Today I got my new Epson ET-2710;
say it loudly with me… “CARTRIDGE FREE, LONG LIFE TO LIQUID INK”.
That remind me a thought I shared couple years ago on LinkedIn:
As all Linux users know printing, scanning and its corresponding drivers setup is not a bed of roses in, as far as I know, any Linux distribution. The reason is because printer manufacturers don’t care so much about the small proportion of linux users in the market to give them a pleasant setup experience.
You will not find the drivers if you try to find them in the Epson main ‘support/driver download’ sections. Meh.We have still no luck on XXI century.
After googling a while and try some other pages solutions, I finally realised Epson has the drivers in their web, it is just their documentation and User Experience suck a lot. They are available, but you need to insist too much in order to find them:
Let’s recap it quick and easy.
- Go to this specific page at Epson
- Type “et-2710” (or your printer model)
- Download the packages:
- ESC/P-R Driver (generic driver)
- Epson Printer Utility
- All-in-one-package 6.6.20 (or choose the most up-to-date version) - Driver and Printer utility are .deb (or .rpm for RedHat flavors), so go terminal and just :
# dpkg -i epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.7.8–1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
# dpkg -i epson-printer-utility_1.1.1–1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
# tar zxvf epsonscan2-bundle-6.6.2.0.x64.deb.tar.gz
# cd epsonscan2-bundle-6.6.2.0.x86_64.deb/
# ./install.sh - Then be sure you configure the printer to connect the network via wireless using WPA as per printer instructions (it works flawlessly). Once you see it is connected, you’ll be able to continue with the setup.
- Ensure in your router you configure an static IP for the printer using its MAC address. You need it static to get scanner working fine through the network avoiding DHCP IP changes in the future.
- Open settings on your distribution (mine is Ubuntu), add the printer as you would do with another priner. It will find it on the network.
Just click ang go, ready to print. - Scanning: The epson bundle previously installed includes an ‘Epson Scan 2’ application. Open it and add the scanner using the IP address.
That’s all.
Unfortunatelly you will not find a plenty-of-options interface for the scaner like you would see in Windows, but it is functional and all the basic things are there. Cheers!!
Hope this little guide saved you some minutes of head scratching while thinking ‘why the heck Epson states in their main site there are NO drivers for this printer’
