Ubuntu – Driver installation stuck

driversprintingsoftware installation

I am trying to install proprietary drivers for a printer (EPSON L355, driver: epson-inkjet-printer-201207w) on Ubuntu 14.04 by adding a new printer in Printers.

The installation is currently stuck and I have already hit the cancel button but nothing happens.

My question is, how to proceed when installation seems to be stuck? I do not wish to break anything but this has been stuck for hours. Should I kill the process? And how can I verify if everything is in order afterwards?

My question is similar to https://askubuntu.com/questions/309850/proprietary-drivers-installer-stuck-in-ubuntu-12-04 but I am trying to make it more general.

Best Answer

For people who are getting this issue now, Seiko Epson Corp provides a free software printer driver package for Linux that supports a large number of Epson printers.

It's available to Ubuntu as printer-driver-escpr.

If you're currently stuck in the printer dialog, you can safely kill it. Then you'll want to install a driver package manually, which should allow you to pick a local driver and avoid this issue.

Step 1: Clean up files so that we can install printer drivers without errors regarding debconf/config.dat being locked. $ sudo rm /var/cache/debconf/*dat

Step 2: Install printer-driver-escpr. $ sudo apt-get install printer-driver-escpr

Step 3: Start up your printer utility and select your printer.

Step 4: Choose to install a "Local Driver", select the model closest to your printer, and continue.

You should now be able to use your printer. Verified on LXLE 14.04, derived from Lubuntu/Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

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