Printer setup on Debian Live

[cmo]

Hello, I am in the early stages of moving from Windows to Debian. I'm on a steep learning curve! I have successfully downloaded and booted my PC from debian-live-10.9.0-amd64-standard.iso I want to be sure I can get everything working before I pull the plug on my Windows system. I am struggling to get my Epson WF-3520 printer working. Nothing at all was showing in settings->devices->printers. After much research and experimentation I did:
sudo apt install cups
sudo service cups start
Great excitement as I saw that my printer had appeared in settings -- printers. Sadly though it still doesn't print. Nothing happens when I try to print from LibreOffice. I have found a driver package on the Epson site, *.deb (the one OpenPrinting.org says to use), but I cannot figure out how to install in or if I even need to. I tried going to the cups webpage but it does not load properly, I just get a page of code.
Apologies in advance if I am asking silly questions or have gone down completely the wrong path! If anyone can help, I'll be very grateful!

[arochester]

https://lescahiersdudebutant.arpinux.or ... ig-printer ?

[cmo]

Thank you so much, arochester, for the link. The manual is incredibly helpful. I'll keep it close by over the next few weeks!
I have read the printer setup section carefully and I still cannot print. Having installed and started cups, my printer appears in system config with exactly the right name and location and says, "Ready". However, I have tried to print from both LibreOffice and Firefox. In each case absolutely nothing happened (no error or success message, no printout). I then tried to print a pdf from Firefox and this time was shown two options: "Print to file" or "Epson_IPP_Printer", with my location and a status of, "Rejecting jobs".
Next I tried the cups web interface. The Printers screen says, "No printers". I went to the Administration page and tried "Add Printer" but it asks for a username & password. I tried user/live but this was rejected.
I'm not sure what to do next? Do I need to try to load the driver from Epson? Is it worth persisting with the cups web interface? Does anyone know how I get in from Debian live?

[cmo]

I have found good instructions for installing the Epson driver but it depends on LSB, which I see Debian has not supported since 2015, so I can't install it. Is there a way around this? I'm not mega keen to install a proprietary driver, but neither do I want to write off my printer just yet! Maybe I'm completely going in the wrong direction? Maybe the problem is not with the driver?

[arzgi]

Code: Select all

#apt install printer-driver-escpr

[FreewheelinFrank]

Your printer is not in the database of IPP printers, so you need printer-driver-escpr from repository AFAICS.

[arzgi]

Thanks for confirmation.

[FreewheelinFrank]

Thanks for confirmation.

Sorry. Faffing about on my phone for so long trying to compose an answer that you had posted in the meantime. For some reason the warning that somebody else had posted didn't appear.

[cmo]

Thank you, @FreewheelinFrank and @arzgi, for your help! I installed printer-driver-escpr but still no joy. From settings->devices->printers I can see my printer but still nothing showing in options. Test print does nothing. In set up, a driver is shown but if I click on search for driver nothing is found. I installed system-config-printers but I can't run it as the user/live login is not accepted. I changed the root p/w and tried again. This time I got "Cups server error". I hit retry and got not authorised. Any ideas welcome! Thank you for you patience with a Debian Linux newbie!

[arzgi]

After installing the printer-driver-escpr package, open browser (Firefox or what you use), open page localhost:631

There you should see cups network page, where you can manage printers.

To add new printer, you must be in lpadmin group. To check this, open terminal and do:

Code: Select all

$ groups
$me dialout cdrom floppy sudo audio dip video plugdev staff netdev bluetooth lpadmin

I gave command groups, which list the groups I belong.


If you are new to Linux, perhaps here is enough for one time. If you get it done, me or someone else will guide you forward.

[Bulkley]

The problem with setting up peripheral hardware is just that, the hardware. The OP's problem can be in his computer or in the printer or any of the hardware in between. When I installed our printer I went around the bend in frustration only to find a setting in the printer that was refusing to accept input from my computer. If memory serves me, it had something to do with rapid timeout.

If you can get into the printer's software using another computer or cell device set a permanent address. It should look something like 192.168.1.20. From then on you can set up CUPS using that address.

[arzgi]

Good to check if a hw device is recognized.
Disconnect the device from the pc. Open terminal, check output of lsusb, then plug it back in, and again lsusb.

EDIT. An if not listed in the lsusb -output, try different usb-ports, check the printers leds/display.

[Shamak]

A trick that has worked for my EPSON XP-4100 is to add the third line to the /etc/hosts file.

Code: Select all

127.0.0.1           localhost
127.0.1.1           <computer name>
192.168.1.123   EPSON123456.local

where you replace 192.168.1.123 with the printer's address and replace EPSON123456 with the name of the printer. I found the printer name on the LCD printer display under Settings > Network Settings > Network Status > WIFI Status. I use the Gnome desktop which automatically sets up the printer once I've added that line.

[cmo]

Thank you so much for all the posts and helpful advice. My printer is now working!