How to use Epson XP-2105 printer in Bionicpup32-8.0+28?

[Chelsea80]

Hello All,

My setup is:
OS = PuppyBionic32-8.0+28 - Frugal on internal Hard Disk.
Laptop = Gateway.
Printer = EPSON XP-2105 (2100 Series) - Connected by USB lead to Gateway.
Action= Click to print from LibreOffice Writer 6.2.8.2 a one page text file to test - Also used the Test Print in CUPS.

Result = Printer spits out a blank page.

Done so far = Set EPSON printer in CUPS and checked all settings in LibreOffice.
Have read numerous 'How to install'.
Searched forums.

So if anyone can help out I would welcome your input.
Please bear in mind to keep it as simple as possible. A 1 2 3 walkthrough would be great.

Best regards

Chelsea80

[mikewalsh]

@Chelsea80 :-

Mm. O-kayyy....

I'll assume you're aware that you need to download & install the Epson Linux driver for this series, yes? If not, you'll find it here:-

http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/du/02 ... 18373ed45c

If you also need the scanner driver - Epson insist on installing these as two separate packages, despite being in one chassis! - you can find that here:-

https://download2.ebz.epson.net/imagesc ... deb.tar.gz

You're getting the easy option nowadays; the scanner driver is an all-in-one package. For my elderly SX-218 (fore-runner of the WorkForce-series), it's 3 packages.....and they MUST be installed in a specific order, since each package relies on the contents of the previous package already being present on the system.

Doncha just lurve the Japanese, huh?

------------------------------------------

If you've already performed this step, let us know, and we'll proceed to the next step. Epsons almost never function with the built-in CUPS 'Gutenprint' drivers.....unless you have a very early Epson. And I'm talking here 35+ yrs ago..!!

These are both direct download links, BTW.

Over to you...

Mike.

[Chelsea80]

Hi mikewalsh,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
Right here we go -
Had a look at your lead and have decide to do this:
Install the same OS onto my intergral USB 3.0 32GB. This way if I bugger things up then it's not the end of the world.
I promise I will try to work things out for myself before I have to take you up on your 'next step' offer.
As I'm not a million miles from your location it's getting rather late for me now so the install will have to waite - watch this space.
After thought, it would be nice if a spell checker was available to use in these posts, then I wouldn't have to proof read 4 times before I hit the Submit buton.
Thanks again.

[mikewalsh]

@Chelsea80 :-

Right you are. Let us know how you get on, please. Epsons are pretty straight-forward when you know what you're doing with 'em.....and I've never used anything else. Perhaps a bit agricultural, compared to some, but they have a reputation for just chugging away near enough for ever.....

They're good printers, IMHO.

Mike.

[bigpup]

it would be nice if a spell checker was available to use in these posts

Check for spell check option in what ever browser you are using.
Pale Moon browser->Prefences has spell check.

Screenshot(3).jpg (17.79 KiB) Viewed 922 times

.
.
If you spell something wrong.
It will put a red line under the word.
Right click on the word and correction spelling options, will be give to select from.

[Chelsea80]

@bigpup
Thank you for your lead. My browser is Firefox V 91.0.2 (32bit).
After having a hunt round, I have activated the spellchecker, so now I can type to my hearts content.
Any spelling errors are underlined in red with the choice to correct. Great.

@mikewalsh
Thank you for you lead. This is what I did:

Installed OS to USB - Downloaded and installed epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.7.17-lisb3.2_i386.deb on USB.
On download page It said "in order to install these drivers, you need to install LSB package (version 3.2 or later) beforehand".
The download has lisb3.2 in its title so I guess it was included.
Used Terminal (# Apt Install LSB and Apt Install LSB) but Bash came back negative on both.
Also used pFind file finder using LSB as search All files. Again negative.

Added EPSON in CUPS - but
CUPS was asking for a PPD file to be provided. I think that stands for PostScript Printer Description. As far as I know I haven't got one of those.
The EPSON did appear in the Printer Added page.
In CUPS tried a Test Print and received - Stopped "Filter failed" - message.
In LibreOffice tried to print my 'one page text file' and - nothing, not even a blank page this time.
The EPSON did appear in the LibreOffice printer choice menu.

So, I am at your 'next stage' because I can not think of what to do with my very limited knowledge in (Puppy) Linux.

At the risk of being boring, please remember to KISS, thanks.

Best regards to you both

Chelsea80

[Chelsea80]

@mikewalsh

Hello Mike,
Well I have no hair left now. Pulled it all going round in circles trying to fix this printer problem.
It seems as if I'm not the only one as this post from gusfagan shows, although a different printer is used.
So I'm ready for your 'next step' if you are, thanks.

printer filters
1 post • Page 1 of 1

gusfagan
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 5:22 pm

printer filters

Post by gusfagan » Tue Jan 26, 2021 3:39 pm

System: Bionicpup; Printer: HP Laserjet M15w (M14-M17); HPLIP 3.18.4 installed from PPM; Printer installed (rendering completed). Printing doesn't happen because "filter failed". Help please.
gusfagan
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1 post • Page 1 of 1

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[geo_c]

Well now, I went and did a silly thing. I bought an Epson ET-3170, because I liked the refillable bottle ink format, and the DPI was really good, and I figured CUPS could drive it. Apparently from some web searches, the "filter failed" error is pretty common, and appears to be caused by various different factors on different distros and different versions of CUPS and affects printers of many makes and models.

Seems the logical place to get answers is from the Puppy Community. I'm running Fossapup64 with CUPS 2.3.1, and I downloaded the Current EPSON linux drivers, which appear to install alright, in other words all the Epson drivers show up in CUPS browser gui. Apparently the Linux Driver is an all-in-one package deal, where about 50 printer drivers are included in one generic package. As it stands I can load the proper driver and get the "filter failed" error when trying to print a test page, or I can use one of the incorrect pre-loaded CUPS drivers, and get the printer to spit out unending blank pages.

But printing a simple document is still out of the question. I'm considering returning this printer today instead of trying to fix CUPS. I'm doing my testing on an 'experimental' save directory so I don't botch up the system too much.

[mikewalsh]

I'm afraid my experience with Epsons doesn't encompass the newer generations of X- and E-series printers. My own SX218 is around 10 years old, and I'm still running it in most Puppies with date-related drivers from when it was on the market. These work fine - for the most part - though I'm also having the 'filter failed error' in the currently booted Pup, Bionicpup64. These drivers work fine with its predecessor, Xenialpup64.....and its successor, Fossapup64.....but I've never been successful with either version of Bionic!

Previous experience to this was under Win XP and older.....where my older Epsons "just worked". So I, too, want to find out what's going on here.

(*shrug*)

Mike.

[Chelsea80]

@geo
Hello fellow frustrated 'won't print'. Sorry to hear of your problems. Good luck in returning your printer!

@mikewalsh
Thanks for your reply. We must stop sharing this tube of glue around so no one else gets stuck.

@Puppy Community
There must be someone out there that can come up with a lead as to how to overcome this problem. He says hopefully.
I will keep trying (hate to give in), and If I come up with a fix (by the looks of it sometime in 2028) you will hear my shout of "YES".
Until then please post what you have tried, in order that I can do the same. Every thought leads to another thought.

My hope is that peebee cruises these post every now and then. With the knowledge and experience gained an answer might be forthcoming.
Even if it's 'No chance' to put me, and others, out of misery.

Best regards to you both

Chelsea80

[geo_c]

@Chelsea80

A lesson in CUPS compatibility.

I returned the Epson, and there was very little in stock at Staples, so I chose the HP-OfficeJet Pro 9020e series. A very stinking fast printer! But CUPS only had a driver for a very ancient series (OfficeJet Pro 1107.) It printed but made every page very small no matter how I set the page fit options. I went to the HP website, downloaded and tried to install the linux hplip.8.run script. No Go!

So I went to the Puppy Package Manager to see if there was an available package, and in Ubuntu universe there was! I installed it, and opened up Cups and every HP printer driver known to mankind was available, including mine.

It works!

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

Epson are a funny bunch. They're founding members of the Linux Foundation, along with MyCrudSoft, Google, Crapple and several other massive tech "names". They've been producing Linux drivers for a very long time; first through their subsidiary, Avasys, then more recently by themselves since Avasys went belly-up a few years ago.

But to any enquiries via normal channels, their answer is invariably, "Sorry! We don't DO Linux drivers..." They most certainly DO produce 'em. But the onus is on the prospective user to track them down. Epson have a large download site, where the option to access the Linux stuff is there alongside every other OS. But from their main site, every link provided carefully bypasses the 'front' search page, instead taking you deeper into the site from the get-go.....

As I say, a funny bunch. Almost as if they're ashamed to be seen providing all these ne-er-do-wells and 'hackers' (the public perception of Linux users) with drivers in the first place.....despite staking their claim to a place in the Linux eco-system from the very early days (as mentioned above).

It doesn't quite "gel", somehow....

Mike.

[Chelsea80]

@geo_c

Well done you. Now your problem is solved. Happy printing.

I used PPM (after updating database) to see if an Epson printer driver was available, no direct luck.

So used the search panel in PPM, 'Epson printer driver' and it came up with:

printer-driver-escpr_1.6.17-2 [ubuntu-bionic-universe] printer driver for Epson Inkjet that use ESCP/P-R

I wish that it is not assumed that everyone knows what ESCP/P-R means.
Maybe ESC means Escape and maybe P-R means Page or Paragraph Return. Maybe!

Anyway I used PPM to auto install to my USB, more in hope than conviction, to try when I have time.
Fingers crossed. I am using my USB as a test bed.

@Puppy Community

With such a large Puppy community base out there perhaps someone has the knowledge and/or experience to throw some light on this.
Whatever you have tried with your Epson please post your 'effort' in order that I can try it too. Every thought leads to another thought.

@mikewalsh

Yep, a complete minefield.

Best regards all.

Chelsea80

[geo_c]

@Chelsea80

Yes, it helps to know the name of the driver. I used the ppm search to find the file that HP had listed: hplip

The search also indexes the description, so maybe a search for 'epson' would have done the trick.

[Chelsea80]

Well that didn't work.

@geo_c

Tried your lead by searching just for Epson in PPM and ended up with three options:

escputil a maintenance utility for Epson Stylus - mine is Expression Home.

mtink Status monitor tool - already built in to Epson menu.

The one I auto installed - which didn't make any difference.

Back to square one methinks.

Will keep trying (very trying).

Best regards

Chelsea80

[geo_c]

@Chelsea80

Yes as I was experiencing the Epson drivers, it seemed they were installed correctly, all showing up in the driver list inside the CUPS browser GUII. I chose the correct driver but still came up with 'filter failed' error. So that's why I gave up. An internet search for 'filter fail' gave me every conceivable workaround discussion, with script editing etc. None of the solutions seemed to address anything consistent. One post said that it was an Upstream CUPS gutenprint issue. So I figured that since the Big Box Store told me I could return it if I didn't get it to work, well that's what I would do. I'm not one to return purchases. I usually just eat it and deal with it, but not this time. I wanted to print!

I suppose if you have some disposable income, knowing that all the HP printer drivers are available with a quick package manager install, switching brands might be the way to go. Sad though. That Epson printer I returned really was a nice machine. Print quality was stellar really. That was my impression just from printing the test pages.

[rcrsn51]

Contrary to some comments in this thread, there is nothing wrong with the Epson Linux drivers. But software should be run on the platform for which it was developed and Epson does not build packages for Puppy.

Sniping at Epson will not solve the problem.

[Chelsea80]

Hello rcrsn51

I understand your opinion.

Please be good enough to be specific as to which post(s) caused you annoyance.

As I understand, and I am willing to be corrected, Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) is a conduit between OS and Printer.
It redirects the chosen print job to the designated printer via the required printer driver for that printer.

I am simply asking if anyone knows of a way to facilitate that union in order that I might make use it.

As far as I can determine Bionicpup32-8.0+28 (which is my OS) comes with CUPS Version 2.2.7
The CUPS web site gives the latest Version 2.3.3 as of today.
Perhaps, or perhaps not, that is the reason, not being technically minded.

I actually hold EPSON printers in high regard.
Before my EPSON XP-2105 Expression Home I had an EPSON Stylus D68 Photo Edition which served me well for many, many years.
This did not have a scanner so I upgraded.

Best regards

Chelsea80

[01micko]

You could try the drivers I posted a while ago here. (get the Xenial version - I haven't tested but might just work)

[mikewalsh]

@rcrsn51 :-

Contrary to some comments in this thread, there is nothing wrong with the Epson Linux drivers. But software should be run on the platform for which it was developed and Epson does not build packages for Puppy.

Sniping at Epson will not solve the problem.

I guess I must have been lucky with the date-related drivers I use with this particular SX218 printer/scanner unit. With the sole exception of Bionicpup, they have always just "worked" for me.

Trying later drivers over the years, as they've been released, has always proved to be something of a mixed bag. These particular drivers are the specific release that was out at the time the Stylus SX218 was on sale in the stores; as long as I stick with these, I never have any problems.

Mike.