With the Chimaera release the experience was and still is identical with the exception of the scanner not working correctly with the ADF (document feeder). For this version of Devuan I had to download the Brother br-sane-config-tool to setup the scanner (with ADF) correctly. If not, I could scan only with the flatbed scanner.

It looks as that detail was corrected with the sane release in Devuan Daedalus.
1. Install printer in to the IP network - 2. go to your Devuan box - 3. and start printing!
I'm so happy.
BTW: Daedalus RC7 looks very polished, slick and nice - and ready. I'd like to call it "the best".
@alexkemp: give it a try

I'm not going to try your suggestions.

The printer was initially setup from brand-new, so is already at factory-defaults, never having been changed from those defaults.

CUPS requires printer-specific setup. CUPS itself is printer-agnostic & requires instructing on the specifics required for a specific printer; that is the purpose of the PPD text-files. The only way that your DCP-L2550DW could have been auto-setup without an external driver is if it used the CUPS-supplied ppd file. I've already confirmed that the CUPS-supplied driver for my model is identical to the Brother-supplied driver that does not perform. I'm not going through that all over again. But again, thanks for trying.

Extra: I see that your printer has an option for IPP Network Printer. That also uses the CUPS database, so may well have the same problem as the USB connection that I'm using. Ah, spit.

I followed your story about your nightmarish printer driver and configuration problems.
I used to have HP printers (MFPs) and they worked extremely well with Linux. HPLIP and CUPS do it all best. Now the printer is failing and I have to replace it. Most new HP printers do things via the cloud only, which is rubbish I will avoid.
So my interest turned to the Brother brand.

Your report made me skeptical and I did some research on the Internet and did some tests.

1. A Brother DCP-L2550DW (black-and-white laser) worked out of the box with no configuration and software installation.
My PC had all CUPS packaged installed already, and the System-Config-Printer program showed right there that new printer. All tests and scanning went fine. This was at a friends site, they use Apple PCs only.

2. A test with an older Brother DCP-L9055 was a complete disaster. Nothing at all worked. That was another neighbour's site, they use Windows and also Apple laptops. (That printer was most probably mis-configured, so it works only with Windows)

3. I bought myself a Brother MFC-J5340DW, installed it in my network following the Quick-Setup-Guide, went to my workstation PC and that thing worked without any configuration or software installation. Out-of-the-box - Big success. Every test was successful.

If you show me how, I can post the CUPS test-printout - it shows some CUPS-specifics.

A quick check revealed that all CUPS packages are installed. It looks like the CUPS and the CUPS-browsed play an important role.
My PCs are all installed with Devuan Chimaera.

Now, my idea is this:

1. remove all downloaded Brother .deb packages. Not even special .ppd files are required. Only the amd64 architecture is required in my case, so no i386 or i586 packages here. Also delete all configured printers in your "System-Administration-Print Settings" program.
You need the CUPS packages.
2. Reset your Brother DCP-L3510DW printer to factory-defaults and set it up as shown in the Quick-Config-Guide.
3. Then go (as user) to "System-Administration-Print Settings" menu and see if you see your brother printer is already there and test it.

When you Devuan system is installed in a standard way (Chimaera), it should work.
I hope in your LAN there is no filtering inside your network. All protocols shall pass within the LAN.

Please let us know if that helps.
My very best greetings and good luck. Andre

Glad you were able to work it out.

I see that there are only 36 open issues at the CUPS GitHub page and only 3 have not been looked at/sorted/classified yet.
The last 2 being from this month and one from less than a month ago.

Not bad at all, I've seen much worse.
eg: LibreOffice, XFCE and others.

Hopefully you'll get a request for more information or feedback of some sort within a fortnight.
Please keep us posted.

Best,

A.

1. ScriptSafe == green on entry to the page
   (I was also logged in)

2. ScriptSafe == one exception
   (this was following a failed attempt to upload the zip-file)
   (the failure was a new githubusercontent url)

3. ScriptSafe == green
   (added clearance for that URL & the upload now worked & we have a download link for the zip)

I'll add the link into a fresh post to try to help make the link easier to find.

try the upload with a different browser

It's fully-updated Chromium. If that doesn't work then sod it.

Good.  8^)
It's a start.

Let's see what comes up.

You may want to try the upload with a different browser.
eg: Pale Moon gives me all sorts of grief in many places.

Best,

A.

Unfortunately the upload-utility failed, so the zip of all the ppd variants remains on my disk lonely as a cloud.

From what I see, issues have to be reported to the CUPS project issues page.

For starters you have to log-in and to do that you have to sign up/join/register with GitHub.

Once you get that (needed) administrative crap out of the way, you log-in and open a new issue.

As you may gather, given the complexity of the problem, the instructions for filing an issue must be followed to the letter.

ie: Like when you file a bug with Debian, in the hope it may be looked at eventually.

Note:
I recall that an HP Colour Laser printer I used 20+ years ago had to be calibrated every so often or when one of the (absurdly expensive) toner deposits had to be replaced, otherwise everything was off colour wise, more than the usual.

This Brother printer has something like that? Never seen one so I don't have a clue.

Best,

A.

This link to cityinkexpress.co.uk will help explain what ICC Profiles are normally used by print shops to achieve.

In a nutshell, the biggest problem for a printshop is when a customer's home-produced printout on *their* printer looks lovely in their business/home, and all wrong from the Print Shop. So, City Ink Express provide a Colour Chart for the customer to printout using their printer. The customer then posts (or delivers) the printout back to the shop. City Ink Express have a piece of software ("advanced color calibration software") that scans the printout & produces an ICC Profile (software file) which is emailed back to the customer. The intention of the profile is to shift colour differences between the customer's printer & the commercial printer, so that (as much as possible) the commercial printout looks as close to the home printout as possible. The main issue for me is that no details of how that profile is used are revealed.

You can probably see why the above excited me re: my problem, and specifically because I had seen references to "Profile" whilst printing. Nope, wrong kind of Profile.

Brother has a Printing Profile, but you can tell from the link that it is nothing to do with shifting colour balances.

"ICC Profiles" feature exactly nowhere in brother.com. What *does* feature is "Windows ICM Profiles". That link states that these are provided on the driver CD at "x:\driver\ps\icm". Not on the CD for the DPL3510CDW they arn't. Yet another blind alley.

The final blind alley was me trawling through all the MSI files on the CD yet again, this time looking for "Profiles". Or even "ICC" or "ICM". Just in case. Nope. None. Nada.

I've also tried to find an address at which to report the Dead Fish that is the CUPS driver for the DPL3510CDW. I found a Reporting Issues information page. The one missing item was either an email address, a website page, a telephone number or even the location of a stone in a park to place the secret paper underneath. It seems like they don't want to know.

And with that final big NO I must leave this report.

Where's the NOT SOLVED button?

Yes.
I meant to say that Brother knows it does not work properly.
ie: by design.

Hope you get it fixed.

Best,

A.

current Brother DCP-L3510CDW PPD is the default option for your printer.

It is the only option from CUPS for that model.

Two out of four?  8^D

Probably (no idea) and no never (experience talking).

Which is why there's a whole industry dedicated to extract money from those who need to use standard/universally accepted profiles.
ie: that will allow printed/displayed pages to look/be seen as being the same, everywhere. 

I'm glad you think so.

In any case, it seems that there is no shortage of people attempting to bowl the same sticky wicket, so to speak.
From the little I have read on the matter, it has been, is and will continue to be so till something breaks.

As a result, there are quite a few apparently viable (?) alternatives, albeit with widely varying degrees of success, as usual.

Check https://www.color.org/opensource.xalter and https://www.color.org/creatingprofiles.xalter

Something's got to give.

Like I mentioned, I suspect that not only they know but that it is the default option for your printer.

You may want to spend some time looking through the Brother catalogue for a model which could meet the following criteria:

1. it is more expensive
2. it has more options
3. uses a similar ink/cartdrige/printing system
4. repeatedly uses the term professional in the User's manual.   8^D

If you don't find a suitable one, check to see if you can find out which brands are really Brother units with another label and look among them.
Maybe some printer repair shop or DIY page on the web has that data.

If and when you find it, get the ICC file and see how it works with your printer. 

Best,

A.