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Brother Printer Driver Install


WmCook
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I am a newbie trying to install the drivers for a Brother MFC 4800.

I am using Mandrake 10.1.

The drivers are from the Brother site under "LPR printer drivers" for my specific printer and it claims to work with Mandrake 9.1,

The files were "control.tar.gz","data.tar.gz" and "debian binary". I copied the drivers to my home directory and unziped them with ark.

I am not sure what to do next. The Mandrake Printer Management Tool asks for the manufacturer supplied PPD file which I do not have. I have the printer connected via USB and the Printer Management Tool Recognizes that there is a Printer Present (Raw Printer - No Driver).

Do I need to do something with the installed drivers other than unzipping them in my home directory? I would be happy just to have the printing function (without fax or scan).

 

Thanks,

Will

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Am not familiar with Brother in linux environment, but can tell you they are not high on the compatibility list. Linux does support Brother and dozens of other brands, but it may be spotty. If you check linuxprinting site you will see that HP and Epson rank high, and almost every Samsung product comes with linux drivers included on the CD. Some Canon and Lexmarks are also supported.

 

Try the drivers for the MFC 8300

Either go to start>System>config your comp>hardware>printers and let it autodetect. Whatever it detects, uncheck auto and install manually from the list that will populate. (Select vendor on the left and model on the right)

OR

Go to start>system>config>KDE>peripherals>printing and go thru wizard. Select MFC 8300

 

Wish I could be of more help, but I cheat and check the specific compatibilty of printers with my distro (Mandrake 10.0) and never have had to load drivers for my printers. Another reason for using SPECIFICALLY supported printers, is not only the problem of finding drivers, but doing the CONFIGURATION (manually) for the driver once it's installed.

 

I have installed drivers for modems, tho, and the actual install is fairly easy, but finding correct drivers and configuration afterward can be very time consuming.

 

Check out --> www.linuxprinting.org

 

good luck

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Most files should have a readme. It is possible that you need to "make" the file after unpacking it. Please provide a link to the file, and I'll have a look at it.

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This is an "AIO machine", not a genuine printer, the free CUPS and GimpPrint modules don't support it, and to be honest I could not find any specific drivers at the Brother site. Even commercial Linux applications (Turboprint and ESP Print pro) don't seem to support it.

Where exactly did you get these ppd's from Brother site? Are you sure they work with your quasi-printer?

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Thanks, Here's the Link:

 

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/sol/pri...pr_drivers.html

 

There are directions at the top of the page. When I type cd /tmp/lpr I am told "file not found".

 

I have installed it from the home directory but that hasn't worked. Do I need to "enable" LPD printing somehow?

Edited by WmCook
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The file you are trying to use is an "rpm" file, which means you simply install it and then configure your printer. It specifically names Mandrkae 9.1. rpm files might be usable in later releases of a distro, but there are no assurances. You should use the Mandrake installer or on the command line as root, type "urpmi blah.blah.rpm", where "blah" is the specific name of the file. This type of file should not be unpacked prior to installing. I did not see the tarballs on the site.

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Aren't LPR/LPD drivers for usage on remote Windows printers only? (or dummy network printers) ?. In any case, they aren't usable under CUPS, or for a local printer.

The ppd's for MACOS X may well work under Linux as well, but to use them you must extract the .dmg container, which is surely not trivial (.dmg as well as everything MACOS related being closed source).

Edited by scarecrow
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Actually, I used lpr/lpd configurations all of the time prior to the recent improvements in CUPS. The drivers were the same as in the CUPS profiles. Not sure what that means, though!

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