Ubuntu – How to install proprietary drivers for the Brother all-in-one printer/scanner/fax

brotherdriversfaxprintingscanner

Guides on how to install drivers for a Brother all-in-one network printer are either for older devices or are rather complicated as they often involve editing or copying system files in my root directory.

Is there a newer, more convenient way to install the drivers needed?

Best Answer

For presently supported devices Brother provide an install script that both, downloads and installs all drivers needed to set up a network printer very quickly.

  1. Set up the network connection

    • First set up your wireless connection on the printer display according to the quick setup manual. Note down your printer's IP as we need it later.

  2. Install the proprietary drivers from Brother

    • Browse to Brother Support and search for your model number.

    • Search for Linux (deb) drivers:

      enter image description here

      In case we have a locale different from English we may have to ignore a warning to then select Language > English>

    • Download the Driver Install Tool only (no need to download the other drivers as the installer tool will do that for you).

    • Unpack the downloaded file and give it executable permission 

      cd ~/Downloads ## or the path you had stored the download
gunzip linux-brprinter-installer-2.0.0-1.gz
chmod +x linux-brprinter-installer-2.0.0-1

    • Run the installer script in a terminal with sudo:

      sudo ./linux-brprinter-installer-2.0.0-1

      We will be asked to proceed, accept licenses and we will need to answer several questions, e.g.:

      • Input model name -> type in the number of your printer (e.g. MFC-J5320DW)
      • Missing dependencies will be installed from the repositories
      • Will you specify the Device URI? [Y/n] -> Say Y if your printer was installed in the network (n for USB only).

      • Type in the number of your new printer's URI (e.g. 12 in the example below) from a list of all devices found

             ..
     12: dnssd://Brother%20MFC-J5320DW._ipp._tcp.local/
     ..

      • Choose to print an Ubuntu print test page with Y

      • enter IP address -> enter here the IP address of your printer noted above to enable network scanning.
      • Done!
      • Find uninstaller scripts in the download directory in case we need those later.

  3. Find your new printer in the System Settings > Printers.

    • Optionally choose to make it your default printer, and adjust the default properties (e.g. paper size etc.).

  4. Install the fax function if available.

    • Some Brother all-in-one printers also have an inbuilt fax but the drivers will not be shown on the printer driver download page.

    • Choose the general purpose Brother fax driver for any Brother fax model to download the LPR and CUPS wrapper drivers from their DEB package, e.g.:

      brmfcfaxcups-1.0.0-1.i386.deb
brmfcfaxlpd-1.0.0-1.i386.deb

    These drivers will likely also work with your printer's fax module by adding a BRFAX-printer for sending a fax from any application.

Note in addition: Some devices will come with a maintenance web-interface we can reach simply by browsing to the printer's IP.

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