Using an .rpm packaged i386 driver on an LMDE amd64 system
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 2:03 am
I've got a Dell 2155cdn http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... redirect=1 colour network laser printer which I'd like to be able to us from an amd64-based system, running Linux Mint Debian Edition Update Pack 5 (2012.09.17).
Dell claims support for Red Hat and SUSE, and provides a driver as an i386 .rpm file. I figured I'd probably be able to do something with that to get the driver out.
I tried to convert the .rpm on the Dell CD to a .deb file using the command-line program alien, but alien doesn't like to mix architectures:
However, I really want to print from my LMDE amd64 system. I tried to install the same .deb files on my amd64 system using dpkg:
Any thoughts on what needs to be done to get this driver working?
-- B
Dell claims support for Red Hat and SUSE, and provides a driver as an i386 .rpm file. I figured I'd probably be able to do something with that to get the driver out.
I tried to convert the .rpm on the Dell CD to a .deb file using the command-line program alien, but alien doesn't like to mix architectures:
So, I tried the same on an old netbook running Linux Mint 11 Katya, and alien worked without a hitch, creating a .deb file, dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb. I installed the .deb on the netbook, and I was able to install the printer and print from the netbook right away, worked like a charm.brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$ sudo alien /media/DELL/Linux/Dell-2155-Color-MFP-1.0-1.i686.rpm
Warning: Skipping conversion of scripts in package Dell-2155-Color-MFP: postinst postrm
Warning: Use the --scripts parameter to include the scripts.
/media/DELL/Linux/Dell-2155-Color-MFP-1.0-1.i686.rpm is for architecture i386 ; the package cannot be built on this system
brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$
However, I really want to print from my LMDE amd64 system. I tried to install the same .deb files on my amd64 system using dpkg:
So, I tried adding the --force-all switch to dpkg, figuring that a printer driver is probably identical regardless of the underlying system architecture:brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb
dpkg: error processing dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb (--install):
package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
Errors were encountered while processing:
dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb
brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$
So, this installed the package, the --force-all switch also forcing dpkg to ignore dependency problems. However, the dependencies listed above are in fact all met. My system has:brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i --force-all dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb
dpkg: warning: overriding problem because --force enabled:
package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
Selecting previously unselected package dell-2155-color-mfp.
(Reading database ... 316342 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking dell-2155-color-mfp (from dell-2155-color-mfp_1.0-2_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: dell-2155-color-mfp: dependency problems, but configuring anyway as you requested:
dell-2155-color-mfp depends on libc6 (>= 2.1.3).
dell-2155-color-mfp depends on libcups2 (>= 1.4.0).
dell-2155-color-mfp depends on libcupsimage2 (>= 1.4.0).
dell-2155-color-mfp depends on libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1).
dell-2155-color-mfp depends on libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1).
Setting up dell-2155-color-mfp (1.0-2) ...
brodi@kitchen:~/Downloads$
- libc6 2.13
libcups2 1.5.3
libcupsimage2 1.5.3
libgcc1 1:4.7.1
libstdc++6 4.7.1
So, the drivers work fine on an i386 system running Linux Mint 11 Katya, which probably has not had a single update in over a year. They do not work on an amd64 system running LMDE Update Pack 5.Status Messages
There are status message associated with this queue.
The printer's state message is: '/usr/lib/cups/filter/Dell_2155_Color_MFP/DLM_MF failed'
Any thoughts on what needs to be done to get this driver working?
-- B