Linux Format forums

guy · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 6:41 pm Post subject: Printer install ignorance

Dumb bunny question, this should be real easy to do. And I mean real one-click easy, like it is on a certain other OS. RTFM might get me the answer eventually, but I have tried - and TFM is probably less penetrable than the actual problem. And look how long it takes to explain the problem - read on:

I have a new printer on my network (Epson WorkForce WF-7015 inkjet), and have downloaded the Linux driver from the supplier website. This is an RPM (deb not available), which my Debian system should nowadays be able to cope with. But what to do next:

- If I double-click the RPM I start browsing it and get options to do things like unpack it, not install it.

- If I open Synaptic, it doesn't point at my local HD and of course this drive is not on the list of standard locations.

- If I start the printer admin toy to install a new network printer, I get three device options all with my printer's name. One asks to confirm the host IP and set the Queue to PASSTHRU, whatever that means. The other two ask to confirm the URI, which is subtly different in each case (one inserts something to do with the pdl datastream into the path). I have connected it into my Ethernet router and it also has WiFi, which might explain at least two of those options.

Each tool is easy enough to click through and has its own user guidance, but these don't connect into a seamless HowTo - these toys interact and nothing I can find anywhere on epson, debian or any other resource site explains these interactions.

Last time I fumbled my way through my printer got stuck in draft mode and no amount of uninstalling/file deletion/reinstalling would clear it, I would have had to wipe my HD and start again. So, I am wary now of screwing up and having to do just that.

So, if I go ahead with the network printer selection, will it barf because I haven't installed the driver yet, will it ask for the driver at some point and accept my RPM, or might this driver be already rolled into the printer install system, so I didn't need to download it after all?

Or, do I need to install from the RPM first, and if so then how?

I am sure that one of those questions has a really dumb bunny answer that resolves everything. So, you Linux gurus you, which is that key question and what is the magic answer?
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Guy
The eternal noob

Ram · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 7:40 pm Post subject:

Don't you need to have alien installed for Debian to work RPMs.
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roseway · LXF regular Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:27 pm Posts: 402

Why not download the appropriate deb version from the Epson site?

download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/du/02/DriverDownloadInfo.do?LG2=EN&CN2=&DSCMI=16865&DSCCHK=31d4b58e76c6933a9c516d115bae68fa827be827

(Sorry that it doesn't show as a link - just paste it into the browser)
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Eric

guy · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:24 pm Post subject:

The deb is named *_amd64.deb while the RPM is named *x86_64.rpm. I assumed that my Intel 64-bit x86 CPU therefore needed the one labelled up for it.

However it has since been suggested to me that this is a false assumption and the distinctive filenames are a cultural issue not a technical one. Silly wabbit, surely everybody knows that. Sad

OK, so I now have a .deb file, otherwise still exactly the same problem as before. Where do I go from here?

[Update] Browsing the deb download I found a readme which says it is is a filter program for CUPS. Does that help define what I should do next or have I dug deeper than I need?
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Cheers,
Guy
The eternal noob

wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:37 pm Post subject:

sudo dpkg -i whateveritiscalled.deb
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guy · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:18 pm Post subject:

wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:47 pm Post subject:

Don't use Debian, so no idea. It varies.
In Ubuntu, for example, double-clicking on a .deb file launches the software installer, same in Opensuse for .rpms.
Recently being doing a lot of headless server stuff, so dpkg and apt-get are used a lot.
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guy · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:00 am Post subject:

That gave me an idea. I right-clicked the .deb and the menu offered me "Open with GDebi package installer". Ooh!
Tried it: "Error! Wrong architecture 'amd64'". Ouch!

So - did I get a duff lead about x86_64 and amd64 or is GDebi giving me the runaround?
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Guy
The eternal noob

Dutch_Master · LXF regular Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:49 am Posts: 2353

That depends what you have installed. Is it 32 or 64 bit Linux? There is indeed a distinct difference between x86_64 and AMD64. The former is usually intended for the Intel server architecture, whereas the amd64 is more suited for desktops/workstations. Yes, even the Intel ones Razz

The dpkg tool has a --force option to install a package on a mismatch architecture. Try that, then fire up Cups again (http://localhost:631) and step though the installation routine once more.

nelz · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:26 am Post subject:

x86_64 and amd64 are two names for the same thing. The architecture was originally found in the 64 bit AMD processors, hence the name. When Intel started using thr same instruction set they came up with their own name for it, but x86_64 was used as a generic term. Since distro repositories were already set up to use the amd64 term, it has stuck, but the packages work with any x86_64 CPU.
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wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:51 am Post subject:

It would seem that although you have a 64bitcpu, you have installed the 32 bit version of Debian, which is OK, you can do that, just not the other way around.
So you need the 32 bit .deb, which will probably be something like
*x86_32.deb, or even just *x86.deb
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Ram · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:35 am Post subject:

Try this one epson-inkjet-printer-201115w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb
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guy · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks all.

I have kernel 2.6.32.5.686 so yeah, I installed 32-bit on my 64-bit box. Didn't realise I had done that!

OK, it'll be a couple of days before I get time to try the 32-bit deb, in the mean time thanks again.
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Guy
The eternal noob

guy · Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 5:40 pm Post subject:

OK, so now I have a couple of 32-bit drivers: a -386.deb and a -486.rpm.

Just a reminder that my OS is debian with kernel version for -686.

Back to the numpty questions: does it matter that the x86 versions are: a) different to the OS, and b) different to each other? Can I confidently do as Ram suggested and go with the -386.deb?
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Guy
The eternal noob

towy71 · Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 6:57 pm Post subject:

The driver you need is here: http://linux.avasys.jp/drivers/lsb/epson-inkjet/stable/debian/dists/lsb3.2/main/binary-i386/epson-inkjet-printer-201115w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb

and to install