Brother_MFC_420CN/Cups

Setup MFC 420CN printer drivers

Brother: Linux Driver Homepage

First go to the web site linked above and you'll need to download both the CUPS wrapper driver as well as the LPR driver. Note that these instructions may work for other models, however I can only test them on the model that I have.

As a reminder.. Filenames will vary with the model printer you are installing. Be carefull to substitute names with those that are appropriate for your model

Install the MFC drivers

The MFC drivers can be installed via RPM or by rpm2targz. Generally, the former is the more accepted method when dealing with RPMs in Gentoo. Both methods are outlined below.

RPM Install

If it complains about folders not existing then create them, and rerun this command.

rpm -ihv --nodeps MFC420CNlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.rpm

If cupswrapper complains about cupsd, ignore it.

rpm -ihv --nodeps cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.0-1.i386.rpm

Here we simply link the filter where Gentoo expects it to be.

ln -s /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN /usr/libexec/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN

If you are using a x86_64 system, you also need to move the 32 bit library to where Gentoo expects to find 32 bit libraries (works also without that):

 mv /usr/lib/libbrcomplpr2.so /usr/lib32/

rpm2targz Install

Install using rpm2targz (convert, extract, copy extracted files):

rpm2targz MFC420CNlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.rpm
rpm2targz cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.0-1.i386.rpm
tar xfzv MFC420CNlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.tar.gz
tar xfzv cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.0-1.i386.tar.gz
cp -R usr /

Restart CUPS

/etc/init.d/cupsd restart

Configure MFC for ethernet access.

This next section is not intended to be all inclusive. If you need help with cups then this wiki offers other great articles to help you through.

Starting CUPS configuration

Prepare your /etc/hosts ,if not be done by sane installation (recommended not mandatory).

echo "192.168.0.10 brother.mynetwork brother" >> /etc/hosts 

Open you favorite web browser

/usr/bin/firefox

Then put this in the URL field

• http://localhost:631

Configure CUPS

You'll be presented with several options, you want to choose "Modify Printer" It will then pop up a dialog box asking you to log in.

• enter root for name
• enter root password for password

Now on the next window you will be presented with two text boxes

• Location can be left blank, but can have something in it for reference sake.
• Description can be left blank, but can also have something in it for reference sake.

Now click continue

Now you will have to choose a device.

• Appsocket/HP JetDirect

Make sure this is selected from the drop down list. Then click continue

Now you will have to set the device URL

• socket://192.168.0.10:9100

Or

• socket://brother:9100 (if /etc/hosts have that information)

In my case this is the IP address that I chose. (Read the MFC's manual to learn how to set the IP address.) Click Continue

Select the make. In this case Brother

• Brother

Click Continue

Select the printer In my case it is

• Brother MFC-420CN CUPS

Click finish

Restart CUPS

/etc/init.d/cupsd restart

Troubleshooting

• PID XXXX stopped with status 22!

If you can't print and are getting an error in /var/log/cups/error_log,"PID XXXX stopped with status 22!" There are two things we can try.....

1: Change the first line of /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC210C to

#! /bin/tcsh

2: Copy the filter from /usr/lib to /usr/libexec

cp /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN /usr/libexec/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN 
/etc/init.d/cupsd restart

• PID XXXX stopped with status 2!

If you can't print and are getting an error in /var/log/cups/error_log,"PID XXXX stopped with status 2!" Try reinstalling the cupswapper, and copying the filter to libexec.

rpm -ihv --nodeps --force cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.0-1.i386.rpm
cp /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN /usr/libexec/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN
/etc/init.d/cupsd restart

• set: Variable name must begin with a letter.

If you get the error "set: Variable name must begin with a letter." You can try:

tcsh /usr/local/Brother/cupswrapper/cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.0 -i

• filter 'xxxxx' for 'xxxxx' cannot be found

If you get the error "filter 'xxxxxx 'xxxxxx' cannot be found" Try copying the filter from /usr/lib to /usr/libexec

cp /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN /usr/libexec/cups/filter/
/etc/init.d/cupsd restart

• unable to print, printer lights up and says receiving data but immediately says sleep again

This problem suddenly happened after a world update. After investigation the problem turned out to be that the print process was deleting the /usr/local/Brother/inf/brMFC7820Nrc file (MFC7820N in my case, file name will vary). I fixed this by first uninstalling everything (may not be necessary):

rpm -e cupswrapperMFC7820N-2.0.1-1.i386
rpm -e brmfc7820nlpr-2.0.1-1.i386
rm -rf /usr/local/Brother
rm -f /usr/libexec/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC7820N

Then follow the install instructions all over again, but before attempting to print change some permissions like this:

chmod a-w /usr/local/Brother/inf
chmod a-w /usr/local/Brother/inf/brMFC7820Nrc

The file will now no longer be overwritten and printing should work again!

• Error: "Printer not connected; will retry in 30 seconds..."

With some Printers CUPS put out this Message after trying to print the testpage. The Problem can be solved with a change in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. Simply add the following line in it.

FileDevice YES

Then do the following and use the new created printer.

lpadmin -p DCP-115C -E -v file:/dev/usb/lp0 -P /usr/share/cups/model/brmfc210c_cups.ppd

• No access to printer by network

Open TCP port 515 at your firewall.

• Nothing of the above works

You might want to try to correct the permissions on the relevant files by yourself - see: [1] (until now this has worked with 3 different printers for me and is reported to work with even more ;) - good luck !)