@Richard Thanks for replying. I will try adding the printer & scanner with an over the network connection. As for command line work, I do not know what script I should use to make the connection.
Edit: Additional software needed, no drivers could be found in Debian repositories. Until that software is found, I am unable to print.
Edit 3: The settings/devices/printers area does see the printer on the network. However, even with the drivers directly installed from EPSON using a shell script, it still only prints blank pages.
Edit 4: I just tried printing again, and the print signal does go through, but it doesn’t print the actual “Test print page” text I created in Text Edit. The only printed thing is the number “8” on the page. No scanners detected either (i.e. “No Devices Found”).
If possible, it may be better to do the printer over the network but the scanner via USB. However for where you are at the moment, it doesn’t sound as if much will work regardless.
Edit: I have no idea where to start with that webpage or how to troubleshoot this kind of problem.
Edit 2: After I am in a much better financial situation personally and professionally, I wouldn’t mind buying a Purism Laptop for testing purposes; definitely not for production purposes. Especially if I can get my current printer to play nice with with the Purism OS.
Edit 3: In my search for Linux-Friendly Printers, I did find a printer compatibility page on the Linux Foundation website. My fathers’ theory is that my EPSON ET-3760 (“Eco-Tank”) is too new. I checked the following page and he is correct, my printer is not yet listed; https://www.openprinting.org/printers
Edit 4: from a quick search of that database list, it seems that USB connections are working more smoothly than over Wifi, even for color print jobs. I only checked the EPSON “ET” series printers listed.
Check out the information at the link I provided. There is a lot of useful information and links on installing and administering printers and scanners. Also, make sure you are a member of the ‘lpadmin’ and ‘scanner’ groups: id [username]
If you are not a member of these groups, add yourself to them: sudo usermod -aG [groupname] [username]
HP and Epson printers and scanners have always had good Linux support. Also read about driverless printing.
Some of these replies have been informative. I meant to check with my printer yesterday but I got distracted. I will try tomorrow afternoon when I am off work and see if I too have any issues. I’ll have to dust off my printer since I haven’t used it in awhile
@ErraticEagle Have fun. I will look over those recent resources given over the weekend. Since rcu mentioned that HP and EPSON have good linux support, that is somewhat a bit of relief. Now I will just have to figure out the mechanics in the command line to make it happen.
@kieran I tried using the normal GUI for the printer. No luck with that one. The only thing that prints is the number “8” in upper left corner of the paper. Not the actual dummy text I created in Text Edit.
I do not know why it will print only that number. I also need help in troubleshooting. Could the number “8” be an error code?
With about zero information to go on … I would suggest that the computer is sending crap to the printer because the computer is not fully aware of what it is supposed to be sending. Unfortunately I have no experience with Epson printers so I can’t tell you what “languages” given models of Epson printer speak.
Assuming that you are communicating with the printer via the network, another factor to look into is what application protocol is being used. A very common choice is “raw” on port 9100. Other choices would be lpd / lpq (traditional Unix printing protocol), SMB (traditional Microsoft Windows printing protocol), IPP. So can you tell us what protocol and port (where relevant) is being used?
I downloaded the Scanner ‘Driver All-in-one package’ and unpacked it. It contains only scanner driver and scanner utilities. You also need to download and install ‘ESC / P-R Driver 2 (generic driver)’ and ‘Epson Printer Utility’ for the printer.
@kieran Sure: Based on EPSON Specs, the following is given:
TCP protocol RAW Port 9100 (Local)/any port (remote port); Control These Operations: Forwarding Raw Data
IPP/IPPS TCP protocol Port 631 (Local) /any port (remote port); Control these operations: Forwarding AirPrint data (IPP/IPPS printing)
Edit: To install those generic printer driver and utilities, it is saying that I need to install “lsb” package first. Yet command line says “Package “lsb” is not available, but is referred to by another package.”
Edit 2: I downloaded the necessary printer driver & printer utility. Now I just need to figure out how to install the LSB package it is referring to. You will see the “install package LSB” comment after clicking on “Accept” and read the directions.
