Replacing an old printer with a shiny new Epson printer I was looking for the Linux print drivers.
In the past, adding an old printer I found the drivers already available within the printer configuration.
Prior to buying the printer I had made some research, reading about drivers available from the Epson website. To be sure had I checked that Epson provide Linux print drivers on their website.
With the new printer connected I opened the system settings printer configuration in KDE. Working thorough the manufacturer and subsequently the list of models, my new one wasn’t listed.
Often the necessary support is included without taking further action.
As a newer model I found this time that the printer model was not listed as an option.
This time to use the printer I would require the drivers either from the Epson website or the Debian repositories.
Drivers can be downloaded on the Epson website by selecting the operating system and printer:
Epson Printer software download
I downloaded the following printer drivers:
- iscan-bundle-1.0.0.x64.deb.tar.gz
- epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.6.2-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
- epson-printer-utility_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
Navigating to the downloads directory I used dpkg to install each package.
First to be installed was iscan.
Iscan is downloaded as a compressed package. This I first extracted:
gunzip iscan-bundle-1.0.0.x64.deb.tar.gz
I was then able to install using dpkg:
dpkg -i iscan-bundle-1.0.0.x64.deb
Next the installation of the print drivers:
dpkg -i epson*.deb
But i encountered a dependency problem:
Package lsb is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source E: Package 'lsb' has no installation candidate
Apparently Debian is no longer supporting lsb, see this news item Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base
Further searching showed that there existed a package in the Debian repository epson-inkjet-printer-escpr.
An easy install:
apt-get install epson-inkjet-printer-escpr
The printer was now found and configured.
On another computer I found that the package was printer-driver-escpr
Interested to compare iscan with xsane I tried starting the program, but it requires the other Epson drivers to function.
