brother-scan

This tool is alternative to the brscan-skey with automatic document feeder support and compressed PDF output.

Using Docker

The easiest way to use brscand is to build a Docker image with the Dockerfile provided here.

Requirements

• Docker installed.
• The latest proprietary brscan4 deb from Brother
  • I had to go through their 'Downloads' page for my device (https://support.brother.com/g/b/productsearch.aspx?c=us&lang=en&content=dl)
  • The Dockerfile defaults to the deb name brscan4-0.4.9-1.amd64.deb

Build image

Make sure you have downloaded the brscan4 deb file and placed it in the top-level directory of the repository next to the Dockerfile.

Adapt BRSCAN_DEB if the version has changed.

python3 setup.py build sdist
docker build -t brscan --build-arg BRSCAN_DEB="brscan4-0.4.9-1.amd64.deb" .

Configuration

Edit brother-scan.yaml according to your preferences.

Run

To run brscand with the following setup:

• MFC-L2700DW scanner.
• Scanner at IP address 192.168.0.10.
• Host OS at IP address 192.168.0.100.
• Output written to $HOME/brscan

docker run --rm \
  -v $HOME/brscan:/output -v $(pwd)/brother-scan.yaml:/brother-scan.yaml \
  -e SCANNER_MODEL=MFC-L2700DW -e SCANNER_IP=192.168.0.10 \
  -e ADVERTISE_IP=192.168.0.100 -p 54925:54925/udp \
  brscan

Running on host OS

If you for some reason want to run it directly on your Linux host OS, that might also be possible. It probably need to be Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat or something like that to make it work.

Python Virtual Environment

It is recommanded to use venv (Python Virtual Environment) to install the required Python modules.

Requirements

In order for this to work, host OS must have the following installed (assuming Debian)

• sane and sane-utils packages (scanimage and scanadf commands)
• poppler-utils package (pdfunite command)
• libusb-0.1-4 package (libusb-0.1.so.4 library)
• brscan4 (brscan4-0.4.4-1.amd64.deb can be fetched from Brother)

Installation

python3 -m venv .
./bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 setup.py install

Configuration

Run brsaneconfig4 to configure the scanner. Example configuring MFC-L2700DW scanner with IP address 192.168.0.100:

brsaneconfig4 -a name="Brother" model="MFC-L2700DW" ip="192.168.0.100"

Edit brother-scan.yaml according to your preferences.

Run

Now you just need to run the brscand daemon. Example running on host with IP 192.168.0.10 and scanner with IP address 192.168.0.100:

brscand 192.168.0.100 192.168.0.10

Uselinks

• https://www.mcbsys.com/blog/2014/11/register-pc-on-brother-scanner/
• https://github.com/jmesmon/brother2/blob/master/PROTO

Tested devices

• MFC-L2710DN