[nmglug] Epson printer driver and implications, LSB, OS

[Ted Pomeroy]

Leroy & NMGLUGers, 1) Probably a good idea to upgrade to Bullseye, Debian
11; many articles are out on the 'net; eg.
https://www.tecmint.com/upgrade-debian-10-to-debian-11/. If you have
questions about this let us know. I followed an article which I read and
reviewed a few times before executing the steps. But having the most
current edition of the OS makes sense as a rule. 2) Review your
sources.list; you may have to enable contrib or non-free to find packages
for your printer. See this link for Debian manuals & upgrades
<https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_life_with_eternal_upgrades>
to review the whole idea of upgrades. 3) Try to keep it simple; start where
you are. The Debian 11 release notes are here: bullseye/amd64/release-notes/
<https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/amd64/release-notes/>. Do
remember having a backup of your system is always recommended. Also, Debian
wiki reminds users to stick with packages within the Debian system.
I run Debian 11 and on different hardware Xubuntu 21.10. The two year cycle
of Debian versus the six month cycle with Xubuntu gives me a perspective on
the changes in the Debian/Ubuntu families. I don't push the limit of any
system. I tried to buck the system and lock Firefox at one release and that
did not work out - after a series of freezes, I resumed updating Firefox
with the approved and current versions. I learned how to set the
application settings to make the updated versions work as I wished within
the parameters allowed.
This does not address the printer issues, but might give you a beginning.
In fact a brief web search follows a "now you see it, now you don't"
pattern. One other fix I have for wireless printers is to revert to a usb
cable; somehow this has made printing easier for two friends who had
trouble waking a wireless printer for the occasional print job.
Good luck. Do keep working on this and let us know. Thank you, Ted P

On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 7:17 AM LeRoy Diener <leroy at choosetherightside.com>
wrote:

> Hi NMGLUG folks,
>
> I'm trying to get my Epson WF-3640 printer to print from my Debian 10
> laptop.
> I have not found a driver specifically for this.
> I did find  a generic driver named epson-escpr for many epson printers
> from https://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-WF-3640_Series
>
> Here's info about my 64-bit OS:
> ll at leno:~$ lsb_release -a
> No LSB modules are available.
> Distributor ID: Debian
> Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
> Release: 10
> Codename: buster
>
> I selected the file for x86 64 bit and 1.4.1 (DEB for LSB 3.2).
> I clicked on it and selected the option to open with GDebi Package
> Installer.
> I got an error that Dependency is not satisfiable: lsb (>= 3.2)
>
> I heard that debian no longer allows LSB. I don't really understand the
> relationship. It might be that debian has removed or relocated some
> functionality related to LSB. It seems like this is the issue preventing me
> from getting this printer to work for me.
>
> What to do?
> Implications...
> I've heard that there are some work-arounds possible, but that might
> create problems.
> I found a forum post suggesting that debian 11 might work with some driver
> for this printer. It makes sense for me to upgrade soon to debian 11.
> I've heard that, if connectivity to printers and other apps is important
> to me, I might try Ubuntu.
> One idea is to use a different OS on a different laptop.
> Another idea is to use a VM for printing. I already have Win10 in a VM. I
> could put Ubuntu into a VM.
>
> I welcome your thoughts.
> LeRoy
> --
> There is something glorious birthing within all of us. (New for 2021)
> I am the Love of God, no matter what.
> LeRoy Diener
> 213-LEROYIZ
> 213-537-6949
> www.leroydiener.com/
> _______________________________________________
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>
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