cannot print or add printers

[fxonly]

Hi all,
I have LMDE 3 installed on a USB drive running on my MSI CX620 laptop.

it has been a while since the installation but just recently I needed to print something and was surprised that the "Administration -> Printers" option in the cinnamon menu is missing.


researching this led me to a solution that I need to install 'system-config-printer-gnome'. unfortunately , it does not install, here is what i get:

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sudo apt-get install system-config-printer-gnome 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 system-config-printer-gnome : Depends: packagekit-system-interface
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I have another PC running Mint (19.1 , not LMDE3) , printing is OK on it. what am I missing ?/

[axisofevil]

Have you tried http://localhost:631/ in your browser - this should take you into CUPS.

[fxonly]

Have you tried http://localhost:631/ in your browser - this should take you into CUPS.

thanks @axisofevil , this helped . .. using the browser link, I was able to add a printer and successfully printer a pdf document using my pdf reading application.

so printing functionality works, but so far only using the localhost:631 link

[Monsta]

There's no system-config-printer-gnome package in Debian repos, it's only in Ubuntu. Did you add some Ubuntu repos to your LMDE system...?

[fxonly]

There's no system-config-printer-gnome package in Debian repos, it's only in Ubuntu. Did you add some Ubuntu repos to your LMDE system...?

Hi @Monsta , no I didn't add repos, but I am using LMDE 3.

[Monsta]

That screenshot shows it's Mint 18.1 "Serena", based on Ubuntu 16.04 "Xenial Xerus"...

[fxonly]

That screenshot shows it's Mint 18.1 "Serena", based on Ubuntu 16.04 "Xenial Xerus"...

strange, I did not change that. what url should I put instead?
from my search I found others using it.

[Monsta]

What would these commands say?

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inxi -Sr

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cat /etc/linuxmint/info

[fxonly]

What would these commands say?

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inxi -Sr

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cat /etc/linuxmint/info

here is the output:

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(base) myuser@myMint:~$ inxi -Sr
System:    Host: myMint Kernel: 4.15.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena 
Repos:     Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/neovim-ppa-stable-xenial.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/neovim-ppa/stable/ubuntu xenial main
           2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/neovim-ppa/stable/ubuntu xenial main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com serena main upstream import backport
           2: deb http://ge.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://ge.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://ge.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-tor-browser-xenial.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/tor-browser/ubuntu xenial main
           2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/tor-browser/ubuntu xenial main
(base) myuser@myMint:~$ cat /etc/linuxmint/info 
RELEASE=3
CODENAME=cindy
EDITION="Cinnamon"
DESCRIPTION="LMDE 3 Cindy"
DESKTOP=Gnome
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_cindy_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_cindy.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=help:linuxmint
GRUB_TITLE=LMDE 3 Cindy

[Monsta]

Well, this is a weird setup. You have repos and base-files package from 18.1, mint-info-cinnamon package from LMDE 3, and Cinnamon 4.0 from either 19.1 or LMDE 3.

[axisofevil]

It's not recommended that you add any Ubuntu packages into LMDE3, since LMDE is directly based upon Debian.
Also, you should not be trying to install any PPA's...

LMDE3 does have a program - system-config-printer - normally launched as a GUI option.
It's probably worth trying to install the package of the same name (which will probably drag in about 3 associated packages).
Even though you don't appear to have any LMDE repos, but do have at least one Mint repo...