10 votes

[SOLVED] Tech support request: Getting a scanner and controller working in Linux

Most recent update is here.


The Tildes community has been amazing and patient with me as a new and uninformed Linux user, and I'm greatly appreciative of that. I return to you today with yet another request.


Hardware

System76 Oryx Pro
Distro: Pop!_OS 19.10


Issue #1 (mission critical)

Brother MFC-L2750DW

I have a Brother printer/scanner for which I have installed the drivers using the .deb file provided on the Brother site. It's connected via USB. Printing works fine; scanning does not. My husband and I both need the ability to scan for our jobs, so this issue is pretty important to us.

I am using the program Document Scanner (I believe it's one of the GNOME default programs?). When I open the program it says "Searching for Scanners" and then recognizes my scanner, giving the model number and says it's "Ready to Scan". Whenever I attempt to scan, however, whether from the ADF or the flatbed, it says "Unable to connect to scanner". I am not sure how to proceed, and any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated!


Issue #2 (optional)

Hyperkin Duke Wired Xbox Controller

This is an optional issue and not at all one that needs to be solved by any means. A while back my husband got me this because it's my absolute favorite controller of all time (I know, scoff all you want!). It worked fine in Windows, but now that I've shifted over to Linux it has been sitting and gathering dust.

When I plug it in the controller rumbles briefly (which it also did on Windows), but other than that does nothing. No input is accepted. If it's easy to get this up and running in Linux, I'd love to be able to use it, but if it's not that's totally fine. I have another controller I can use, and again, none of this is essential to my work. I just figured since I was asking for help I'd throw this in here too.


If you need any additional information or need me to try any specific things, let me know!

15 comments

  1. [8]
    pseudolobster
    (edited )
    Link
    There are specific workarounds for brother scanners. They use a weird version of some library, and you need to make symlinks to the correct libraries for it. Here's a guide to that. I wasn't going...

    There are specific workarounds for brother scanners. They use a weird version of some library, and you need to make symlinks to the correct libraries for it. Here's a guide to that.

    I know, scoff all you want!

    I wasn't going to, but if you insist. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/03/25/
    edit: also: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28/

    I've actually been having some serious problems getting controllers to work in Pop_OS recently, and it hasn't been important enough for me to go digging for the root cause. What I've been doing as a workaround is using Steam. It has some kind of xinput to directinput wrapper layer that seems to work a lot of the time. It's usually enough to have it simply run in the background, but sometimes I've needed to "add non-steam game to library" to launch it from steam. From there you can right-click the game, hit properties, and force controller support on or off (some games require it forced off, so do try that as well).

    6 votes
    1. [7]
      kfwyre
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Printer Thanks, as always, psuedolobster! You are outstandingly helpful and knowledgeable! I tried the simlinking that you suggested and it is still not working. There was a slight change. Before,...

      Printer

      Thanks, as always, psuedolobster! You are outstandingly helpful and knowledgeable!

      I tried the simlinking that you suggested and it is still not working. There was a slight change. Before, when I clicked "scan" it would just pop up with an error message. Now, when I click "scan" there's the briefest flash of white on the screen that makes it look like it's going to scan, but then it fails with the same error.

      I'm wondering if I shouldn't just start fresh and uninstall and reinstall everything, as I installed the driver a while ago, but, if I'm being honest, I'm not exactly sure how to do that since the installation is irregular for me (my idea of installing things is to just use the POP!_Shop).

      I also installed gscan2pdf to see if maybe it was just the software that was the issue. That program gives this error:

      Error opening device: opening device 'brother4:bus4;dev5': Invalid argument

      I don't know if that helps, but I figured I'd mention it here in case it does.


      Controller

      (Would you believe me if I told you the Duke is actually too small?! I actually would love one the size of a steering wheel, or, as shown in the comic, a grizzly bear. I do have disproportionately huge hands though.)

      So the controller fails to be recognized even by Steam itself. I went into Big Picture mode and tried all of the different controller options, including their "generic controller" driver. The computer can at least "see" the controller, as it shows up in lsusb, but nothing seems to want to take input from it.

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        pseudolobster
        Link Parent
        Did you try adding the udev rules in that guide right below the symlink portion? It seems both these problems might have a similar cause. The issue with your gamepad is also possibly a udev...

        Did you try adding the udev rules in that guide right below the symlink portion? It seems both these problems might have a similar cause. The issue with your gamepad is also possibly a udev permissions problem: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/6944

        Once you're done changing the udev permissions you may need to reboot for the changes to take effect.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          kfwyre
          Link Parent
          Yup. I did do the udev addition for the scanner before testing it. Just now I added the controller to the udev rules and it's not registering either. Steam's big picture still says there's no...

          Yup. I did do the udev addition for the scanner before testing it. Just now I added the controller to the udev rules and it's not registering either. Steam's big picture still says there's no controller detected.

          Just in case I did something wrong, here's what we're looking at:

          lsusb reports the following for the devices:

          Bus 001 Device 006: ID 2e24:0652 DDR Hyperkin Duke
          Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f9:043a Brother Industries, Ltd MFC-L2750DW series
          

          The contents of /etc/udev/rules.d/59-udev-local.rules are as follows (this rule is the only thing in it):

          ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="043a", MODE="0664", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"
          

          For /lib/udev/rules.d/60-steam-input.rules there were a bunch of entries already there. I added the following:

          KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2e24", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0652", MODE="0660", TAG+="uaccess"
          
          2 votes
          1. Crestwave
            Link Parent
            I'm not familiar with either of those devices, but here are some general troubleshooting thoughts: Have you checked out the other parts of the wiki page? I.e., you're not using USB3 or anything?...

            I'm not familiar with either of those devices, but here are some general troubleshooting thoughts:

            3 votes
      2. [3]
        the_funky_buddha
        Link Parent
        Vuescan has a free trial and apparently it supports your scanner: https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/supported-scanners.html, but it's not free or oss, unfortunately.

        Vuescan has a free trial and apparently it supports your scanner: https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/supported-scanners.html, but it's not free or oss, unfortunately.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          kfwyre
          Link Parent
          This software worked perfectly! Found my scanner and scanned successfully right out of the box. Now I just have to decide whether I'm willing to drop the $50 for it.

          This software worked perfectly! Found my scanner and scanned successfully right out of the box. Now I just have to decide whether I'm willing to drop the $50 for it.

          3 votes
          1. the_funky_buddha
            Link Parent
            Yeah, it's great software. If I had no alternative I'd buy it but I just boot into Windows instead to use my Canon scanner.

            Yeah, it's great software. If I had no alternative I'd buy it but I just boot into Windows instead to use my Canon scanner.

            3 votes
  2. [2]
    streblo
    Link
    I know this doesn't answer your question but do you have a smart phone? There are numerous "scanner" apps available and honestly I haven't missed having a scanner since the mid 00s.

    I know this doesn't answer your question but do you have a smart phone? There are numerous "scanner" apps available and honestly I haven't missed having a scanner since the mid 00s.

    2 votes
    1. kfwyre
      Link Parent
      If I were only having to do a few pages, that would probably be fine. However, I often have to scan a decent volume of usually double-sided pages, so an auto-document feeder with effortless duplex...

      If I were only having to do a few pages, that would probably be fine. However, I often have to scan a decent volume of usually double-sided pages, so an auto-document feeder with effortless duplex scanning is well worth it for me.

  3. ThiccPad
    Link
    You can always passthrough the scanner to a wondows virtual machine if all else fail

    You can always passthrough the scanner to a wondows virtual machine if all else fail

    2 votes
  4. [2]
    kfwyre
    Link
    Update: After trying some of the suggestions in @Crestwave's comment here (the USB3 check, changing permissions), I was still not able to get the scanner working. I went ahead and paid for VueScan...

    Update:

    After trying some of the suggestions in @Crestwave's comment here (the USB3 check, changing permissions), I was still not able to get the scanner working. I went ahead and paid for VueScan as suggested by @the_funky_buddha, but now VueScan is failing to see my scanner, quite possibly because of something I did earlier (but maybe unrelated)?

    Anyone have any tips on how to proceed? I don't even know how to just uninstall and reinstall the drivers and start fresh. I realize I'm coming across as someone who hasn't done their homework, but I promise you I've spent a lot of time trying to figure this out and process what all of the suggested commands are doing before I just blindly enter them into the terminal, but I'm also well out of my depth with all of this.

    1 vote
    1. moocow1452
      Link Parent
      May want to contact VueScan through their Problem Report system, and if they can't help you, you could probably swing a refund.

      May want to contact VueScan through their Problem Report system, and if they can't help you, you could probably swing a refund.

      3 votes
  5. [2]
    DougM
    Link
    I’m having the same issue with the Xbox controller on Pop_OS! Have you been able to solve the issue? It worked just fine on Mint for me before I switched distros.

    I’m having the same issue with the Xbox controller on Pop_OS!

    Have you been able to solve the issue?

    It worked just fine on Mint for me before I switched distros.

    1 vote
    1. kfwyre
      Link Parent
      I haven't yet, although I haven't tried much as the scanner has been my main priority. In searching around it looks like xboxdrv or xpad might be the ways to go, but both are a little bit involved...

      I haven't yet, although I haven't tried much as the scanner has been my main priority. In searching around it looks like xboxdrv or xpad might be the ways to go, but both are a little bit involved and would require some learning on my part.