Brother MFC-295CN Network connected printer fails to scan

panorain · February 7, 2026, 10:54pm

Very interesting information there.

:/usr/lib64 # ls -lah | grep libnsl.so.1
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root    18 Feb  7 16:47 libnsl.so.1 -> /lib64/libnsl.so.3
:/usr/lib64 #

So the libnsl.so.1 file lives and is linked to libnsl.so.3 currently though?

Thanks

conram · February 7, 2026, 11:14pm

That’s the one that worked for me. I maybe wrong.
Edit:
I could be wrong with an empty file with the name libnsl.so.1.
But it worked for me before on another .so problem before… In the printer/scanner case I had this problem always so I kept the old libnsl.so.1 file on my backup.

deano_ferrari · February 7, 2026, 11:27pm

So the link already existed, and the issue remains right? In that case you might need to try installing the single libnsl (openSUSE 15.x) package and ignore any conflicts. Not much else uses it these days.

deano_ferrari · February 7, 2026, 11:30pm

If that doesn’t work, it is possible to run the Brother scanner software inside a small container using an older openSUSE environment. This avoids touching your system at all and still lets you scan, but it’s a little more setup at first.

conram · February 7, 2026, 11:42pm

@panorain How did you install the driver. As I said before if you use the rpm driver there is a great chance it will fail. Try using the brother installer. With regards to xsane in tumbleweed I’m not sure if the xsane problem is gone with libgdk_pixbuf. Here I am using the older version of it to make xsane work. I mentioned this because it was mentioned in your first post.

panorain · February 7, 2026, 11:55pm

Ok, I will think about this a bit. I am considering connecting the MFC-295CN via USB and running the installer again. I have excellent and reliable print from it also now.

Like this:

 /brother-MFC-295CN> sudo chmod ugo+x libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2.src.rpm 
[sudo] password for root: 
paul@hightower-i5-6600k:~/Documents/Computer-Operating-Systems-Software /brother-MFC-295CN> sudo rpm -ivh libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2.src.rpm 
warning: libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2.src.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 8b662dfb: NOKEY
Updating / installing...
   1:libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2           ################################# [100%]
paul@hightower-i5-6600k:~/Documents/Computer-Operating-Systems-Software /brother-MFC-295CN> scanimage -L

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).
paul@hightower-i5-6600k:~/Documents/Computer-Operating-Systems-Software /brother-MFC-295CN> sudo rpm -ivh libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2.src.rpm 
warning: libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2.src.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 8b662dfb: NOKEY
Updating / installing...
   1:libnsl-1.2.0-lp156.3.2           ################################# [100%]
:~/Documents/Computer-Operating-Systems-Software /brother-MFC-295CN>

Thanks

deano_ferrari · February 7, 2026, 11:56pm

With respect to SANE front-ends, I’d recommend using simple-scan over xsane any day.

deano_ferrari · February 7, 2026, 11:57pm

I’m not sure that how you connect it will alter the library requirements in any way unfortunately.

panorain · February 8, 2026, 12:00am

This is certainly unfortunate to hear.
The print quality really is great and there is no chip on the cartridges.
Perhaps the Sane-Devel list will provide a few clues?

deano_ferrari · February 8, 2026, 12:04am

Practical options IMHO:

Consider running in a container. Not something I have done, but happy to try to walk through this with you.
Upgrade the hardware. Modern network printer/scanners support driverless protocols (including Brother network multi-function devices).

deano_ferrari · February 8, 2026, 12:04am

I doubt it. This is a vendor driver issue (old hardware and software).

conram · February 8, 2026, 12:28am

Off topic. What I like with Xsane is it supports a lot of file/image type.

panorain · February 8, 2026, 2:42am

I’m trying out a free edition of vuescan and the brother MFC-295CN is recognized also produces scans. I’m not exactly understanding why this is also.

deano_ferrari · February 8, 2026, 2:47am

I didn’t consider that option. Good for some users where support exists I guess. VueScan works because it uses its own driver and doesn’t rely on brscan3 or SANE, so it can communicate with your Brother MFC-295CN even on Tumbleweed.

panorain · February 8, 2026, 2:53am

Check out the Vuescan screenshot. Then the scan can have a screenshot taken with Spectacle. So there is no big stamp from using Vuescan free. This is great actually I think.

Thanks for your help with this.

deano_ferrari · February 8, 2026, 2:55am

Use what works for your situation I guess. Thanks for the update.

Sauerland · February 8, 2026, 8:37am

For libnsl1:
Maybe you can use the libnsl-stub1 package:
https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Sauerland:/sane/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/x86_64/libnsl-stub1-2.999-7.1.x86_64.rpm

rjbradlow1 · February 8, 2026, 1:09pm

Maybe a silly question but Did you set it up with a USB cable first?
AFAIK Most must be initially setup with a cable to recognize the proper machine and all features.
Furthermore I believe scanning is only possible via USB.

If you are scanning something you are physically present so scanning over a network is something I don’t think is even possible and networked printing is remote shared by default.

Personally I have a remote brother laser for house printing and I have a brother DSmobile DS-640 scanner that I use when needed.
The driver I have locked in is brscan5 and it works flawlessly with a USB cable.

deano_ferrari · February 8, 2026, 5:16pm

No, that is not required. The Brother scanner driver has a config utility that facilitates discovery and configuration. It doesn’t work here becaue of the dependency issue as already described.

rjbradlow1 · February 8, 2026, 5:38pm

I see, so you have scanned documents via a network connection then.