The officially official Devuan Forum!

supusr

Member

From: Mountain US

Registered: 2017-05-14

Posts: 17  

Brother MFC-L2690DW

I recently became depressed about Debian after reading more about the direction systemd is going with age verification and about the current problems with the leader election, and installed Devuan Xfce.  I have used Devuan before and like it fine, except that I was not able to install the above-referenced printer.  On Devian Trixie that printer installs automatically with good drivers that allow for all the basic functions, but on Devuan it does not.  I am back on Trixie for now due to this issue, but would  like to use Devuan if I could get my specific printer going.  I've tried the drivers available on the Brother website, but they don't work.  There must be a .deb package available since it automatically installs on Debian.  If anyone has a solution I would like to come back to Devuan.

---

Non-technical user, but Linux only since 2012.  Retired union business agent.  Avid reader.  Leftie.  English-Spanish.

brocashelm

Member

Registered: 2020-06-29

Posts: 214  

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

I don't think it should be any different installing that printer on Devuan, since the main difference is removing Systemd from their packages. In other words, the DEB file(s) for Brother drivers as provided by Debian should remain the same as in Devuan. I do not have that particular printer, but my HL-L2320D just flew with the printer-driver-brlaser driver package, and using Daedalus (putting off on Excalibur for the foreseeable future, since Debian made it even harder to keep Systemd or Elogind out of installs).

greenjeans

Member

Registered: 2017-04-07

Posts: 1,567  

Website

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

You may have to check in the repo, Devuan doesn't by default install all printer packages. I'm no printer expert as I never use one, so I use the system-config-printer app to help out, it's been very useful.

---

https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/ New Vuu-do isos uploaded March 2026!
Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
Please donate to support Devuan and init freedom! https://devuan.org/os/donate

Dutch_Master

Member

Registered: 2018-05-31

Posts: 320  

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

Brother has an installer for its devices. Just a script, runs on pretty much any Linux version and does the work of installing the correct drivers for you. See the Brother Linux page to find it.

supusr

Member

From: Mountain US

Registered: 2017-05-14

Posts: 17  

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

Thanks to those who replied.  As I stated in the initial post, the drivers/installers on the Brother site don't work in my case.  I think the system-config-printer route may possibly work -- I've used in on Arch.  Since I would have to first reinstall Devuan to try it, it will have to wait until I have the time to do that before finding out if it solves my problems.  Maybe next weekend I'll have the time.  Thanks again.

---

Non-technical user, but Linux only since 2012.  Retired union business agent.  Avid reader.  Leftie.  English-Spanish.

Andre4freedom

Member

Registered: 2017-11-15

Posts: 256  

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

@supusr:
Your printer Brother MFC-L2690DW is in the "driverless printer list" and can print using AirPrint.
When I have such a printer to connect:
- Connect it to your local network
- Make sure CUPS is fully installed
- Start everything
- And at log-in (Cinnamon) "Printer Connected" shows up.
Until now, this has worked with all Brother and most HP, Lexmark and other printer brands.
Maybe this helps:  https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=60751#p60751
And this: https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=58428#p58428
And sure this: https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=57101#p57101
That goes for Devuan Daedalus, Excalibur
I use OpenRC or sysvinit and Cinnamon or XFCE
I never have to worry about printers again. Good luck.

slonik

Member

Registered: 2026-03-20

Posts: 3  

Re: Brother MFC-L2690DW

The printer should be connected to the Wi-Fi router - the same one your computer (from which you want to print) is connected to - so that both are on the same Wi-Fi network. The printer's manual should explain how to do this. Another option is to connect the printer directly to the computer using a USB cable.

You need to install CUPS.
Go to: http://localhost:631
Click: Administration (it will ask for the root password)
Click: Find New Printers

CUPS will start listening for printers that announce themselves on the network and, after a moment, will display them.

Then add the printer and configure it (also within CUPS)