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I just installed Ubuntu 13.10, and I can't configure my wi-fi Epson TX430W printer.
Using the Settings->Printers interface, I can detect the printer. When I click add, I briefly see a "Searching for drivers" dialog. It dissapears, and then I'm left with the printer forever in "Installing" status.
If I close the window and reopen Printers, it doesn't show up on the list.
How can I solve, or at least diagnose the problem?
I opened a terminal and launched system-config-printer, the old configuration interface. I followed the steps until I was presented with 3 driver options for the printer.
system-config-printer dumps data about these drivers to the terminal, in particular the URL for the deb file served by Epson. I manually downloaded and installed the driver.
With the driver pre-installed, the normal configuration process worked perfectly.
For me, the network printer on 13.11 GUI (fresh install) was stuck regardless if I selected the "download driver" (gutenprint) or not. I did sudo apt-get install printer-driver-gutenprint, but it didn't help. A temporary fix: starting
system-config-printer
in the terminal and pressing Ctrl+C when the dialog freezes I was able to get through to the next dialog step, where I could see the manual selection list. The recommended setting (generic printer driver) worked fine.
Those problems were not present in the version 10.04.
Workaround on 15.10: install the driver manually first
# Clean up messy state we were left in.
sudo killall -9 system-config-printer.py
sudo rm /var/cache/debconf/*.dat
# Search for the driver
apt-cache search epson-inkjet-printer | less
The packet description contains the model name. E.g., I have an XP-202, so my package is:
epson-inkjet-printer-201202w - Epson XP-30/102/202/205 Series - Epson Inkjet Printer Driver
The 201202w also shows on the GUI when you get to choose which driver to install.
Now just:
sudo apt-get install epson-inkjet-printer-201202w
system-config-printer
And add the printer normally.
Launchpad bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/system-config-printer/+bug/1307917
apt-cache search, then manually installed it according to your instructions.
– Roberto
Dec 1 '15 at 1:12
For people who are getting this issue now, Seiko Epson Corp. has provided a free software (GPL license) printer driver package for Linux that supports a large number of Epson printers. It looks like it supports the TX430 series as well. (https://www.openprinting.org/driver/epson-escpr)
It's available to Ubuntu as printer-driver-escpr.
Step 1: Clean up files so that we can install printer drivers without errors regarding debconf/config.dat being locked. (Thanks Ciro!)
$ sudo rm /var/cache/debconf/*dat
Step 2: Install printer-driver-escpr.
$ sudo apt-get install printer-driver-escpr
Step 3: Start up your printer utility and select your printer.
Step 4: Choose to install a "Local Driver", select the model closest to your printer, and continue.
You should now be able to use your printer. Verified on LXLE 14.04, derived from Lubuntu/Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
