Brother AIO laser printer doesn't want to work

[przxqgl]

You might try just adding your user to the "scanner" group and logging out and back in.

interesting...

how would i do that?

[oshunluvr]

Well, since the user manager part of settings is totally useless...

open Konsole and enter;

sudo usermod -a -G scanner <your_user_name>

then log out and back in.

[Iangh]

I just purchased L2750DW. Set a static ip for the printer before commencing. You can see the MAC address in the printer console. Followed instructions on Brother downloads page, then 9-11 here, https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspo...-printers.html. See (8) for important info about Device URI. Using gscan2pdf for scanner gui.

[claydoh]

You still probably have to add the udev rule, which the 'scanner setting file' *should* do just fine, but this probably is bettter:

1. Open "/lib/udev/rules.d/60-libsane1.rules" file.
2. Add the following two lines to the end of the device list. (Before the line "# The following rule will disable ..."):
If there is "LABEL="libsane_rules_end"", add the following 2 lines before "LABEL="libsane_rules_end"".

The lines to be added---------------------------

# Brother scanners
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

and reboot.

This is updated from numerous other sources, including Brother, to reflect the correct file name.

[kenj70]

your link definitely gave me more information, but none of it seemed to work.

"scanimage -L" tells me:

device `brother4:bus5;dev1' is a Brother HL-L2395DW USB scanner

"sudo apt install sane sane-utils libsane-extras" tells me

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
sane-utils is already the newest version (1.0.27-1~experimental3ubuntu2).
libsane-extras is already the newest version (1.0.22.5).
sane is already the newest version (1.0.14-12build1).
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.

which should be helpful, but isn't...

��

Did you try ALL the steps in my procedure? The default firewall blocks ALL incoming data and the scanner needs two-way communication to work.

@langh Thanks for pointing out the "gscan2pdf" utility. I didn't know about that.

2nd edit: On my KDE Neon system Easyscan, xsane and gscan2pdf work fine but Skanlite can't seem to find the scanner. This stuff is picky!

-=Ken=-

[jlittle]

... i just got a Brother HL-L2395DW All-In-One laser printer/scanner/copier... it's a brand new printer...i can use the scanner over WIFI...

I would suggest then that using a USB connection from Kubuntu may not be a good approach, because most people these days will use their LAN for its flexibility, and there won't be many users on Kubuntu, or Linux generally, matching your problems. I'm an example of that; I didn't respond to your post at first because I don't use a USB connection.

I have a Brother MFC that I connect using an ethernet cable but I think once connected to the WiFi from Kubuntu's POV it would appear on the LAN the same. When I first got it I was not good at keeping installation notes, and when a year later, on Bionic, I had to reinstall Kubuntu, I had trouble getting the scanner to work. Finding the right downloads was tricky, the Brother support sites across the world were screwy and contradicted each other. I learned my lesson and took notes that time, and here they are:

I made the Brother scanner work with sane. It didn't go smoothly; the install script linux-brprinter-installer-2.1.1-1 ran without errors but didn't work. Eventually by comparing bionic with artful I realized that it didn't install the scanner driver, and I had to download it and do that manually.

! sudo ./linux-brprinter-installer-2.1.1-1
! sudo apt install xsane
! sudo dpkg -i brscan4-0.4.4-4.amd64.deb
... fails, error about libusb-0.1 ...
! sudo apt install libusb-0.1
! sudo dpkg -i brscan4-0.4.4-4.amd64.deb
! brsaneconfig4 -a name=paul model=MFC-J5330DW ip=192.168.1.201

Note that I use a router function to fix the IPv4 address using the Brother's MAC address. Note also that out of the box there was no password on the administrator log in; a good idea to set one, as the printer "phones home" to check for firmware updates.

[Iangh]

Can I just say that using the method outlined in my post I had two Kubuntu laptops installed within 10mins. The difficult bit is getting the scanning working: that is, finding an app that works very well with the scanner and is intuitive to use. Another 10mins.

[przxqgl]

Did you try ALL the steps in my procedure?

no, i didn't. this was because:

1. Firewall

i am not using the network... before i read the posts from jlittle and Iangh.

of course, this caused me to re-evaluate using the network, but before i procede with that course of action, i'm going to have to round up a spare cat5 cable and find the appropriate place to plug it in.

2. Terminal:

and

3. Terminal:

were done exactly as you said.

4.

was not necessary, because i already had that software installed

5. Add sane-git repository in order to receive updates:

i was not able to do because i kept getting error messages that said:

Cannot add PPA: 'ppa:~reolfbensch/ubuntu/sane-git'.
ERROR: '~reolfbensch' user or team does not exist.

6. Install a scanner "frontend"

again, was not necessary, since i already had a couple of frontends installed.

I just purchased L2750DW. Set a static ip for the printer before commencing. You can see the MAC address in the printer console. Followed instructions on Brother downloads page, then 9-11 here, https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspo...-printers.html. See (8) for important info about Device URI. Using gscan2pdf for scanner gui.

i really wish it was that easy for me, but it's not. it used to be, before i had my brain injury, but now complex things confuse me unless i understand what's going on, and that set of instructions doesn't do the job of explaining it to me. how do i "set a static ip for the printer before commencing"? where can i see the MAC address in the printer console? it's not just there, and there are a lot of options... i also followed what instructions i could on the brother downloads page, which is why i originally posted here. what does "then 9-11 here" mean? steps 9 through 11 at the link you provided? step 9 is "Reboot your computer."... do you really want me to start there?

then there's "See (8) for important info about Device URI."... if that is the case, then why wasn't the instruction to use steps 8 through 11... and, for that matter, how do i know what script is running unless i also include step 7... and where do i get gscan2pdf?

at this point, i've got it to do 85% of what i wanted it to do, some of which involves using "work-arounds" that involve using my ipad and my cloud server... which isn't exactly ideal, which means that i've got more configuring to do.

[przxqgl]

Well, since the user manager part of settings is totally useless...

open Konsole and enter;

sudo usermod -a -G scanner <your_user_name>

then log out and back in.

aha, i've never used that command before...

i did it, and xSANE worked exactly as i expected it to, except for the end part, when i told it to "Quit", at which point it gave me two, count them, TWO messages that said "Error - Failed to create file: Permission denied" with a "Close" button on each one. apparently there's something that doesn't like my being there, but it saved the test scan that i made in a number of different file formats, so it's not that...

[jlittle]

...xsane worked exactly as i expected it to, except for ... messages that said "Error - Failed to create file: Permission denied"...

If you start xsane in a konsole, "xsane", you may get a lot of messages (at least I do, ~500), and the last few might shed light on the permissions problem.

[claydoh]

......

You still probably have to add the udev rule, which the 'scanner setting file' *should* do just fine, but this probably is better:

1. Open "/lib/udev/rules.d/60-libsane1.rules" file.
2. Add the following two lines to the end of the device list. (Before the line "# The following rule will disable ..."):
If there is "LABEL="libsane_rules_end"", add the following 2 lines before "LABEL="libsane_rules_end"".

The lines to be added---------------------------

# Brother scanners
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"


and reboot.

This is updated from numerous other sources, including Brother, to reflect the correct file name.

[Iangh]

Phase 1 - install printer, scanner comes later
1. Connect printer using ethernet cable.
1. Choose Linux deb, https://support.brother.com/g/b//dow...ll2395dw_us_as
2. Choose Driver install tool
3. Agree and download
4. You get these instructions (I have modded the instructions for your printer, see bold):
Step1. Download the tool.(linux-brprinter-installer-*.*.*-*.gz)
The tool will be downloaded into the default "Download" directory.
(The directory location varies depending on your Linux distribution.)
e.g. /home/(LoginName)/Download
Step2. Open a terminal window and type cd Downloads, press return


Step4. Enter this command to extract the downloaded file:
Command: gunzip linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.1-1.gz


Step5.

Get superuser authorization with the "su" command or "sudo su" command.
Step6. Run the tool:
Command: bash linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.1-1 HL-L2395DW


Step7. The driver installation will start. Follow the installation screen directions.

When you see the message "Will you specify the DeviceURI ?",
For USB Users: Choose N(No)
For Network Users: Choose Y(Yes) and DeviceURI number.For a network printer, you select in the next question the last option:
(A): Auto. For that, you type the number of that option and you press Enter.The install process may take some time. Please wait until it is complete.

Reboot your computer.

You should now have the printer installed. Print a test page to make sure.


Phase 2 Set a static address for your printer. At some stage (can't remember exactly when) it wants to know the ip address of your printer, so to stop any issues with the router changing the dynamic address I set a static ip address. To do this you need to log into your router and enter an ip address and MAC address. What's the current ip address and MAC address? You can find it in the settings section of the control panel. OR, download https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...urvey&hl=en_AU and click on 'Discovery' at the bottom of the page. Look for Brother. You'll have to do a search for how to set a static IP on your router.

Phase 3 Get the scanner working. Says Linux but works for Kubuntu.
10. Now you may have to solve a problem with the scanner. In 64-bit Linux Mint 19.1 the location for the supporting library files has changed, and the driver for the scanner feature doesn't always take that into account. The Brother driver then puts them in /usr/lib64, whereas your operating system expects them in /usr/lib.

So for a 64-bit system, you now need to execute the following three commands in order to make your scanner work well (use copy/paste to transfer them one by one to the terminal, and press Enter after each command):

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib64/libbrscandec*.so* /usr/lib

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/sane

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib64/sane/libsane-brother*.so* /usr/lib/sane

11. Then add yourself to the scanner user group. You can use a click-click-click graphical system tool for that, but this varies amongst editions. The terminal works in all editions...

An example is easiest. If your name is Johnny, your username is johnny (no caps), so the terminal command would be:

sudo usermod -a -G scanner johnny

Check your username by looking at Account Details/User manager.

Press Enter.

Reboot PC

phase 4 install gscan2pdf
Search for gscan2pdf in Discover software centre and install

phase 5 run gscan2pdf. When you run it gscan2pdf searches for the scanners on the network and opens up a giu with scanning options.

[oshunluvr]

...xSANE worked exactly as i expected it to, except for the end part, when i told it to "Quit", at which point it gave me two, count them, TWO messages that said "Error - Failed to create file: Permission denied" with a "Close" button on each one. apparently there's something that doesn't like my being there, but it saved the test scan that i made in a number of different file formats, so it's not that...

I would assume this is because you ran it as root several times. Running a GUI program as root will almost always cause problems. Search your home folder for files owed by root and chown them to your user. Don't forget the hidden files also.

[Iangh]

Who actually has a Brother AIO installed and working?

[przxqgl]

Phase 1 - install printer, scanner comes later
1. Connect printer using ethernet cable.

don't have a spare ethernet cable. currently, i have a USB cable connected to the device, which appears to work satisfactorally

Who actually has a Brother AIO installed and working?

i do, now... 😉