13.10 network Epson printer stuck on "Installing"

Question

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?

Solution 1

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.

Solution 2

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.

Solution 3

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

Comments

[web.learner]

I can't find any information on a TX430W... When and where did you get it?

[web.learner]

Ah, I found it. It appears to only be sold in Latin America. Epson itself doesn't have an Linux drivers for this particular printer.

[slezica]

@Seth thanks, yes, I live in latam. I'm now trying to manually install the generic drivers, without the graphical interface. If this fails, I'll update the post

[Ian Clark]

Mine was just a case of 3rd time lucky. I had to kill the installer the first time, the second time I was asked if I wanted to use gutenprint and it proceeded to do nothing, then finally I selectef gutenprint and it Just Worked™

[Roberto]

Thanks! I opened system-config-printer to see the driver name, instead of using apt-cache search, then manually installed it according to your instructions.