Canon LBP 2900B Not printing

[Pawel]

I am very new to linux (just installed!) and already have problems getting my printer to work (sadly canon i-sensys lbp2900b). I have followed these instructions multiple times but at the final step, following 'su' command it shows authentication failure. Does anyone know if there is anything else that can be done to install this printer?

[Kester]

Pawel,

You may find this thread on this forum useful: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=332788.

Try what it suggests and report back. There are likely alternative solutions if that thread does not provide a solution for you.

[Pawel]

Hi Kester,

I have followed the instructions in the link you provided however this is where after placing final 'su' command I receive communicate 'authentication failure'. I may add I use linux mint 20.2 64 bit system.

[Kester]

Hi Pawel,

What drivers are you using and from where did you get them?

I have found drivers at https://driverscollection.com/_48644014 ... 86_64-free and checked the latest 64 bit version with the Virus Total online scanner and it comes out clean so is safe to download if you require it. These drivers are quite old so I guess the printer is fairly old too so does not have Canon's own drivers - Canon was slow to provide any support for Linux distributions.

The drivers come in a tar.gz package so need to be extracted. Inside the package are folders for the 32 bit and the 64 bit drivers, the SRC folder and the Doc folder. The latter contains a tar-gz package of the guide and two text files including the README. There is quite a bit of reading to do both in the RedMe text file and in the guide files. Apparently you need to install two files cndrvcups-capt_2.70-1_amd64.deb and cndrvcups-common_3.20-1_amd64.deb. It should be possible to install these by double clicking.

Before doing any of this though you will probably need to clean out (uninstall) the drivers you have already attempted to install. It might also be worth allowing Mint to check if it can find the appropriate drivers for you before attempting any further installation: connect and switch on your printer, go to Menu > Settings > Printers and click the 'Add' white cross on a green background symbol and see if your printer is recognised in the left hand pane of the new window that appears. If it does, click it.

If none of this helps then one of the experts who frequent this forum may well be able to sort you out. If still no luck, if you have the original Windows drivers for your printer and Windows operating system installation media, you could install a virtual system manager in Linux Mint, run the Windows system in it and run your printer from the Windows virtual system.

[pdc_2]

so these class of printers need the Canon CAPT drivers; we had an LBP that printed fine on 64bit Mint 18; and all previous versions. Canon used to re-jig the driver as each new longterm release of Ubuntu came out; but have not done so in the last year or so. I could not get the CAPT driver to work for Mint 20. I did not need the enormous pile of 32bit drivers that some folks advise to install; in previous versions of Mint.

[Pawel]

Thank you Kester and pdc_2 for your input in this thread. I tried to install the drivers you have put the link for in your reply however it shows me an error and information I already have later drivers, which I previously installed directly from canon website (CAPT Printer Driver for Linux V2.71) (initially installed 2.71-1_amd64.deb, then cndrvcups-common_3.21-1_amd64.deb, also followed instructions in video in the initial link and reinstalled them during the proceedings in the video).
What is quite funny in this situation is that after initial plugging the printer to the laptop linux mint finds it immediately and automatically installs under correct name (when pressing printers icon in configures it as lbp2900) but sadly printer does not work at all.

I have also tried to manually add the printer by menu->settings->printers->add->generic CUPS-BRF->Canon->lbf2900 with same negative result.

The only solution that works so far (I really need the printer so for me it is no go to use linux without) was buying OTC cable and printing documents from my android phone using printshare app. It is not ideal but works as a temporary measure.

Like I said I am new to Linux but really want to give it a go, if not finding reasonable solution will have to consider either buying new printer just for linux or going back to windows sadly. I'd rather not have 2 systems installed on fairly old laptop that anyway is meant mainly for zoom/office work/microsoft teams.

I hope somebody will be able to come here with some more ideas!

[Kester]

Hi Pawel,

I'm sorry you still have been unable to get your printer running but there is an alternative strategy that is not over complicated.

I mentioned before about using a virtual machine program like Oracle VirtualBox which would allow you to run a Windows operating system within Linux Mint. If you have the installation media for a Windows Operating system and Canon driver installation media for your device then you would have the best of both worlds if you set this up on your Linux Mint system. There is a bit of a learning curve to get through with VirtualBox but once that is sorted you can access your data files to load into compatible Windows programs run your printer from the virtual Windows, and print your data files. I have done something similar so that I can use my old Canon Canoscan 4200F flatbed scanner - I have installed Windows XP Pro in VirtualBox, installed the Canon software and drivers and installed a set of Windows programs that are compatible with those I use in Linux Mint. By setting key folders in Mint to be accessible in XP I have been able to achieve what I wanted. Note that Windows XP and later Windows operating systems up to 10 are not supported for security updates by Microsoft so it is wise to disable the internet connection within the unsupported Windows system but that is easy and does not affect Mint's internet capability.

[Pawel]

Thank you Kester for your help and sorry for late answer. My laptop had pre installed windows and can recover it from start up menu somehow but I'd rather keep only mint and for now use mobile for printing and await for solution on mint. To my understanding will be best to look for drivers update on Canon website.

[pdc_2]

To my understanding will be best to look for drivers update on Canon website.

I think you could be waiting a long time there Pawel; Canon were very good at updating their CAPT driver;

but 15th May 2017 was the last update;

as new printers are airprint-compatible and "driverless", I think you are unlikely to see Canon releasing a new CAPT driver