Need help installing Epson WF-3520 printer driver - SOLVED!

[UltraNewbie]

I am an absolute newbie to anything involving command lines or installing anything that's not straight from the built-in Software Manager.

System info: Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7
wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

So at http://download.ebz.epson.net I searched for the Linux driver and got this list (with a "Download" button to the right of each file):

File name File size
epson-inkjet-printer-201212w-1.0.0-1lsb3.2.i486.rpm 1.61 MB
epson-inkjet-printer-201212w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb 1.61 MB
epson-inkjet-printer-201212w-1.0.0-1lsb3.2.x86_64.rpm 1.64 MB
epson-inkjet-printer-201212w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb 1.64 MB
epson-inkjet-printer-201212w-1.0.0-1lsb3.2.src.rpm 2.17 MB

Great. Now what? Do I download all of these? Or just one? If one, which one?

[pdc_2]

so that device is airprint-compatible; so it should not need an epson driver; Mint may have set it up already: are there any icons in your PRINTERS folder already?

is the printer set up as wifi to your router?

does it show up on

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driverless

and

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lpinfo -v

... so you need to open a terminal; (black tv screen by menu icon); paste the commands into the terminal; (right-click at the flashing icon in the terminal, and select paste from the option)

or use control-shift-v keys ...... and copy is control-shift-c .............. easy??

[UltraNewbie]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I never got the expected message from the forum that my first post had been approved.

I have never used the printer wirelessly and do not want to. However, when I first turned on my new laptop (which had Linux Mint installed by the refurbisher/seller) the printer showed as an available printer when I went to try to print a document. I had plugged the printer into the laptop via USB. I actually have two identical printers, in two locations about 1000 miles apart, and the new laptop somehow saw *both*. However, nothing would print regardless of which "copy" of the printer I selected, either via USB connection or wirelessly. Also, these printers are shown with the model name/number of both the printer AND my older laptop (EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510; EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510_2) -- I have no comprehension of how this could happen (this newer laptop has never been within 1000 miles of one of these printers). Both printers show as options in the print dialog window and as icons in the PRINTERS folder The newer laptop that I'm seeing them on, and want to print from, is a Latitude E5570.

Re your specific questions "Does it show up on . . . ", I'm afraid I need to be led through how to look that up.

My previous/still-in-use laptop has Linux Mint 17.3 (again, installed by the refurbisher/seller), and I had a computer repair/service shop install the printer from the disk that came with it (they already had the laptop in their shop, as they had recovered my files from a WinXP that had gone Blue Screen Of Death, and were loading them onto the new-to-me Linux Mint laptop). However, they told me I would probably have to do something else, with the printer actually connected to the laptop, in order to get the scanner (and possibly other functions which I've never wanted to use) to work. Indeed, the print function worked fine, but no scan function was available -- only needed to scan rarely, and just plugged the printer into my old WinXP laptop (brought back to life by the shop) to scan -- I had installed all the printer functions ontp that laptop from the disk. So the printer's scanner is in working order, but I've never been able to use it with Linux Mint because I don't know how to install it.

I really need to get my new laptop fully functional, with printing and scanning functions working via USB connection. The printer that is currently in the same location as the new laptop is the one shown with "_2" at the end of the description. When I print from the Latitude E6510 via USB, I always have to select to correct "copy" of the printer, depending on which location I'm in, otherwise the document will just stay in the print queue for the other printer. For the foreseeable future, when I'm in the other location, I will be using my phone for an internet connection, so no router involved (and I've confirmed that this set-up works to print from the Latitude E6510 to the Epson printer in that location). In my current location, I am accessing the internet via a wireless router from a hard-wired internet service. And as I said, I really just want to be able to print via USB in both locations. I still have the installation disk available, and have an external disk drive available to use with the new laptop, if that would be the best to way to get the printer set up on it.

Please help! I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere right now, and even if I could find a trustable/LinuxMint-knowledgeable service place in the area, if getting this to work right requires the printer to be in the same place as the laptop, that starts to get seriously impractical.

Thanks in advance,

Desperate UltraNewbie who really, really doesn't want to give up and start using Windows again

[brian_p]

Re your specific questions "Does it show up on . . . ", I'm afraid I need to be led through how to look that up.

pdc_ 2 has given clear instructions on copying and pasting the commands he gave into a terminal. Otherwise, you type them in from the keyboard. After doing that. press the ENTER key. Now copy and paste what you see to a post to be sent here.

[UltraNewbie]

... so you need to open a terminal; (black tv screen by menu icon); paste the commands into the terminal; (right-click at the flashing icon in the terminal, and select paste from the option)

or use control-shift-v keys ...... and copy is control-shift-c .............. easy??

Thanks for the instructions. I have never used the terminal before, so not sure I'm doing it right.

When I open the terminal, I see administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ following by the flashing icon. Pasting "driverless" there and hitting Enter just yields another line of administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ Pasting lpinfo -v there and hitting Enter yields somewhat different results depending on whether the printer is powered off, or on, or on with USB connection:

(with printer powered off)
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ driverless
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpinfo -v
network beh
network ipps
network https
direct hp
file cups-brf:/
network ipp
network http
network lpd
network socket
network smb
direct hpfax
network dnssd://EPSON%20WF-3520%20Series%20%40%20user-Latitude-E6510-2._ipp._tcp.local/cups?uuid=6226bc2f-89ad-3007-4d07-209c10b92741
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

(with printer powered on, but not connected to laptop via USB)
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ driverless
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpinfo -v
network beh
file cups-brf:/
direct hp
network http
network lpd
network ipps
network ipp
network https
network socket
network smb
direct hpfax
network dnssd://EPSON%20WF-3520%20Series%20%40%20user-Latitude-E6510-2._ipp._tcp.local/cups?uuid=6226bc2f-89ad-3007-4d07-209c10b92741
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

(with printer powered on and connected to laptop via USB -- the way I want to use it)
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ driverless
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpinfo -v
direct hp
network https
network socket
file cups-brf:/
network beh
direct usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1
network http
network ipp
network lpd
network ipps
network smb
direct hpfax
network dnssd://EPSON%20WF-3520%20Series%20%40%20user-Latitude-E6510-2._ipp._tcp.local/cups?uuid=6226bc2f-89ad-3007-4d07-209c10b92741
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

Sending a test document to the printer (with the USB connected) just puts it in the print queue, where status shows as Pending and never changes. Another issue I noticed is that when I try to set the printer Properties (from the Print dialog window) before printing the document, under the Device tab, for the category "Print Color Mode" I can choose Monochrome or Color, but under the Print Quality category the only option is Normal. When I use this printer from my older laptop, there are three quality choices, and only High produces acceptable results.

Also, correction to my previous post: I checked the installation disk and it has only Windows and Mac options, so the installation that was done on my older laptop by a service shop must have been from an Epson source online, not from the disk as I had misremembered.

Thanks for trying to help me!

[UltraNewbie]

One additional bit of info: With printer powered on and connected with USB, when I hover over the printer icon in the lower right info bar, the message reads "Status: No suitable destination host found by cups-browsed".

[brian_p]

Please power down the old laptop.

Now, in a terminal, execute

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lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7

with the printer connected to the new laptop. Give us the output.

[UltraNewbie]

Okay, with old laptop powered off, and printer powered on and connected to new laptop via USB:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
bInterfaceClass 7 Printer
bInterfaceSubClass 1 Printer
bInterfaceProtocol 2 Bidirectional
iInterface 6 USB2.0 Printer
can't get debug descriptor: Resource temporarily unavailable
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

Thanks!

[brian_p]

Okay, with old laptop powered off, and printer powered on and connected to new laptop via USB:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lsusb -v | grep -A 3 bInterfaceClass.*7
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
bInterfaceClass 7 Printer
bInterfaceSubClass 1 Printer
bInterfaceProtocol 2 Bidirectional
iInterface 6 USB2.0 Printer
can't get debug descriptor: Resource temporarily unavailable
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

You are doing well with the supply of info, UltraNewbie. This tells us you cannot use ipp-usb (look it up). It was not unexpected, but was worth a try. Don't worry, we have another technique!

Install printer-driver-escpr:

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apt install printer-driver-escpr

Give the output from

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lpinfo -m | grep WF-3520

[UltraNewbie]

Install printer-driver-escpr:

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apt install printer-driver-escpr

Give the output from

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lpinfo -m | grep WF-3520

Okay, done. Result is:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpinfo -m | grep WF-3520
escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd Epson WF-3520 Series, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

Still not printing.

What do I do next?

[brian_p]

Okay, done. Result is:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpinfo -m | grep WF-3520
escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd Epson WF-3520 Series, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

Still not printing.

What do I do next?

What do you do next? You take the final steps .

escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd

is the PPD for your printer.

Earlier you gave

usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1

This is the URI.

Now set up a print queue with

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lpadmin -p WF3520 -v "URI" -E -m "PPD"

Substitute for URI and PPD from above. Do not type URI or]PPD.

Here is the complete command

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lpadmin -p WF3520 -v "usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1" -E -m "escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd"

Check it. Then test printing with

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lp -d WF3520 /etc/nsswitch.conf

[UltraNewbie]

Here is the complete command

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lpadmin -p WF3520 -v "usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1" -E -m "escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd"

Check it. Then test printing with

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lp -d WF3520 /etc/nsswitch.conf

Not exactly sure what you mean by "Check it". I put the first command in the terminal, and the result reads:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lpadmin -p WF3520 -v "usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1" -E -m "escpr:0/cups/model/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr/Epson-WF-3520_Series-epson-escpr-en.ppd"
lpadmin: Printer drivers are deprecated and will stop working in a future version of CUPS.
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

. . . which sounds a bit ominous.

Then I put in the second command. Result in terminal:

administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$ lp -d WF3520 /etc/nsswitch.conf
request id is WF3520-13 (1 file(s))
administrator@administrator-Latitude-E5570:~$

And the printer PRINTED (yay!):

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the 'glibc-doc-reference' and 'info' packages installed, try:
# 'info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.

passwd: files systemd
group: files systemd
shadow: files
gshadow: files

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname
networks: files

protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files

netgroup: nis

Now, the choice of printers I see (both in the print dialog window and in the Administration>Printers window) is the original two (EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510; EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510_2) and a new one which is just labelled WF3520. I was able to print a test document from that new one. Definitely progress!

Now for the bad news. The print quality option has completely disappeared from the print dialog window for the printer labelled just "WF3520" (and also is not available in Printer Settings) -- on the new laptop, the other two visible printers still just show "Normal" as the only option, but for "WF3520" there's just no Print Quality category at all. The test document I printed was clearly defaulting to either Normal or the even worse one (I think it was called Draft), and is definitely unuseable (barely legible text, and absolutely no way I could print a functional boarding pass with this setup). I also don't see any option on the printer itself to set the print quality.

I tried using the troubleshooting function from the Administration>Printers window, but that doesn't give any quality or color options at all -- just automatically prints a test page, which came out perfect in full color and high quality (this gives me hope!). I also tried looking in the Administration>Properties>Printer>Properties, but again there is no option to choose print quality.

Things are definitely moving in the right direction, under your knowledgeable guidance, but sadly can't declare success yet. Assuming we can figure out how to get the print quality issue fixed, I'm hoping we can then get the scanning function working (as previously noted, that was never working on my older Linux Mint 17.3 laptop; only had it working on my older-older WinXP laptop).

Thank you for all your help so far. Do you have any ideas how to fix the print quality problem?

Gratefully & hopefully,

UltraNewbie

[brian_p]

You came to this forum being unable to print. You can now print. Please mark the topic as [Solved] by editing the subject in your first post..

When you have done that, I will turn my mind to considering any subsequent issues.

[UltraNewbie]

Okay, done. Thanks for getting me this far.

Do I need to start a new thread?

[pdc_2]

Do I need to start a new thread?

I would suggest you don't

Now, the choice of printers I see (both in the print dialog window and in the Administration>Printers window) is the original two (EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510; EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510_2) and a new one which is just labelled WF3520. I was able to print a test document from that new one.

I would suggest you delete the two that do not work; and I assume in MAKE AND MODEL in the WF3520 icon (that works?) ..that it says "printer-driver-escpr"

Is that so?

[UltraNewbie]

Okay, I won't start a new thread. Thanks for coming back to this thread. brian_p helped a lot, but I'm still not really able to print in a useful way.

Re deleting the other two printer IDs, I really rather not at this point. The new one doesn't show up on my old laptop, and I don't really understand how those printers showed up on the new laptop. Right now I don't want to do anything that could possibly mess up my ability to print from the older laptop, since that's currently the only way I can print anything legible. And with the old laptop (still my "daily driver" until I can get the new one fully functional) I've needed both of the original printers available to choose from, as the one with the _2 at the end is the only one that works from my current location, and the one without the _2 at the end is the only one that works in my other location 1000 miles from here. And I'm planning to keep my old laptop as an emergency backup (though after my new one is fully functional, if I can get up the courage and if you very helpful helpers have enough patience, I may try to upgrade it to LM 20.3). In the mean time, I can power down the old laptop again if you think that would help.

Now, about the "MAKE AND MODEL" of the new/partly-working-on-new-laptop WF3520. When I go into Administration>Printers, highlight that printer, and open the Printer Properties window (which opens with the Settings "tab" visible) the information in there is as follows:

Description: WF3520
Location: [field is blank]
Device URI: usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593130353492&interface=1
Make and Model: Epson WF-3520 Series, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux
Printer State: Idle [printer is currently powered on]

Other "tabs" in the Printer Properties window include Printer Options and Job Options, and neither shows any print quality options. The Printer Options tab shows the choice of "Ink" as Color or Monochrome. In the working setup on my old laptop, the print quality options show up in this Printer Options tab (as Draft, Standard, High) and also in the print dialog window when printing a specific document. From the new laptop, when I look at the Printer Properties>Printer Options for the original printers (labelled EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510; EPSON_WF_3520_Series_user_Latitude_E6510_2), and also in the Options from the print dialog window for a specific document, Print Quality appears but the only option is "Normal" (though this option appears with the little downward arrow to the right like a pull-down menu with multiple choices normally does).

That's all the potentially useful information I can find/think of.

Thanks for helping! It is very much appreciated!

[pdc_2]

well; if an icon in the PRINTER folder does not work; not clear why it helps to keep it there

___________________
in your very first post, you mentioned

epson-inkjet-printer-201212w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb 1.64 MB

and it is what Epson call the full feature driver

I suspect what brian helped you install was what is called the generic driver;

Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux

I wonder if the full feature would give you more features; I guess one can only explore and find out;

if you find the needed driver from here http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/ and double-click to download, gdebi should intercede and offer to install; accept that; it should do two things 1) register the printer with lpadmin and 2) install the drivers; not sure if the install will allow you to choose a name; but a new icon should appear in the PRINTERS folder; if you identify it; you can rename it as you wish; you can explore if it has more features; to what extent would you wish to do what is suggested above?

[UltraNewbie]

well; if an icon in the PRINTER folder does not work; not clear why it helps to keep it there

Since I don't understand how those two printer icons got onto the new laptop in the first place, I'm worried that deleting them from the new laptop could somehow disable/delete them from the old laptop and leave me with no real printing ability. I sort of understand how the printer that is actually present in my current location could have managed to give itself an icon on the new laptop, but am quite baffled as to how the printer that is 1000 miles away got its icon to take up residence on the new laptop. These things are very very scary to an UltraNewbie If these stray icons aren't really doing any harm, I'll sleep better if they stay there for now.

___________________

in your very first post, you mentioned

epson-inkjet-printer-201212w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb 1.64 MB

and it is what Epson call the full feature driver

I suspect what brian helped you install was what is called the generic driver;

Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux

I wonder if the full feature would give you more features; I guess one can only explore and find out;

if you find the needed driver from here http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/ and double-click to download, gdebi should intercede and offer to install; accept that; it should do two things 1) register the printer with lpadmin and 2) install the drivers; not sure if the install will allow you to choose a name; but a new icon should appear in the PRINTERS folder; if you identify it; you can rename it as you wish; you can explore if it has more features; to what extent would you wish to do what is suggested above?

That seems like it would make sense. I take it the driver you named above is the correct one from the list of 5 that I posted, that were the Linux options among the results when I searched for WF3520 drivers at http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/ . You said that installing this would "register the printer with lpadmin", and I don't know what that means. Will I need to repeat this process when I'm in my other location with the other printer? Whatever my long ago service shop did to make the basic printing (but not scanning) functions work from my old laptop to the first one of these printers that I bought (used), did *not* need to be repeated at all when I acquired the second printer (also used). When I connected the second printer to the old laptop via USB, it just magically gave itself a name on the old laptop with "_2" added to the name of the first printer, and I was immediately able print with all the same options that were available with the first printer.

Before I forge ahead and try to install this full feature driver, it occurs to me that it might be helpful for you to see the Make and Model and other info from Administration>Printers>Printer Properties>Settings as shown in the *old* laptop, since this is the only setup that has given me the different print quality options:

(for the currently present "_2" printer icon)
Description: EPSON WF-3520 Series
Location: user-Latitude-E6510
Device URI: usb://EPSON/WF-3520%20Series?serial=515A47593138313353&interface=1
Make and Model: Epson WF-3520 Series - epson-inkjet-printer 1.0.0-1lsb3.2 (Seiko Epson Corporation LSB 3.2)
Printer State: Idle
(only difference in the info for the not-present printer is the serial number in the Device URI, and the Printer State shown as "Stopped - Unplugged or turned off")

I also noticed that the Location -- which is blank in the new printer icon on the new laptop -- is given as user-[old laptop model], and that's also how the Location is shown for the old printer icons on the *new* laptop, i.e. still the old laptop model info.

Let me know if you have any other wisdom to share before I try installing the full feature driver. I'm not going to try that before tomorrow morning, as my brain is fading fast and demanding that I go to bed now.

Thanks again!

[pdc_2]

epson-inkjet-printer 1.0.0-1lsb3.2 (Seiko Epson Corporation LSB 3.2)

so you have what Epson call the full feature driver installed where you quote it as being installed

[brian_p]

As UltraNewbie said:

...but am quite baffled as to how the printer that is 1000 miles away got its icon to take up residence on the new laptop.

Let's try to unbaffle you .

On the old laptop execute

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lpstat -t

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sudo cupsctl