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  • Brother MFC-L2710DW
  • HP Color Laser Jet Pro MFP M281 fdw

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  1. Resources
  2. Linux Desktop

Setup Printer and Scanner

How to setup different printers and scanners on elementary OS.

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Last updated 2 years ago

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Brother MFC-L2710DW

Install the :

yay brother-mfc-l2710dw

Then start the printing service (cups) and make sure it autostarts on boot:

# Autostart at Boot:
sudo systemctl enable cups

# Start Now:
sudo systemctl start cups

# IMPORTANT: If you get an error when starting cups, try to run cups manually as root.
# It will print the reason why it failed. For example:
# $ sudo /usr/bin/cupsd -l
# /usr/bin/cupsd: error while loading shared libraries: libpaper.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

You are now ready to add the printer by:

  • Navigating to , Administration > Add Printer

  • Login with our username and password

  • Select AppSocket/HP JetDirect

  • Enter socket://123.456.78.90:9100, click Continue

  • Enter the printer's name Brother-MFC-L2710DW

  • Select Make Brother and Model Brother MFCL2710DW and click Add Printer

Scanning (+ OCR)

yay brscan4

Then configure it with:

sudo brsaneconfig4 -a name=MFCL2710DW model=MFCL2710DW ip=123.456.78.90

Test whether it works:

scanimage -L

And last but not least install simple-scan to use a simple UI for scanning:

sudo pacman -S simple-scan
  • Enable Postprocessing: Yes

  • Script: /path/to/your/simple-scan-postprocessing.sh

  • Script arguments: -l eng+deu

  • Keep original file: No

The script is going to apply an OCR algorithm you saved the scan as PDF and makes it searchable.

Please Note: The postprocessing script requires Docker for its work - so make sure you installed it on your machine.

Then install the drivers as documented on the download page (open the Terminal and execute the following commands):

# Change to the download directory:
cd ~/Downloads

# Extract the downloaded file
gunzip linux-brprinter-installer-*.gz

# Make the extracted shell script executable
chmod +x linux-brprinter-installer-*

# Run the install tool with the printer type with root permissions:
sudo ./linux-brprinter-installer-* MFC-L2710DW
You are going to install following packages.
   mfcl2710dwpdrv-4.0.0-1.i386.deb
   brscan4-0.4.11-1.amd64.deb
   brscan-skey-0.3.1-2.amd64.deb
OK? [y/N] -> y
...
Do you agree? [Y/n] -> Y
...
# For USB Users: Choose N(No)
# For Network Users: Choose Y(Yes) and DeviceURI number.
Will you specify the Device URI? [Y/n] -> Y
...
0: cups-brf:/
1: lpd
2: http
3: socket
4: hp
5: beh
6: ipps
7: https
8: ipp
9: dnssd://Brother%20MFC-L2710DW%20series._ipp._tcp.local/?uuid=e3248000-80ce-11db-8000-3c2af4943c7a
10: lpd://BRW802BF9F1CFD8/BINARY_P1
11: ipp://Brother%20MFC-L2710DW%20series._ipp._tcp.local/
12 (I): Specify IP address.
13 (A): Auto. (dnssd://Brother%20MFC-L2710DW%20series._ipp._tcp.local/?uuid=e3248000-80ce-11db-8000-3c2af4943c7a)

select the number of destination Device URI. -> 13
...
Test Print? [y/N] -> y
...
You are going to install following packages.
   brscan4-0.4.11-1.amd64.deb
...
Do you agree? [Y/n] -> Y
...
You are going to install following packages.
   brscan-skey-0.3.1-2.amd64.deb
...
Do you agree? [Y/n] -> Y
...
Setting up brscan-skey (0.3.1-2) ...
 enter IP address -> 192.168.1.234    # Enter the printer's IP address

HP Color Laser Jet Pro MFP M281 fdw

Printing

In order to be able to print with a HP Color Laser Jet Pro MFP M281 fdw on elementary OS 6.1, you don't have to do anything. It works right out of the box.

Scanning

Even though the printer itself works out of the box, you need to install a proprietary plugin from HP to be able to scan anything. Because HPLIP added official support for elementary OS 6.1 in a newer HPLIP version, the easiest way to do so is to update the installed HPLIP version.

For installation, execute the following commands in your Terminal:

chmod 755 ~/Downloads/hplip-*.run
~/Downloads/hplip-*.run

...

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.22.2)

...

INSTALLATION MODE
-----------------
Automatic mode will install the full HPLIP solution with the most common options.
Custom mode allows you to choose installation options to fit specific requirements.

Please choose the installation mode (a=automatic*, c=custom, q=quit) : a

...

DISTRO/OS CONFIRMATION
----------------------
Distro appears to be Elementary OS 6.1.

Is "Elementary OS 6.1" your correct distro/OS and version (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? y

...

SECURITY PACKAGES
-----------------
AppArmor is installed. 
AppArmor protects the application from external intrusion attempts making the application secure

Would you like to have this installer install the hplip specific policy/profile (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) y

...

HPLIP-3.20.3 exists, this may conflict with the new one being installed.
Do you want to ('i'= Remove and Install*, 'q'= Quit)?    : i
Starting uninstallation...

...

Done.

Now we are finally ready to download the proprietary plugin with the following command:

$ hp-plugin -i

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.22.2)
Plugin Download and Install Utility ver. 2.1

...

-----------------------------------------
| PLUG-IN INSTALLATION FOR HPLIP 3.22.2 |
-----------------------------------------

The driver plugin for HPLIP 3.22.2 appears to already be installed.
Do you wish to download and re-install the plug-in? (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? yerror:  No system tray detected on this system.  Unable to start, exiting. 

  Option      Description                                       
  ----------  --------------------------------------------------
  d           Download plug-in from HP (recommended)            
  p           Specify a path to the plug-in (advanced)          
  q           Quit hp-plugin (skip installation)                

Enter option (d=download*, p=specify path, q=quit) ? d

...

Do you accept the license terms for the plug-in (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? y

Done.

Further Reading

Since the printer is working now, lets enable its scanner. To do so, install :

If you want OCR in addition, there is a neat little trick: Download the , make it executable and store it somewhere safe on your machine. Then open Document Scanner > Preferences configure its postprocessing:

Download the latest "Driver Install Tool" for Linux from the (linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.3-1.gz at the time of this writing).

To do so, go to the and download the latest version for elementary OS (v3.22.2 at the time of this writing).

brscan4 from AUR
simple-scan-postprocessing.sh script from its code repository
Brother MFC-L2710DW download page
HPLIP download page
bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/1822762
HPLIP Release Notes
❤️ Sponsor Me
brother-mfc-l2710dw package from AUR
http://localhost:631
Arch Linux
elementary OS: 6.1 Jólnir
elementary OS: 6.1 Jólnir
Status: Verified