Epson network printer, filter problem?

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dolly
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Joined: 2018/01/01 09:32:25

Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by dolly » 2018/03/26 17:22:18

For months I've been trying to get the all-in-one Epson printer + scanner (Stylus SX535WD, [link]) to work properly with CentOS 6 (32 bit arch).
It's a network printer, meaning I can decide either to connect to it via USB or over the WiFi.
Now, I tried setting it as a network printer, calling it epson, installing its Linux drivers (.rpm files) which I downloaded many times from different sources including the official manufacturer's website, setting its default options via CUPS 1.4 web interface. Still, it DOESN'T WORK!

For instance I send a job to the printer with "sudo lp -d epson -o media=a4 [OPT] file.odt" but the printer either doesn't accept any job (even if "lpq" outputs "epson ready") or it starts printing odd characters only on the 1st line of multiple pages in spite of file.odt being a 1-page document.

Previous error logs generated in /var/log/cups/ said something about "backend error" and other times "filter" problem. Can you help me? What could be the problem? It seems the printer can't interpret the document I'm sending it.

Maybe I should uninstall previous conflicting drivers. How do I track them?

Code: Select all

[dolly@centos /]$ sudo lpoptions -d epson 
[sudo] password for dolly: 
auth-info-required=none copies=1 device-uri=socket://192.168.1.75:9100 finishings=3 job-hold-until=no-hold job-priority=50 job-sheets=none,none marker-change-time=0 media=iso_a4_210x297mm number-up=1 printer-commands=none printer-info='Epson Stylus SX535WD' printer-is-accepting-jobs=true printer-is-shared=true printer-location printer-make-and-model='Epson Stylus SX535WD Series - epson-inkjet-printer 1.0.1-1lsb3.2 (Seiko Epson Corporation LSB 3.2)' printer-state=3 printer-state-change-time=1522080504 printer-state-reasons=none printer-type=135180 printer-uri-supported=ipp://localhost:631/printers/epson sides=two-sided-long-edge
[dolly@centos /]$ 

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TrevorH
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Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by TrevorH » 2018/03/26 17:43:36

If you want to print a LibreOffice document then you need to open libreoffice and print from there. Using lp with a raw odt file will lead to weird results.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

dolly
Posts: 17
Joined: 2018/01/01 09:32:25

Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by dolly » 2018/03/27 09:21:56

Tried that first -- print queue gave error msg. Said the remote host isn't responding, unable to communicate.
The filter indicated in the /etc/cups/ppd/epson.ppd file (for the root user) is /usr/share/cups/model/Epson[bla bla bla].ppd. Should it be different? Something like "mono..." instead of "Epson..." ? What do you have as filter?

(I have some vague memory of changing some file manually, back in early January; this may have caused some conflict, I don't know...)

aks
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Joined: 2014/09/20 11:22:14

Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by aks » 2018/03/30 10:58:20

If you really want to concatenate to the printer, spool your job in the printer language (PostScript for example) and then cat that file out to the printer. That *should* work.
Otherwise what I'd do is look at the cups admin page (I think it's http://localhost:631 - but Google can help you there) and experiment with the various options presented. Failing that, I'd sent the printer back and buy something that actually works.

dolly
Posts: 17
Joined: 2018/01/01 09:32:25

Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by dolly » 2018/04/03 11:28:17

aks wrote:If you really want to concatenate to the printer, spool your job in the printer language (PostScript for example) and then cat that file out to the printer. That *should* work.
So what cmd would I write? Something like this..?
lp -d epson < cat file1.pdf

aks wrote: Failing that, I'd sent the printer back and buy something that actually works.
I don't think it's the printer's problem, it works fine with Windows. Somehow I must have messed up the filters by manually changing the location of a file or two... Does anyone know how to set the filters for a printer?

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TrevorH
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Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by TrevorH » 2018/04/03 11:48:31

So what cmd would I write? Something like this..?
lp -d epson < cat file1.pdf
You cannot use lp to print files that are in proprietary formats like odt or pdf. You might be able to use it to print a postscript file if you converted it to that first but mainly, you need to use the utility that understands those file formats. Just dumping the entire file to a printer does not work and will not work.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

MartinR
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Location: UK

Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by MartinR » 2018/04/03 17:28:03

You can print OpenOffice files directly to the default printer as follows:

Code: Select all

$ soffice -p --headless <filename>
If soffice doesn't work you may need ooffice instead.

dolly
Posts: 17
Joined: 2018/01/01 09:32:25

Re: Epson network printer, filter problem?

Post by dolly » 2018/04/23 09:45:08

Sorry for the long hiatus, had some urgent stuff to take care of.

Last week I downloaded a newer version of the printer's drivers from Epson's website (epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1.6.20-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm, version "20" for simplicity's sake). Today, strangely enough the same page says no drivers are available for that model, for Linux OSs. A case of planned obsolescence?

This is what I get if I try to install the downloaded file:
[dolly@centos Downloads]$ sudo rpm -i epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1.6.20-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm
package epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1:1.6.17-1.1lsb3.2.el6.i686 (which is newer than epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1.6.20-1lsb3.2.i486) is already installed
[dolly@centos Downloads]$


v.17 is newer than v.20? Can this make sense?

I noticed there were 2 files in /usr/lib/cups/usr/lib/cups/filter/: epson-escpr-wrapper and epson-escpr, now both are missing (yet I've installed v.17 via yum pkg mngr!) In addition, when I last tried to print a file, I got this error msg from the Printer troubleshooting GUI:
Printer 'epson' requires the '/opt/epson-inkjet-printer-201106w/cups/lib/filter/epson_inkjet_printer_filter' program but it is not currently installed
I used to have that directory in /opt/ but eliminated it in the hopes of a future clean install of cups and the printer drivers. Now I can't download any driver (not even the old ones!) from the manufacturer's website. I'll try searching http://www.openprinting.org and see what turns up.

So, how can I do a clean install of the printer drivers and fix this problem once and for all?


Addendum

I downloaded the 'original' printer drivers from openprinting.org, and this is the mess I got embroiled into:
[dolly@centos Downloads]$ sudo rpm -i epson-inkjet-printer-201106w-1.0.1-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm
[sudo] password for dolly:
warning: epson-inkjet-printer-201106w-1.0.1-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 8aa65d56: NOKEY
package epson-inkjet-printer-201106w-1.0.1-1lsb3.2.i486 is already installed
[dolly@centos Downloads]$ sudo rpm -e epson-inkjet-printer-201106w-1.0.1-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm
error: package epson-inkjet-printer-201106w-1.0.1-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm is not installed
[dolly@centos Downloads]$


Now, how do I get rid of all these pkgs and start afresh? That's all I ask at this point...

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