https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

When I went into Linux, there were help threads on line for any given distro.  No manuals, the Linux manuals that existed were all about typing command line stuff and that wasn't something I was ever going to do.

As a matter of fact, I went with Linux Mint Mate because it was 100% based upon a cohesive neatly and plainly laid out graphical interface which was used all the way through the distro.   There was NO NEED to type any command line code, ever ..... Still, as a Mint newbie there was no book to refer to when points of deeper curiosity came up and something may have needed a quick answer.

Mint was easy to use.   Mint "just worked" --- and this motto has been used by Linux Mint since it was a puppy and their stated goal and intent was that it always "just worked" better than any other distro and by golly I think they have actually achieved this goal, by and large.    

Specifically, for somebody coming from XP and Windows 7 Linux Mint Mate has kept all the drop down menu constructions and quick key combinations you were used to using in Windows and they have maintained them to this day EVEN AS MICROSOFT HAS STARTED TO LOSE TRACK OF THEM IN WINDOWS 10.   Yes, Linux Mint Mate "just works" better than today's Microsoft OS, really,  .......   and Linux Mint Mate is FAR and AWAY more reliable and easier to live with, really.

There are no UNPLANNED surprise weekly work stoppages while your OS plays around at endlessly updating itself, there are no features that get unexpectedly broken one after another, there are no blue screens of death, ever ....  and with Mint you pick when you update your software.

If you get in a panic you can always type CONTROL-ALT-DELETE so you instantly see the little menu you expect to see pop up so you can shut down any bad programs or network problems and get yourself away from a bad web site that has gotten you all caught up and trapped --- you can always get yourself out through an optional restart or shutdown after hitting an instant CONTROL-ALT-DELETE combo keystroke.

But still there was no big thick instructional reference book ...... it wasn't totally NEEDED, but it wasn't there either.   As a lack, it was both livable and forgiveable.

That was then, and this is now ......

Now the BIG INSTRUCTIONAL REFERENCE BOOK is available, for free, in PDF format.   You can print the manuals out, or else look at them on line.  I bookmarked the pages on my phone so I would have a separate tool in case the computer ever stopped cold or locked up (not that this is ever likely to happen).  The topics are all covered (deeply enough) with the understanding that you can hit help at any time in the program itself to get help associated with where you are in the program.

https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

Have you gone on the forums (the printer forum, obviously) and having shown that you read the basics have you ever asked your question?

I did that and the resident expert posted a line of command line stuff that fixed me right up.

Sight unseen, your laptop is not the same animal as your desktop and has a different set of drivers making it go (or not go as the case may be).

For example, the Brother printer in question for my printer issue started out originally as a serial port printer then the later versions moved over to USB ----- but the Linux drivers were all written originally for the original version with serial port communications.   The drivers and all would load, but simply not do anything (sound familiar any at all ????)

A line of command line gibberish posted by the expert fixed me right up .....

Not for me and my student paper printing college teaching wife anyway .....   The kids submit their papers to Turn it In.com and she pulls them up by batches (getting a cover page saying how much of each paper is plagiarized) then she prints them and grades them on real paper.    

She brings reams of paper from school and I buy Brother laser cartridges by the case .....