For any of you also running Debian Etch, with an INTEL 915GAV board and a Brother MFC 420CN printer might have a little difficulty with the lpr/cups drivers and printing. First off, there are some very specific things you need to do to prepare.

apt-get install csh gcc cpp lpr cupsys cupsys-client a2ps

Now you need to prepare for the worst. Get some coffee and get ready to apt-get remove --purge and apt-get install many packages many times. You also need to get SUN Java for some parts to work (the PC FAX, which just plain doesn't work on my system--it breaks my cups). Oh! And, don't forget to be super patient with your printer. It has some messed up sleep mode that causes CUPS to think it doesn't exist. Anyway, on with the install!

Download the brother drivers for lpr. Install them like so:

dpkg -i --force-all --force-overwrite mfc420cnlpr-x.x.x-x-i386.deb

It SHOULD have some nifty little creating symbolic link info and some even more nifty little stopping lpd and starting lpd dialogues in your console. If this doesn't work, consult google and pray like you've never prayed before. I've been to almost every website about this bloody printer. Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, et cetera. You name a language, I've skimmed it for bash commands. Anyway, we need to progress out of this digression.

Check your lpr to make sure it works. Here's the command for printing:

lpr -P MFC420CN (filename).ps

If you don't have a postscript document to print, try a text document. Thanks to a2ps and other silly things, it should still print. Now, if that printed and you're content with just the one print server, roll with it and hope that the printer never goes into sleep mode because it can be nauseating to get out of that rut. If, however, you would prefer to continue with cups, by all means finish reading this "guide" to insanity.

Download the cups wrapper driver from brother. The reason we downloaded them separately is to minimize file mix-ups. Install it with:

dpkg -i --force-overwrite cupswrappermfc420cn_x.x.x-x.i386.deb

This is where it goes wonky. It will overwrite your /etc/printcap file and it does stop lpd. Of course, we want lpd running! Not everything prints to CUPS. So, instead of doing an /etc/init.d/lpd restart, we're going to reboot because the fun keeps on coming.

After rebooting, in your favourite web browser, type in:

localhost:631

Go to the "printers" tab and REMOVE YOUR PRINTER. It will prompt for username and password. Give them the root username and password. Work your way over to the Admin tab and add a new printer. Do not add the printer that it may suggest. Something wonky like "Brother_MFC_420_CN_USB_1" could come out as your printer name. That isn't user friendly. I don't wear pants and I don't know anyone who does. What we want to do is add a new printer with a name you like, so go through the motions of adding the new printer. Make it a local printer and USB because you don't have enough ports running from your router to support the printer yet. It will ask for make. Tell it "Brother" and swear under your breath. It will ask for model. Tell it "MFC420CN" and swear at the top of your lungs. Continue through the horrible task of readding a printer. When it asks for a name, make it a unique name. This is the name that you're going to have to put in every time you want to print to this computer (like lpr -P meecrob file.ps) for the rest of your printer's existence.

Restart cups, then restart lpd. With any luck, it will work. If it doesn't work, try posting a message here and see if you get a response.

If you want to get sane and xsane working, there are a crapload of other things you need to install and you also need an older version of the drivers to be delivered to you e-mailbox 6-30 business days later. I'm not going to bother with that one, but the most valuable information for that is that you NEED the older driver. The newer driver is absolute crap with this setup. It doesn't work at all. Remember that.

EDITED POST

I forgot to mention that kde likes to ignore the whole 127.0.0.1 (localhost) ip for connecting to the print server. Therefore, it tries to connect to /var/run/cups/cups.sock or something else similar. Surely, this probably works on someone's system. But, not on mine. Therefore, I (or you, if you have a setup like mine) have to go into KDE for each individual user to be using the printer and follow the following steps:

kcontrol



peripherals



printers



print manager



configure manager



CUPS Server



Host: /var/run/cups/cups.sock

There! That line! Change that stupid /var/run/cups/cups.sock to localhost the world will be a lot happier. Your printer might actually respond to you. You'll be popular with women and immune to all diseases. Your acne will clear up and your sinuses will never get infected. You will gain super cow powers. (That last one may or may not be true.)

Furthermore, I guarantee nothing in this guide and only hope that it can help you install your horrid printer. I also hope that I can help you with it. However, I take no responsibility for anything bad on your end. Give me all the props you want. Just remember that I got this by compiling (in my brain) some 15 different guides and some scattered pages in various languages I'm not familiar with.

Good Luck!