Network Printer (Brother) Problem - SOLVED

[Martin109]

I am using Vector Linux 6.00

I am trying to connect to and use a network printer at a place where I will be working, which has a network printer already set up.  It's a Brother MFC-465CN.
I have opened up the CUPS site and entered details of the printer.

Under 'Add New Printer', I have entered:

Name: Brother
Location: [location]
Description: Brother MFC-465CN

Next, the screen is 'Device for Brother'.  The options are:

AppSocket/HP JetDirect
Backend Error Handler
Brother MFC-465CN 192.168.1.66 (Brother MFC-465CN)
HP Fax (HPLIP)
HP Printer (HPLIP)
Internet Printing Protcol (http)
Internet Printing Protcol (ipp)
LPD/LPR Host or Printer
SCSI Printer
Windows Printer via SAMBA

I first chose the obvious, the Brother MFC-465CN option.  On the next screen was a list of many Brother printers, but not the MFC-465CN.  I chose the closest:

Brother MFC-6550MC – CUPS + Gutenprint v5.2.4.(en)

but neither sending a Print test Page command, nor asking OpenOffice Writer to print a file produces any output.

However, if I issue the command:

ping 192.168.1.66

I get:

PING 192.168.1.66 (192.168.1.66) 56(84) bytes of data.

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=30.1 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.487 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=0.478 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=0.484 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=0.493 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.66: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=0.488 ms



--- 192.168.1.66 ping statistics ---

6 packets transmitted, 6 received, 0% packet loss, time 4999ms

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.478/5.430/30.153/11.056 ms

which is encouraging,

but which Device option do I choose and how do I configure it?

[frankly frankie]

Try web browsing that IP address - see if you get a control panel?  Or a helpful error message?

[Martin109]

Try web browsing that IP address - see if you get a control panel?  Or a helpful error message?

I'm not at the workplace at the moment; trying to connect from another internet connection isn't working.

[Feanor]

I think the options you have there are about what protocol the printer can talk over the network.

Try selecting the HP JetDirect option: that will make it talk generic 'port 9100' protocol, which most network printers support.

[Martin109]

I think the options you have there are about what protocol the printer can talk over the network.

Try selecting the HP JetDirect option: that will make it talk generic 'port 9100' protocol, which most network printers support.

Thanks, Feanor.  I'll try that when I'm next at that workplace.

[Martin109]

I think the options you have there are about what protocol the printer can talk over the network.

Try selecting the HP JetDirect option: that will make it talk generic 'port 9100' protocol, which most network printers support.

Thanks, Feanor.  I'll try that when I'm next at that workplace.

Haven't got to that workplace again  yet, but I have had a look at the option you mention above, and choosing JP JetDirect leads to a page asking for more options:

Examples:

    http://hostname:631/ipp/
    http://hostname:631/ipp/port1

    ipp://hostname/ipp/
    ipp://hostname/ipp/port1

    lpd://hostname/queue

    socket://hostname
    socket://hostname:9100


Any idea what I should try here?   What should 'hostname' be replaced with?

[pcolbeck]

hostname is the name of teh printer (if it exists in DNS or your local hosts file) or you can replace hostname with the IP address of the printer.

[Feanor]

The printer will almost certainly accept the socket port 9100 connection.
That's the most basic network printing protocol.

It will likely also accept lpd connections, but let's not try that atm.
No idea if it can accept ipp connections.

For 'hostname', you need to either provide a name of the printer which can be resolved to it's IP address ( either in the hosts file or on the DNS server ), or you can just specify it's IP address and bypass name resolution.

So something like:

socket://192.168.1.66:9100

[Martin109]

OK, thanks Feanor and pcolbeck - I'll try this out when I next get to link up to their network.

[Martin109]

Nope.  I've tried socket://192.168.1.66:9100, but it still asks me for a printer driver file (ppd) on the next page.

[tiermat]

It will do, that just point cups at the port, you then need to tell it how to send the info to the printer.

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/download_prn.html#MFC-465CN

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/download_scn.html#brscan2

Helps.

ETA, gave the scanner URL originally, fixed to printer driver URL.

[Martin109]

Nope.  I've tried socket://192.168.1.66:9100, but it still asks me for a printer driver file (ppd) on the next page.

Great, thanks, tiermat - that lists LPR driver and cupswrapper driver.  I presume both need to be installed.  I'll let you know how I get on.

[Martin109]

This is where I'm now stuck, as I'm back to Vector-specific issues.

What I'm trying to do is dowload the necessary driver(s) to tell CUPS how to get the Brother MFC-465CN printer to work.

The options on the Brother download page are for an RPM format or a DEB format, and I don't know how to install either of these.  They don't seem to fit with Vector.

The instructions refer to an rpm command or a dpkg command, neither of which seems to be on VL.

What do I do next to get this printer to work?

[Martin109]

Well, I don't quite know how I did that, and now can't find the link I used, but I found a shell script which downloaded these drivers and installed them! 

It downloaded a .gz package, which I unzipped.

I executed the shell script and it said CUPS wasn't installed, which it was.

I examined the script and saw that it was looking for CUPS at /etc/inid.d/cups and that doesn't seems to exist on VL!

So I just changed the script to point to the location for CUPS which I had found using the locate command, namely /etc/cups

The script seemed happy with that, and proceeded to install the drivers.

I'm not connected to that network at the moment, but the CUPS page shows:

MFC465CN
   Description: MFC465CN
Location:
Printer Driver: Brother MFC-465CN CUPS v1.1
Printer State: idle, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: socket://192.168.1.66

I'll have to check that this really works when I connect to that network, but I'm pleased (and rather surprised) at the progress so far!

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself at the moment, but that may crash when I connect to the relevant network and find the printer still doesn't work!   We'll see.

[Martin109]

The command 'locate mfc465' produces:

Code: [Select]

/usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrappermfc465cn
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/cupswrapper
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/cupswrapper/cupswrappermfc465cn
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/cupswrapper/brcupsconfpt1
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/lpd
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/lpd/brmfc465cnfilter
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/lpd/psconvertij2
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/lpd/filtermfc465cn
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brio06ac.bcm
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brio06ab.bcm
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brio06af.bcm
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/paperinfij2
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brio06aa.bcm
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brPrintListij2
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brmfc465cnrc
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brio06ag.bcm
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/brmfc465cnfunc
/usr/local/Brother/Printer/mfc465cn/inf/setupPrintcapij
/usr/bin/brprintconf_mfc465cn
/usr/share/cups/model/brmfc465cn.ppd
/home/martin/mfc465cncupswrapper-1.0.1-1.i386.rpm
/home/martin/mfc465cnlpr-1.0.1-1.i386.rpm
/home/martin/Downloads/mfc465cncupswrapper-1.0.1-1.i386.rpm
/home/martin/Downloads/mfc465cnlpr-1.0.1-1.i386.rpm

which is also encouraging!

[Martin109]

Well, I don't quite know how I did that, and now can't find the link I used, but I found a shell script which downloaded these drivers and installed them! 

It downloaded a .gz package, which I unzipped.

I executed the shell script and it said CUPS wasn't installed, which it was.

I examined the script and saw that it was looking for CUPS at /etc/inid.d/cups and that doesn't seems to exist on VL!

So I just changed the script to point to the location for CUPS which I had found using the locate command, namely /etc/cups

The script seemed happy with that, and proceeded to install the drivers.

I'm not connected to that network at the moment, but the CUPS page shows:

MFC465CN
   Description: MFC465CN
Location:
Printer Driver: Brother MFC-465CN CUPS v1.1
Printer State: idle, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: socket://192.168.1.66

I'll have to check that this really works when I connect to that network, but I'm pleased (and rather surprised) at the progress so far!

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself at the moment, but that may crash when I connect to the relevant network and find the printer still doesn't work!   We'll see.

Success!  Tried this out today, and it printed flawlessly first time!  Thanks for the help!