How to install Canon MX870 wireless printer?

Question

The printer installs just great but print jobs only get held in the print queue.

How can I get it working? I use Ubuntu 13.10

Answer 1

If anyone is still looking for this in Ubuntu 16.04 here is how I did it:

1. Found a package with the text 'bjpnp' using:

   apt-cache search bjnp
   

2. Installed the only package containing that text: cups-backend-bjnp

   sudo apt-get install cups-backend-bjnp
   

3. Went to Settings > Printers > Add Printer and expanded the Network printer section on the left. After a couple of seconds my printer appeared there. I clicked on it, clicked next, and configured my options.
4. I had an issue with the source of the paper, but fixed it in configuration.
5. Print!

Answer 2

I was able to get the printer to work in Ubuntu 15.04, I'm sure the procedure is similar.

First I used "avahi zeroconfig browser" to get the information necessary to get the printer up and working. When I ran the browser, I found an entry for Canon MX870 series_96F40AF11E06 under canon-bjnp1._tcp

When I selected this entry I got the value of Address: 96F40A000000.local/192.168.0.114:8611

Next I noticed that on ubuntu 15.04 I didn't have the bjnp protocol installed. In the Ubuntu Software Center, I did a search for BJNP and found the "Printer backend for Canon BJNP protocol". If you install that, when you go back to add the network printer, you get a new option called "Canon Network Printer". You'll notice it gives you the beginning of the url as bjnp, complete it to bjnp://96F40A000000.local

Then continue to select the model of the printer from the list, and do a test print. Seems to work fine.

To get the scanner functionality working, you can also edit /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf and add the same url in the bottom of the settings file.

Note I chose to use the link local address instead of the IP address so if the DHCP server updates the ip, the configuration will still work.