux installation disk? (rhetorical question)

Next, I connected the printer to my LAN and navigated to System / Printers / Add on the Whisker menu. To my delight, the model number instantly appeared under Network Printers! Actually, it shows up twice (LPD, IPP). Not sure what that's about, but whichever of those I select, I'm prompted next to choose a driver using one of 3 methods:
(a) Select from database (my model is not in the Brother database, presumably because it's a newer model)
(b) Provide PPD file (I have no idea where to find this, but I searched the installation disk and found nothing with .ppd extension)
(c) Search for a driver to download ("no matches found")

Lastly, using Google search, I found the Linux drivers for my model on the Brother website, with a choice between RPM and DEB. I don't know what RPM is but since I'm running Ubuntu Mint rather than LMDE, I downloaded the RPM driver file to my desktop and entered a command from Terminal as instructed on the RPM driver download page. Here's the response:

Code: Select all

david@linux-desktop ~ $ rpm -ihv --nodeps mfcl2710dwpdrv-4.0.0-1.i386.rpm
rpm: RPM should not be used directly install RPM packages, use Alien instead!
rpm: However assuming you know what you are doing...
error: open of mfcl2710dwpdrv-4.0.0-1.i386.rpm failed: No such file or directory

Ugh. I've spent two hours on this thus far and getting very frustrated as I need to print a document that needs to to in the mail tomorrow. Why does installing a peripheral have to be such a hassle?

[vansloneker]

The other day I successfully installed a Brother printer under Mint so maybe this can be of help:
Go to https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloa ... _as&os=128
Download Driver Install Tool and Linux printer driver (deb package) [deb package is an installer package also used by Mint]
They are compressed files, when you download instructions show up how to unpack it, however, the easy way is to find in the File Manager, right click on the file, and select 'extract here'.
After that first install Driver Install Tool. Next install Linux printer driver. Now go to printers and add printer and find your printer on the LAN, supposed the network settings are correct.

[ginahoy]

...After that first install Driver Install Tool. Next install Linux printer driver.

Thanks! I'm still a bit confused about one thing. After I gunzip and run the driver tool (using BASH command line as given on download page), does that automatically find and install the drivers from the deb package? Or do I still need to use the dpkg command with driver package, as shown on the driver download page?

[Pjotr]

This how-to might be helpful:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... nters.html

[vansloneker]

Just click the .deb file and the installer should open.

[brian_p]

Ugh. I've spent two hours on this thus far and getting very frustrated as I need to print a document that needs to to in the mail tomorrow. Why does installing a peripheral have to be such a hassle?

It can be in the mail tonight! A 30 second setup:

https://wiki.debian.org/QuickPrintQueuesCUPS