DISCLAIMER

This method of installation isn't guaranteed, however it has always worked perfectly for me

Note - These instructions may appear to be VERY simple, this is only to ensure that no minor steps are missed out and is not meant to insult anyone's intelligence.

Printer Driver Install

The best way to install the driver for this printer is not to follow the instructions on the Brother website, but instead install the brother-cups-wrapper-extra package from Synaptic by following the steps below:

1. Ensure the printer is plugged in and switched on before booting into Mint
2. go to Menu > Package Manager or Menu >  Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
3. enter your password if/when prompted
4. click on the search icon and enter brother in the search box leaving name and description selected then click ok, or press return
5. mark brother-cups-wrapper-extra for install and click Mark when notified of other dependencies
6. Apply the changes and wait for the package to be installed
7. when completed, close Synaptic and then click Menu > Administration > Printing
8. click on the Add button and under Devices you should see Brother DCP-120C
9. ensuring this is selected, click Forward and wait for the driver search to complete
10. in the next screen, ensure Brother is selected and click Forward
11. in the next screen, select MFC-210C and click Forward
12. fill out these boxes as desired and click Apply
13. if you have not set your default paper size (which you probably haven't), click Cancel when asked if you wish to print a test page
14. right-click on the new printer icon which will be named whatever you called it in the previous screen and choose Properties
15. click Printer Options and for Media Size, choose whatever size paper you usually use (A4 in UK, Letter in USA)
16. Apply and then click Print Test Page
17. The test page should print perfectly if you have followed the above steps to the letter.

Note - if you change any options while printing a test page, the page will not complete and will begin again with the new settings applied

Scanner Driver Install

1. first off, download the required driver from here: http://www.brother.com/cgi-bin/agreement/agreement.cgi?dlfile=http://www.brother.com/pub/bsc/linux/dlf/brscan2-0.2.5-1.amd64.deb⟨=English_sane

       2.   while downloading, you can install the required libraries by opening a terminal (Menu > Terminal)

sudo apt-get install sane-utils

       3.   when finished, navigate to wherever you downloaded the file and enter the following

sudo dpkg -i --force-all brscan2-0.2.5-1.amd64.deb

note - the filename might be different, but the brscan2 part should be the same

       4.   next, ensure that you have your scanning software installed, I personally recommend xsane which               can be installed by entering sudo apt-get install xsane in a terminal

       5.   once this is finished, you need to carry out another very important step that is often overlooked

in the terminal enter:

sudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/40-libsane.rules

then scroll to the end and paste the following lines

# Brother scanners
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"
 

your last few lines should now look like this

ATTRS{idVendor}=="413c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5250", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"
# Brother scanners
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

# The following rule will disable USB autosuspend for the device
ENV{libsane_matched}=="yes", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'test -e /sys/$env{DEVPATH}/power/level && echo on > /sys/$env{DEVPATH}/power/level'"
LABEL="libsane_rules_end"

now save the file and reboot before using xsane

Thats it for my first tutorial, if anyone has any problems with the above, feel free to drop me a line and I will try to help