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Epson Inkjet Printer Driver for Linux Manual

Last modified : 2011.12.21

A table of contents

1. End User License Agreement (Terms of Use)
2. Overview
3. Support
4. Supported Printers
5. Notes/Limitations
6. Usage Information
     6.1. Installing the software
     6.2. Registration of Printer to CUPS
     6.3. Deletion of Software
     6.4. Deletion of Printer from CUPS
     6.5. Printing method
     6.6. Printing Setting
     6.7. List of conflicting printing options
7. Trademark Notice



1. End User License Agreement (Terms of Use)


This package includes source codes which are distributed under GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 (COPYING.LIB). This package also includes objects codes which are distributed under the conditions of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT(COPYING.EPSON). Please refer to each license files for the details.

Seiko Epson Corporation reserves the copyright of the binary files which are included in the sources. These binary files are distributed under SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT.

This software is distributed free of charge and without warranty. Seiko Epson Corporation won't be held liable for any loss or damages that may be incurred as a result of the use of this software.



2. Overview


Epson Inkjet Printer Driver is a printer driver software to print with high quality from Linux by using a Epson made inkjet printer.

This software is a special driver for CUPS (http://cups.org/).
Epson Inkjet Printer Driver operates on Linux distributions which supports Linux Standard Base(Hereafter “LSB”)3.2 (x86/x86_64). This document explains setting method of Epson Inkjet Printer Driver and usage procedure.



3. Support


There is no official support provided for this software.

  • For information regarding printer hardware, repairs and replacement parts, please contact your local Epson dealer.
  • If you have received this software through a Linux distribution, please consult the distributor, they may offer direct support.



4. Supported Printers


Epson Ink Jet printers.



5. Notes/Limitations


  • In order to install Epson Inkjet Printer Driver, you need to install the package of LSB 3.2 beforehand.
  • If a printer is connected before this software has been installed, printer drivers other than this software might be registered on CUPS in some cases.
    If printer drivers other than this software are used, the registrations of these printers need be deleted once. Then, a printer will be connected again after this software is installed.
  • If a printer is registered correctly in CUPS, strings such as "Seiko Epson Corporation LSB 3.2" and "epson-inkjet-printer" are displayed in Make and Model as below.



6. Usage Information



6.1. Installing the software


You can install the package of this driver software by using package manager, etc. Or you can also install this software package by opening a terminal and using command lines input.
Note:The following commands needs to be performed as a root privilege.

Installation of RPM package

# rpm -i epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>-<Version>.<Architecture>.rpm

Installation of DEB package

# dpkg -i epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>-<Version>_<Architecture>.deb


6.2. Registration of Printer to CUPS


After installing this software (the printer driver), you connect and turn on the printer. After a while, the product name of the connected printer is automatically registered on CUPS. If a printer is not registered automatically, the printer needs to be registered manually as follows.

  1. You turn on a printer and you connect the printer to PC by a USB cable
  2. You can connect to CUPS server (Port: 631) on browser Example: When CUPS is on localhost, access the following URL.
    http://localhost:631/
  3. Select [Add Printer]
  4. Enter a setting name of a printer on "Name" and select [Continue] (Other items are not mandatory)
  5. Set USB as "Device" and select "Continue"
    Example: If you use a printer which name is EP-901A, you see "Model" is displayed as below.
    "EP-901A USB #1(EP-901A)"
  6. Select Model Name as “Model” and select "Add Printer"
    Example: If you use a printer which name is EP-901A, you see "Model" is displayed as below.
    "EPSON EP-901A (en,en,ja,nl,fr,de,it,pt,es,ko,zh_CN,zh_TW)"
  7. Instead of the above (6), you can specify a PPD file directly on [Browse]
    Example: If you use a printer which name is EP-901A, you can specify the follwing file.
    /opt/epson-inkjet-printer-ep-901a/ppds/EPSON_EP_901A.ppd.gz


6.3. Deletion of Software


You can uninstall the package of this driver software by using package manager, etc. Or you can also uninstall this software package by opening a terminal and using command lines input.
Note:The following commands needs to be performed as a root privilege.

Uninstallation of RPM package

# rpm -e epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>

Uninstallation of DEB package

# dpkg -P epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>


6.4. Deletion of Printer from CUPS


CGI (http://localhost:631/) for configuration is prepared on CUPS, so a printer can be configured on the browser. Enter the above URL on the browser and display the screen of the printer configuration. Select “Delete Printers” on the printer configuration screen of CUPS, so it will be deleted.


6.5. Printing method


There are mainly 2 methods for printing.

  • Print by command line input
    This method is to use lpr (or lp) commands of command line input and specify a file directly for printing. Regarding the details of the commands, please refer to lpr (1), lp(1) of the manual page.
    Example: If you want to print the file which name is test.ps on A4 size paper
    For the options to be used, please refer to the manual (Manual.txt) of the package.

    $ lpr -P <printer name> -o PageSize=A4 test.ps

    Regarding formats of input files, CUPS supported formats such as PostScript, Text, PDF, and a variety of images, etc are available. Regarding the scope of the support, please confirm the documents of CUPS. The documents of CUPS are available on the below URL.
    http://www.cups.org/documentation.php

  • Print by an application
    This method is to use printing functions, which are prepared in various applications, for printing. Some applications have own various settings. Please refer to a manual of each application for the details.
    Attention:

    The upper left of the paper is the origin for printing and a margin is taken for the right and left, the top and bottom of the paper size. In some cases of some applications, an edge of a paper is cut when a paper is printed.


6.6. Printing Setting


The attached tools of CUPS are used for setting. There are mainly 4 methods as the setting methods by CUPS. The methods are explained as below.

  • Configure by an attached GUI tool of a Linux distribution
    1. Click [System] on menu, then select “Administration”-“Printing”.
    2. Select a printer
    3. Click “Printer Option” tab
    4. Enter settings of the printer
    5. Click “Apply”
  • Configure by web browser
    1. Start a web browser
    2. Enter "http://localhost:631/" in URL and display the setting screen of CUPS
    3. Click “ Manage Printers“
    4. Click “Set Printer Options” of the applicable printer and display the setting screen of the printer options.
    5. Select settings and click “Set Printer Options”
  • Configure by command line input
    This method uses the printing setting tool of CUPS which is lpoptions. Please refer to the manual page of lpoptions (1) for the details of the tool.
    Option values differ from model to model. Therefore, please refer to a manual (Manual.txt) of the installed package. A manual is installed in the following path.

    /opt/epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>-<Version>/doc/Manual.txt

    An example of a setting is the below.
    Example: If you want to change setting to Paper type= plain paper, Paper size = A4

    $ lpoptions -p Printer name -o MediaType=PLAIN -o PageSize=A4

  • Set commands options before printing
    In CUPS, settings can be changed by an option (-o) which functions same as lpoptions with lpr or lp commands. Please refer to the manual page of lpr (1) or lp (1) for the details.


6.7. List of conflicting printing options


Conflicting printing options can not be selected. In such a case, an error is shown on CUPS. Therefore, please change to other options. Conflicting printing options differ from model to model. Please refer to the manual (Manual.txt) of the installed package. A manual is installed in the following path.

/opt/epson-inkjet-printer-<Printer name>-<Version>/doc/Manual.txt


7. Trademark Notice


Any company names or products mentioned herein, are the property of their respective holders and are not explicitly marked with (TM), (R), or (C).