Install Brother MFC-L2820DW Printer Driver

Support AUR
1

I’m running KDE Plasma version 6.1.5 and am having trouble installing driver for a Brother MFC-L2820DW (Black). I’ve searched all over the web for solutions and nothing seems to work. I’ve looked at all the similiar topics and the solution seemed to always be AUR. I’ve tried AUR with no success. I get an error message that says target not found. I followed the instructions on the Brother website and get an error. FYI, below are the commands from the brother website with my comments in bold:

  1. Install Linux driver
  2. Turn on the printer and connect the USB cable. (I have a network connection).
  3. Open the terminal and go to the directory where the driver is. (cd downloads)
  4. Install Linux driver.The install process may take some time. Please wait until it is complete.
    Command (for rpm) : rpm -ihv --nodeps (linux-drivername)* (I’ve tried different variations here and nothing works-see below)
  5. Check if the Linux driver is installed (haven’t got to this point yet)
    3.Command (for rpm) : rpm -qa | grep -e (linux-drivername)* (don’t understand the format)

The name of the downloaded file is: mfcl2820dwpdrv-4.1.0-1.i386.rpm

I’ve tried lots of different variations of the recommended command i.e.:
sudo rpm -ihv --nodeps (mfcl2820dwpdrv-4.1.0-1.i386.rpm)
sudo rpm -ihv --nodeps (mfcl2820dwpdrv-4.1.0-1.i386)
sudo rpm -ihv --nodeps (mfcl2820dwpdrv-4.1.0-1)

I always get an error that says a number was expected

Please help me get this driver installed so I can use this printer.

Sincerely appreciated!!

2

As the driver is is in the AUR, you should be able to easily install it using the command:

pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw (and a reminder to never use sudo with pamac)

Could you please try the above command in a terminal and post the output here?

The AUR page shows no issues in the comments: AUR (en) - brother-mfc-l2820dw

3

It is, as you say, also a network printer - which probably doesn’t need any driver at all.

4

These commands assume a linux distribution that uses the Redhat Package Manager and .rpm packages. These are not suitable for Manjaro or Arch-based distributions.

The reason all roads seem to lead to the AUR is that packages are either built from source or repackaged on-the-fly to a format suitable.

Is this the AUR package?

This package builds and installs as expected. :eyes:

pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw
  • Disclaimer:- The AUR is not officially supported by Manjaro (or Arch).
    As indicated by @scotty65 previously.

When you build the package, look for helpful onscreen reminders in the terminal; for example:

Installing brother-mfc-l2820dw (4.1.0-1)...

Restart CUPS in order to load the new files
systemctl restart cups
Register the new print at "http://localhost:631/".

  To avoid errors like "Unable to locate printer..." when printing via network:
Error while configuring brother-mfc-l2820dw
  Add the printer with its socket address "socket://<printer ip>:9100"

If this seems foreign to you, please do your homework regarding CUPS:

Do yourself a huge favour and ignore any recommended commands for Linux found online UNLESS they are for Arch based distributions; specifically, Manjaro (not all Arch-based distributions are equal).

When in doubt, don’t.

Good luck.

Now, some forum goodness:

Hi @jamhill and welcome to the Manjaro community.

As a new forum user, please take some time to familiarise yourself with Forum requirements; in particular, the many ways to use the forum to your benefit.

To that end, some or all these links may be invaluable:

Last, but not least, the Update Announcements, which you should check frequently for important update related information.

An issue may be directly related to a particular update; these announcements should generally be checked before posting a request for support.

I hope this is helpful.

Cheers.

1 Like
5

Thank you for your feedback! Below is what I get when I issue the command:

   ~  pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw  :heavy_check_mark:
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Error: target not found: brother-mfc-l2820dw

6 
pamac update --no-aur --force-refresh

reboot

pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw

Edit:- Failed to proof-read.

7

The update worked fine and I rebooted. This is what I received on the build:

   ~  pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw --aur  :heavy_check_mark:
Build packages from AUR and install them with their dependencies

If no package name is given, use the PKGBUILD file in the current directory
The build directory will be the parent directory, --builddir option will be ignored
and --no-clone option will be enforced

pamac build [options] [package(s)]

options:
–builddir : build directory, if no directory is given the one specified
in pamac.conf file is used
–keep, -k : keep built packages in cache after installation
–no-keep : do not keep built packages in cache after installation
–dry-run, -d : only print what would be done but do not run the transaction
–no-clone : do not clone build files from AUR, only use local files
–no-confirm : bypass any and all confirmation messages

8

Oops, sorry.

Try again without the --aur. :blush:

9

Still not working:

  ~  pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw  :heavy_check_mark:
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Error: target not found: brother-mfc-l2820dw

10 
pamac update --force-refresh
pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw
11

==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====
Synchronizing package databases…
Refreshing core.db…
Refreshing extra.db…
Refreshing multilib.db…
Refreshing core.files…
Refreshing extra.files…
Refreshing multilib.files…
Nothing to do.
Transaction successfully finished.
   ~  pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw  :heavy_check_mark:  19s 
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Error: target not found: brother-mfc-l2820dw
   ~ 

12

Try this first:

sudo pacman-mirrors --fasttrack && sudo pacman -Syu

reboot and then try

pamac update

If successful, then:

pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw

Don’t do this if it’s now working:

This is usually a last resort:

sudo rm -f /var/lib/pacman/sync/*
sudo pacman -Syy

reboot, try again.

13

   ~  sudo rm -f /var/lib/pacman/sync/*  INT ✘
[sudo] password for james: (entered pw)
   ~ 

   ~  sudo pacman -Syy  :heavy_check_mark:  5s 
:: Synchronizing package databases…
core 141.5 KiB 652 KiB/s 00:00 [################################] 100%
extra 8.0 MiB 3.16 MiB/s 00:03 [################################] 100%
multilib 143.9 KiB 600 KiB/s 00:00 [################################] 100%
   ~ 

going to reboot so I’m going to post progress so far

14

Make certain the base-devel package is installed.

17

After reboot:

   ~  pamac update --force-refresh  :heavy_check_mark:
Preparing…
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.manjaro.pamac.commit ====
Authentication is required to install, update, or remove packages
Authenticating as: James Hill (james)
Password:
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====
Synchronizing package databases…
Refreshing core.db…
Refreshing extra.db…
Refreshing multilib.db…
Refreshing core.files…
Refreshing extra.files…
Refreshing multilib.files…
Nothing to do.
Transaction successfully finished.

   ~  pamac build brother-mfc-l2820dw  :heavy_check_mark:  17s 
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Failed to read AUR data from /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz : Error opening file /var/lib/pacman/sync/packages-meta-ext-v1.json.gz: No such file or directory
Error: target not found: brother-mfc-l2820dw
   ~ 

I’m not connected to the printer at the moment. Is that required to do all this?

jrichard326:I don’t know what that means, how to check, or how to install.

18

It’s easy to find out what base-devel is.
It’s needed to have when you want to use something from AUR - like this printer driver.

If you want to keep fighting with pamac that is fine.
I can’t help with that.

I know that yay works.
So: install that as well as base-devel

sudo pacman -Syu base-devel yay

then use it to build and install your printer driver:

yay -S brother-mfc-l2820dw

19

   ~  sudo pacman -Syu base-devel yay  :heavy_check_mark:
[sudo] password for james:
:: Synchronizing package databases…
core is up to date
extra is up to date
multilib is up to date
warning: base-devel-1-3 is up to date – reinstalling
:: Starting full system upgrade…
resolving dependencies…
looking for conflicting packages…

Packages (2) base-devel-1-3 yay-12.4.2-1

Total Download Size: 3.63 MiB
Total Installed Size: 8.84 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages…
yay-12.4.2-1-x86_64 3.6 MiB 3.05 MiB/s 00:01 [################################] 100%
(2/2) checking keys in keyring [################################] 100%
(2/2) checking package integrity [################################] 100%
(2/2) loading package files [################################] 100%
(2/2) checking for file conflicts [################################] 100%
(2/2) checking available disk space [################################] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks…
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade…
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due skipRsyncAutosnap in /etc/timeshift-autosnap.conf set to TRUE.
:: Processing package changes…
(1/2) reinstalling base-devel [################################] 100%
(2/2) installing yay [################################] 100%
Optional dependencies for yay
sudo: privilege elevation [installed]
doas: privilege elevation
:: Running post-transaction hooks…
(1/2) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate…
(2/2) Refreshing PackageKit…

   ~  yay -S brother-mfc-l2820dw  :heavy_check_mark:  17s 
AUR Explicit (1): brother-mfc-l2820dw-4.1.0-1
:: (1/1) Downloaded PKGBUILD: brother-mfc-l2820dw
1 brother-mfc-l2820dw (Build Files Exist)
==> Packages to cleanBuild?
==> [N]one [A]ll [Ab]ort [I]nstalled [No]tInstalled or (1 2 3, 1-3, ^4)
==> (I entered a)

20

hit Enter two times
(there are two questions - Enter chooses the default answer each time)

and wait a few seconds

[N] is the first option and is the default, which is what you select when you press Enter
Or press N - or one of the other options, if that seems sensible to you …

that’s fine - there is another question after that …
two times Enter (see above) will do

CUPS - ArchWiki

AirPrint and IPP Everywhere

CUPS includes support for AirPrint and IPP Everywhere printers. These should be discovered automatically.

I don’t know whether your printer is one of these - it has got a network connection, though.
I have no experience with that - my printer is old and just connected via USB.

21

It is downloading. Will this printer now show up in the list of printers when adding the printer?

22

Probably …
I just expanded my last post.