Driver Packages for Some Epson Printers

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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Mike Walsh
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#31 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo, rcrsn51 (and everybody else!)

FYI: I run a Stylus SX 218, which works perfectly with the supplied driver from Epson's download page for my model. Curiously, it installs through CUPS initially only with the generic ESCP/R driver, but will use the correct driver if you then go back into 'Admin' and select 'Modify Printer', and select from the drop-down list as you go through the steps again in CUPS.

The point of my post is to let fellow Epson users know about the 'epson-printer-utility_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb' package, which appears to be offered with the majority of the Epson printer drivers. This is basically a Linux version of the well-known Windows 'Epson Status Monitor'; offering ink-levels, head-cleaning, nozzle check, etc. Except instead of being the tiny little thing squashed into a corner of the screen as it appears in Windows, this is almost full-page, and therefore very easy to read.

It also offers the facility to change which printer is being monitored, if you run more than one.

It can be found here, and is a little over 1MB in size. Scroll to the bottom of the page, click on 'Accept', and the page will unscroll a bit further, showing the download. Most of you will want the 'i386.deb' package; this will install by clicking on it, like any .pet package.

For those of you running 64-bit Pups, use the 'amd_64.deb' entry, rather than the 'i386' one.

I've included a screenshot by way of illustration. I downloaded this thing nearly a year ago now, and only just got around to trying it the other night. It runs perfectly in all four of the Pups in my sig! Once installed, you can drag'n'drop it from /usr/bin to the desktop (and 'doll it up' with an icon, if you like!), so you have a launcher within easy access.

Until recently, I've been using a version of 'escputil', which the absent MikeB modified, several years ago, with his own, home-grown GTK+ front-end. I'm offering it here, if anybody else is interested. As far as I recall, you need 'escputil' installed first.

I'm guessing that the Epson 'Status Monitor' printer utility is probably based upon escputil as well.

Apologies if any of this is duplicating earlier postings from previous years.

Hope that helps some of you.


Mike. :wink:
Attachments
capture2343.png
Epson's Linux 'Status Monitor'
(34.48 KiB) Downloaded 987 times
escp_gui2.zip
GTK front-end for escputil. Unzip, and run from anywhere.
(504 Bytes) Downloaded 351 times
printer util gtk front-end.jpg
MikeB's GTK front-end...
(13.11 KiB) Downloaded 885 times
Last edited by Mike Walsh on Tue 19 Jan 2016, 22:44, edited 8 times in total.

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davids45
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XP-200 - Printer Ink Utility

#32 Post by davids45 »

G'day Mike,

Thanks for the new posting of the Epson Utility - it (the .deb version) works 'as advertised' in this TahrPup-6.0.1.

And now I don't have to start up my Windows7 laptop just to check on the ink levels of the wireless-networked XP-200 :D .

If I get the time, I'll see if I can run the utility from my data partition, once I've expanded the .deb package into its own directory, via a dragged sym-link to the desktops in other Pups. Could save me repeatedly installing the .deb in the other Fulls and Frugals on this computer. Or I could try an .sfs for the Frugals?

I wonder how/if this works in 64-bit Pups?

David S.

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Mike Walsh
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#33 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hiya, Dave!

Um. Far as I know, there should be an 'amd64' entry on that Epson page I gave the link to. Give that a try, and see how you get on with it for the 64-bit Pups.

I've now modified my previous post to include the info for the 'amd_64' version for 64-bit Pups.

I included MikeB's GTK front-end (which he kindly let me have) for 'escputil' for the simple reason that some Puppians may consider that a meg-and-a-bit is too much for a simple printer utility. Mike's is much more economically coded, and, although far plainer in appearance than the Epson version, does precisely the same job.....being based upon the same 'backend'.

(Yes, I will confess.....the Epson version is far prettier to look at; but that's probably where all the extra size has come from!)

But that's the Puppy way, of course; choice.

Hope that helps ya! (If you try the 64-bit version, let me know how it works, willya? Don't currently have a 64-bit Pup I can test it on. Cheers!)


Mike. :D
Last edited by Mike Walsh on Thu 21 Jan 2016, 01:45, edited 1 time in total.

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davids45
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Different Pups

#34 Post by davids45 »

G'day Mike,

I quickly tried to run the epson-printer-utility from my data partition (bin file sym-linked to the desktop) to various Pups but nothing worked.

I then began installing the .deb and had luck of both kinds.

Tahr 584, 601 runs
VividPup runs

Tahr-605 failed
Slacko-630 failed
UnicornPup failed
Wheezy failed

I briefly tried the failures from a terminal - Wheezy complained about libc.so.6 being the wrong version.
The others complained about 'child-processes' not being possible and similar messages that I don't understand how to attack, and didn't record :oops: .

I did see the 64-bit version so will try this on some 64-bit frugals.

David S.

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Mike Walsh
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#35 Post by Mike Walsh »

Morning, David.

I'm really not surprised about Tahrpup 6.05 and Slacko 6.3.0. Mick & Phil between them have done a sterling job with both of the Pups, but there's been a major 'sea change' in the way a lot of things work.....and, of course, it's raised a whole new crop of bugs in the process.

UnicornPup & Wheezy.....can't comment; never even looked at them, never mind used them. I've no intentions of looking at UnicornPup or the 'Werewolf' thing in any case; they're both based on later versions of Ubuntu, and those started giving my machine hell a year or so back!

As far as your method of multiple sym-linking is concerned, well; I suspect you may have to accept that certain binaries and apps just aren't amenable to working that way..... Either that, or there's yet more relevant stuff to be sym-linked which you've not yet figured out!

Let me know how you get on with the 64-bit utility.


Mike. :wink:

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davids45
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Ink level utility in older Pups

#36 Post by davids45 »

G'day Epsoneers,

I recently had "fun" fixing the excellent home-network file-transfer package dukto6 so it would run in old Pups where there was a libc version error - Pups with older libc libraries.

By trial-and-erroring (and help from forum member 6502coder), I achieved a script to load just the newer libc files for just dukto, using the LD_LIBRARY_PATH function.

I extracted the newer libc files from a eglibc .deb file and copied these to a location that was NOT on the library-seeking path for Puppy.

The LD_LIBRARY_PATH directs Puppy to first look in this non-usual directory for lib files when executing the script.

I have now found this script will also run this epson-printer-utility in older Pups where I see the same error in the terminal.

The screenshots show:
the error message when trying the unmodified epson-printer-utility
the new lib files copied to a special dukto215 directory
the executable script using the LD_LIBRAY_PATH command to run the epson utility (in /opt)
the successful result showing the ink levels in my networked Epson printer.

David S.
Attachments
image-1.png
error message when trying printer utility in Wheezy-3.5.2.11
(91.71 KiB) Downloaded 727 times
image-4.png
needed libc files for 2.15 version - Wheezy has 2.13 version only
(94.24 KiB) Downloaded 718 times
image-3.png
script to load newer libc files for printer utility
(83.42 KiB) Downloaded 728 times
image-2.png
Wheezy now runs ink level package
(123.65 KiB) Downloaded 732 times

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rcrsn51
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#37 Post by rcrsn51 »

Nice work. It's too bad that Epson doesn't provide the source code for this tool.

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Mike Walsh
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#38 Post by Mike Walsh »

Yes, it is nice work. Well done, David!

I'm now having problems installing my printer in Tahrpup64. I've tried with the 32-bit driver, and the 64-bit one. (And yes, I do have the 32-bit compatibility libraries SFS package installed, and loaded).

This takes me back to my second ever post, when I didn't know a thing about how Puppy worked.

Every time, I'm getting the 'Filter failed' message coming up, when I try a test page. Any ideas, Bill?


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#39 Post by rcrsn51 »

Deleted.
Last edited by rcrsn51 on Thu 28 Apr 2016, 11:57, edited 1 time in total.

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Mike Walsh
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#40 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo, Bill.

Sorry for the lack of info; it's the same old SX218 I've been using for the past 7 or 8 years.
rcrsn51 wrote:You haven't identified the printer model, but the Epson 64-bit packages need

Code: Select all

ln -sf ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 /lib64/ld-lsb-x86-64.so.3 
chmod 1777 /tmp
I take it that'll need to be run in the terminal in Tahrpup 64, yes? Should I uninstall the printer first before running that, and then re-install it again? I'm guessing it'll probably work better like that.

Are those additional packages that need to be installed?


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#41 Post by rcrsn51 »

@Mike: Where are you with this? On the main post, I have introduced the "eppi" tool for installing Epson print/scan driver packages. It also works with 64bit drivers in Tahr64.

In your case, a clean setup of Tahr64 with nothing else installed may be necessary.

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Mike Walsh
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#42 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo, Bill.

Okey-doke. I've had a read of the 1st post; seems pretty straight-forward. Let me ask one thing, though; why would it need a clean, brand-new install for this to 'take'? Just curious... :)


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#43 Post by rcrsn51 »

Mike Walsh wrote:why would it need a clean, brand-new install for this to 'take'?
Because you have installed a combination of 32bit and 64bit drivers, so it's impossible to know what's going on.

A clean install is the only way to reliably trouble-shoot a situation.

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Mike Walsh
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#44 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo, Bill.

Right. Can the same effect be achieved by deleting every single printer/scanner related driver on the system? Or would this not be enough? I mean, if I have to re-install Tahr64 from scratch, I have to; I just don't really want to, since apart from the printer driver, it's set exactly how I want it... :lol:

I'm guessing what you're after is a test-run for this on a fresh install, aren't you?


Mike. :wink:

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Mike Walsh
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#45 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hallo again, Bill.

We have success!

I deleted all my Epson drivers (printer and scanner) through the PPM. I then used pFind to chase down all the extraneous leftovers, and, with the exception of the stuff in the /lib/sane directory (which is native to the system), deleted all the odds & ends. Followed that up by going into the CUPS interface to make sure it was uninstalled...yep.

I downloaded your 'eppi' .pet. Had a read in the other thread about the 'Candi 1-4.pet' to see how you use it; that <Tab> feature is quite handy, especially with these printer drivers, some of which have ridiculously long, complex names..! (And Epson are no exception...) Went into my 'Utilities' folder @ /root/Utilities, which is where I keep all my standard 32- and 64-bit system drivers and stuff that I always install with a new Pup, or other Linux distro. I have a standard Utilities folder I keep on my external Seagate HDD, and with every new install, copy the relevant things across.

Opened a terminal, entered:-

Code: Select all

root# eppi epson-inkjet-printer-workforce-320-sx218_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
....got a delay of a few seconds, then up came....

Code: Select all

Done!
root#
I repeated the process with the scanner 'data' package, followed by the I-Scan driver itself; almost instantaneous..!

Went to the CUPS web interface and installed the printer and set it up, printed a test page.....which worked first time. Bill, this is marvellous stuff. With the 32-bit Pups, I've always had to install initially using your 'escpr-1.40.pet', then modify to the 'WorkForce320' driver afterwards, before she'll behave herself. This just installs straight off. Nice one!

'eppi' has even installed the Printer-Utility at the top of this page. I couldn't get it to install at all with the standard method of clicking on the .deb package...

I don't know how you do it, mate, but you keep coming up with the solutions, don't you? :D Cheers; this is very, very much appreciated. :D

EDIT: Whoops; nearly forgot. For some strange reason, I can't get print sharing to work at the CUPS server. Always comes up with 'Idle, Accepting jobs, Not shared'. Doesn't matter how many times I reset the server settings, and re-start, it still won't come up with 'Idle, Accepting jobs, Shared.' Again, this is the first Pup I've really had this problem with.....and my first 64-bit one.

Any ideas? I notice with Tahr 64, Phil's using CUPS 1.7.5, instead of 'old faithful' 1.4.8. D'you reckon this might have something to do with it? I seem to recall I had this same problem a couple of years back, when I started off in Linux with Ubuntu 'Trusty'.....which was using 1.7.2 at that time. Can't remember what the 'fix' was, though..! :roll:


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#46 Post by rcrsn51 »

Mike Walsh wrote:For some strange reason, I can't get print sharing to work at the CUPS server. Always comes up with 'Idle, Accepting jobs, Not shared'. Doesn't matter how many times I reset the server settings, and re-start, it still won't come up with 'Idle, Accepting jobs, Shared.'
I can confirm this. I messed around with the settings in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf, but I couldn't fix it.

IIRC, there was a discussion about modifying cupsd.conf in new versions of CUPS, but I can't find it now.

Just out of curiosity, if you go to another machine, is the printer actually NOT shared?

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Mike Walsh
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#47 Post by Mike Walsh »

Morning, Bill.

Yes, I thought of trying that myself.....just in case it was being wrongly reported, yet was actually functional. Stranger things have been known to happen!

However, it appears that's not the case this time. It's reporting correctly; it's definitely not showing on the network.

I don't suppose there's a pain-free way to revert to an older version of CUPS, is there? :P


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#48 Post by rcrsn51 »

@Mike: There have always been two methods in Puppy for sharing a locally connected printer across a network:

1. Putting CUPS in sharing mode.
2. Setting up a Samba server to do print sharing.

As you have discovered, the first method has become problematic in new versions of CUPS. I have always found the second method to be wonky, particularly when you get into issues with authentication.

I have decided that the simplest, most consistent procedure for Puppy users is the P910nd server. The setup is trivial and the server can be accessed by any host on your network - Linux or Windows.

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Mike Walsh
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#49 Post by Mike Walsh »

@rcrsn51:-

Thanks, Bill. I'll give this a look-see when I get a chance.

The IPP method works, but it does have its limitations.....like no control over the print job, before sending to the server.

Cheers. As always, I'll let you know how I get on with it. Oh, while I think of it, one question; can p910d be used alongside CUPS, or does it override it? As I understand it, this needs to be installed on the server; in my case, the Compaq PC. The Dell has only one Pup installed now; the Compaq runs 6. Tahr64 is the only one with this problem; in the other 5 (using 1.4.8 ), CUPS works perfectly. Can both methods be used on the Dell, switching from CUPS to p910D as and when needed? In other words, can I set up two different 'printers' on the Dell, and use whichever is required ; p910D for when I'm running Tahr64, and CUPS for when I'm running the others?

Would that work, d'you think?


Mike. :wink:

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rcrsn51
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#50 Post by rcrsn51 »

I think that would work, but it sounds confusing.

Here is the problem with CUPS print sharing over IPP. There are two instances of CUPS running - one on the server and one on the client. But the one on the client just acts as a window into the one on the server. So if the client machine changes a printer setting, like default paper size, it's not clear what is happening. Does that paper size just apply to him? Or did it actually change on the server's CUPS printer, so it also applies to other clients?

This is the downside to running Puppy as root. The client user has permission to remotely modify the server's CUPS setup.

The beauty of P910nd is that there is no CUPS server running on the server machine, just a socket printer. So when the client changes a printer setting, it JUST applies to him.

You can check this by running PeasyPort on the client machine. You will just see Port 9100 open on the server, not 9100 and 631.

The server machine still has a version of CUPS running, but it only handles the server's local printing.

P910nd standardizes your network printing setup. Whether the printer is a standalone WiFi printer or a USB printer shared by a Puppy machine, they are all handled the same way by a client.

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