I have a Brother MFC-660CN all-in-one network printer on our LAN and it has been performing admirably for nearly three years. I was so impressed with this printer that I bought a MFC-680CN for my parents and another for use at home.
Each of the Windows PCs has the complete multifunction driver set installed and can print, FAX and scan over the network with ease. I would like to be able to do the same with the Ubuntu Desktops but I suspect that it is going to be a little trickier getting the network scanning and network FAX functions operational. This page is just concerned with getting network printing running.
I have used CUPS before and have already decided that I am going to use an Ubuntu PC setup as a server on the LAN as a print server to share the printer with the other desktops.
Fortunately, Brother has good driver support for Linux. I followed these instructions on their website but it is a little confusing in places as it references multiple Linux distributions. To make things easier for myself, I am summarizing the method for Ubuntu 9.10 here.
Download and save to disk the ‘deb’ format of the LPR driver and the cupswrapper driver.
Open a terminal on the Ubuntu ‘print server’ PC to type in the commands to install the drivers. I used “Applications”, “Accessories”, “Terminal” from the GUI.
sudo aa-complain cupsd
sudo mkdir /usr/share/cups/model
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/cups /etc/init.d/lpd
sudo mkdir /var/spool/lpd
sudo apt-get install csh
sudo apt-get install psutils
I downloaded the LPR and cupswrapper driver to the ‘Downloads’ folder in my home directory so I changed the current working directory to that folder.
cd ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i –force-all mfc660cnlpr*deb
sudo dpkg -i –force-all mfc660cncupswrapper*deb
Check that the LPR and cupswrapper drivers are installed:-
dpkg -l | grep Brother
I had the following result confirming that the drivers were installed.
ii mfc660cncupswrapper 1.0.1-1 Brother CUPS Inkjet Printer Definitions
ii mfc660cnlpr 1.0.1-1 Brother lpr Inkjet Printer Definitions
To access the CUPS web interface, point your browser at http://localhost:631/printers
Under ‘Queue Name’, click the name of the printer (MFC660CN).
There should be two button menus displayed, ‘Maintenance’ and ‘Administration’. Click the ‘Administration’ button menu and select ‘Modify Printer’
You will be prompted to login, use your usual Ubuntu credentials.
Select ‘LPD/LPR Host or Printer’ and click Continue.
For ‘Connection:’ enter lpd://printer/binary_p1 where printer is the hostname or IP address of the printer that the LPR and cupswrapper drivers will print to. Then click Continue.
Enter a Description and Location. Share the printer by ticking the check box. Click Continue.
The printer driver that you just installed should be selected. Click ‘Modify Printer’ to activate the changes.
The ‘Administration’ button menu has a ‘Set Default Options’ selection. You can use this to change your paper type to A4 size.
To print a test page, click the ‘Maintenance’ button menu and select ‘Print Test Page’
You should now have a working CUPS print server.