MX Linux Forum

Geez, bummer, this would be the straw that broke the camels back for using MX Linux ...
At the moment I'm pretty frustrated about my printer.
My old printer bit the dust awhile back, so my wife gave me her basic model Epson WF-2010 printer which was a piece of cake to install and work with Mint. I installed her new Epson WF-2630 on Mint a little while ago, basically the same simple procedure. First go to Epson Linux driver download page to fetch the correct .deb file, make sure the required lsb file is installed via terminal, connect the printer without powering it on, click on the .deb file for installation, power on the printer ... print the test page ... and everything is fine. Aside from the graphic chip (AMD for her and Nvidea for me) our computers are identical 6 core setups with 8GB ram.

So now I duplicate the above procedure on my MX Linux 17.1 setup ... appears to work just as flawlessly from beginning to end ... but right now the test page has been waiting to print from the ceue for the past 23 minutes.

I don't know if systemd makes a difference here or not, but because of our vpn service I have to use systemd boot option. The same vpn service works fine on Mint "as is" so my wife is using her Mint setup also "as is" per initial installation. I can try to boot without systemd, though I truly can't imagine that that would make a difference for the printer.

Oddly enough, on my wife's Mint machine the WF-2010 printer installed from beginning to end as a WF-2010 model. But on the MX Linux setup, it's recognized initially as a WF-2010 ... but then brings up the Epson driver list which does not list this model at all. It does list the next one ??? in line, that being the Epson WF-2510, prompting me to use that printer. When all is said and done, the configured printer shows up like it's supposed to in the printer window, as an installed WF-2010 model. It just won't print. No reaction at all ...

In order for us to use MX Linux, both the VPN service as well as the Printers have to be functioning. As stated, quite frustrated at the moment ...

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I'm sure you've consulted the Wiki: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/hardware/printer-drivers#Epson

Well, no ... I haven't had problems installing Brother & Epson printers on various Linux distros for 10 years. Since MX Linux is built on Debian, same as Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint, and others, it never dawned on me that I would have to consult a Wiki after the Epson site already stated black on white ... here are your linux drivers, install, and have a nice day.

I went ahead and uninstalled the file that's mentioned in the Wiki, so the next problem begins, because the Printer still doesn't print. No problem, I'll just go ahead and remove the printer altogether, followed by re-installing the Epson supplied drivers. That did indeed provide me with a notification window that the Epson WF-2010 has been recognized by the system ... search for drivers now?

Uh oh, what do you mean, search for drivers? I just removed the Wiki File and installed the printer from scratch, so there shouldn't be any other drivers to look for. Okay, so I ignore the notification and open up the driver configuration app. From there I select the printer which is already marked as the default, and try to print a test page. Nope, not on this machine. After 2 minutes I delete the print ceue. Then I delete the installed printer, followed by using the "search for drivers now" option from the notification window ... which I had never closed.

That got me a generic printer driver for the WF-2010 (without an actual model name) which I installed. When that was done, everything appeared good to go even though default paper was wrong at US Letter since Germany uses A4 instead. The DPI was set at 60 x 60 ... what the heck ... never seen that before? But okay, left that too. Finished up the process, notification window vanished, and I proceeded with printing a test page ... nope, not with this machine.

I'll be back later, have to take our dog out and then run to an appointment out of town ...

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Have you checked if printer is set to enabled?

Yes, of course. It's enabled. Also, the Wiki page doesn't even apply to this particular printer because the WF-2010 is just a plain ol' printer without the scan or copy function. Here's what the Epson portion of the Wiki states:

Epson

MX-17 comes with the printer-driver-escpr driver already installed which supports many Epson printers using the ESC/P-R language (it's available in the repos for earlier MX versions). Those Epson printers should print "out of the box". If your multifunction Epson will print but not scan, you'll need to get the scanner driver from the link below.

If your Espon printer is not one that works with the pre-installed driver you will need the proprietary drivers from Epson.
Remove the printer-driver-escpr package with Synaptic or Package installer (it can interfere with Epson's print driver packages), then enter your printer model on this page then download and install the three debs:

print driver
printer utility
scanner driver

However, if you follow the Wiki supplied link (which I've had bookmarked for years) to the Epson driver search page for Linux, you'll find that the driver for the WF-2010 Printer is supposed to be functional for literally hundreds of Epson printers, including the WF-2010 that I'm trying to use. I'm beginning to wonder if the pre-installed MX driver is now causing some kind of conflict that I can't get rid of anymore, since I attempted to use both ... the MX drivers as well as the official Epson drivers. Granted, I did remove the other installed printer each time, but isn't that the way of conflicts, to create a problem where non should be?
I obviously can't understand the reason for MX to have it's own drivers, if Epson makes official drivers available for hundreds of their printers.
Wouldn't it make more sense that those "select few non-working printers" are the ones which should have extra drivers downloaded after attempting to use the official ones?
I have no idea what to do beyond this point. Guess I'll see what I can find to remove in Synaptic, pertaining to anything/everything Epson related.

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MX is designed to run with SysV init.
It is entirely possible that your need to run systemd is indeed a problem.

Richard wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 1:04 pm MX is designed to run with SysV init.
It is entirely possible that your need to run systemd is indeed a problem.

Probably not, since I already booted into non-systemd, followed by trying all of the above with and without the official Epson drivers. Results were the same. Printer installed with Epson drivers but didn't work ... deleted the printer, rebooted again into non-systemd, then installed the printer by allowing MX to search for the drivers, got the driver recognized & installed. but still no joy. That's why I believe that I now have some weird conflict in my system.
Due to our vpn service, I'm now back into systemd. I think that I'm done fiddling for tonight, my wife is getting irate because of the hours that I'm spending on this. She wants her time too ...

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Back to basics.. can you get that printer working on the liveUSB?

linwinux wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 12:52 pm Yes, of course. It's enabled.

Are you sure? You might need somtimes (re-)enable a printer within CUPS itself.
Go to the CUPS-Admin page :
http://localhost:631/
You'll find your printer under Adminstration and restart / re-enable!

As a Epson user I have always needed to use googlefu to find drivers.
Open Printing is a good source of drivers for most Epson printers. Here is another download [ http://tinyurl.com/7exox9k ]