HOWTO: Lexmark Printers

[ShadowMage]

HOWTO: Lexmark X1270 Printing on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

It took me a while to get this to work so I decided to put this guide together. Most of this information is already in this thread but somewhat scattered, so I decided to make a step-by-step guide for Karmic. While I did put this together I would like to give many thanks and most of the credit to all the others who posted before me in this thread since, after all, it's this thread that helped me get this to work in the first place. I obviously cannot name everyone, so I thank you all here. Within the steps below are only the thanks for things requiring changes to this guide after it was posted.

NOTE: THIS ONLY WORKS FOR PRINTING, NOT SCANNING OR FAXING.

Part A. Download and install the dependencies of the driver

Step A-1. Get libstdc++5

For 64-bit systems, you'll need to install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of libstdc++5...

Please see this link (thanks giocarra) on how to do this: http://www.digitalenigma.net/directory.php?include=archives&msgid=2009111000

-

For 32-bit systems, you can get libstdc++5 a little more easily as follows...

Download and install libstdc++5 from http://packages.debian.org/etch/libstdc++5.
This package depends on gcc-3.3-base which can be downloaded from http://packages.debian.org/etch/gcc-3.3-base.

On those pages, select your architecture to download the correct .deb file, and install them (libstdc++5 won't install unless gcc-3.3-base is installed).

Step A-2. Get alien

Next, install alien. This is in the repositories so you can get it from the terminal by typing

sudo apt-get install alien

Part B. Download and install the driver

Step B-1. Download and extract the archived driver

Download and extract the archived driver for the Lexmark Z600 (this is the driver that works with Lexmark X1270 for printing). It's a driver for Red Hat, but don't worry, that's what alien is for (later).

The official download page is here, but I use the wget command below to make things easier. Also, note the tail command; this is important so don't try to simply extract it from the GUI. For this whole step (Step B-1), just enter the following commands in a terminal:

cd ~/Desktop
mkdir lexmark
cd ~/Desktop/lexmark
wget http://www.downloaddelivery.com/downloads/cpd/CJLZ600LE-CUPS-1.0-1.TAR.gz
tar -xvzf CJLZ600LE-CUPS-1.0-1.TAR.gz
tail -n +143 z600cups-1.0-1.gz.sh > install.tar.gz
tar -xvzf install.tar.gz

Step B-2. Convert the RPM files into something more useful for Ubuntu

Before starting this step, your terminal should still be in the lexmark folder we created. If not (maybe you closed the terminal, that's alright), run this command to go back there:

cd ~/Desktop/lexmark

The files this step creates need to be owned by root (by sending the commands as root). Originally, I did this using sudo -s (allows you to run a bunch of commands as root) and exit (to exit this mode). In general, though, it's not recommended to use "sudo -s" unless you're sure you know what your doing.

I've decided to update this by using individual sudo commands to eliminate the possibility of someone forgetting to exit.
This is the recommended method:

sudo alien -t z600cups-1.0-1.i386.rpm
sudo alien -t z600llpddk-2.0-1.i386.rpm
sudo tar xvzf z600llpddk-2.0.tgz -C /
sudo tar xvzf z600cups-1.0.tgz -C /
sudo ldconfig
cd /usr/share/cups/model
sudo gunzip Lexmark-Z600-lxz600cj-cups.ppd.gz

You can now go to Step B-3.

For reference purposes, or for advanced users, here's the alternative "sudo -s" method since I already have it written.

sudo -s
alien -t z600cups-1.0-1.i386.rpm
alien -t z600llpddk-2.0-1.i386.rpm
tar xvzf z600llpddk-2.0.tgz -C /
tar xvzf z600cups-1.0.tgz -C /
ldconfig
cd /usr/share/cups/model
gunzip Lexmark-Z600-lxz600cj-cups.ppd.gz
exit

Step B-3. Restart CUPS and check the driver backend

Restart CUPS:

sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

Now, check the backend of the Lexmark Z600 driver:

cd /usr/lib/cups/backend
./z600

You should receive output like this:

direct z600:/dev/usb/lp0 "Lexmark Lexmark 1200 Series" "Lexmark Printer"

If you don't receive any output, it's ok, just move on to the next step (Step B-4) to fix it.
If you DID receive the output, then SKIP THE NEXT STEP (Step B-4) and move on to Part C.

Step B-4. Fix the driver backend

So, you got no output after running ./z600 in the last step? No worries.

Open up fstab

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

and add this line at the end, without the quotes,

"usbfs         /proc/bus/usb usbfs   devgid=14,devmode=0660 0 0"

then save and exit the gedit Text Editor.

Once you've added the entry above in fstab, don't forget to mount it (thanks Mr.Banana) by entering the command

sudo mount usbfs

Now, run z600 again (no need to cd again if you're already there, but it's here just in case you started this step from a new terminal):

cd /usr/lib/cups/backend
./z600

Hopefully, now you got the output and you can go to Part C. If you're still not getting any output, you might want to try Part C anyway and see if it works. There have been cases of everything working without getting the output here (thanks yourlonglostpal).

Part C. Add the printer

At this point, you need to make sure your printer is properly connected to your computer. Also, turn it on if it isn't already.

Then go to System > Administration > Printing to open Printer configuration. In there, click on New (then select Printer if you're using the dropdown). Now it will search for printers and open up a wizard.

Select Device:
Select your device and click "Forward".

Choose Driver:
Select the "Provide PPD file" option. Of course, now it wants to know what PPD file to use. Browse to /usr/share/cups/model/ and select Lexmark-Z600-lxz600cj-cups.ppd, then click "Forward".

Describe Printer:
Enter the names you want and click "Apply".

---

And now you're done! Enjoy printing As a side note, once everything is working you can delete the lexmark folder that we created on the desktop.

If there are any problems in this guide, let me know and I will do my best to fix them. I hope this guide is helpful. I know it's kinda long but my goal is to be really clear on how to make this work, because I know how confusing it is to get this working.

[giocarra]

If there are any problems in this guide, let me know and I will do my best to fix them. I hope this guide is helpful. I know it's kinda long but my goal is to be really clear on how to make this work, because I know how confusing it is to get this working.

Hi ShadowMage,
tonight I saw your How-To ,many thanks for your work,and I used it.
First of all : please note that I'm using UBUNTU KARMIC KOALA amd 64 64bit

All is gone fine until this point :

giorgio@KKamd64:/usr/lib/cups/backend$ ./z600
./z600: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
giorgio@KKamd64:/usr/lib/cups/backend$

As you see :libstdc++ cannot open ........
But I went to select the PPD file, I found it, I selected it, and I went forward, I applied it.
Then I accepted to print the text page and I got a warning and I was told, more or less, : there is an error processing (elaborating) the text page (see the enclosed capture, please)
What to do ? Do you have any suggestion?

Sorry for my bad English.

Please accept my best regard,
giocarra

During this morning, looking for some suggestion, I found here : http://www.digitalenigma.net/directo...gid=2009111000
the solution that solved my problem.
Now my lexmark prints like a charm.
Thanks to you and to ....him.
giocarra

[ShadowMage]

Hi giocarra,

I'm glad to see it's working now. After reading the link you posted, I think I now understand why it didn't work. It seems that on 64-bit system, you need to install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of libstdc++5, I'm assuming because the Z600 driver we're using here needs the 32-bit version.

Sorry you ran into difficulties, but thanks for catching this. I've now updated the guide, with a reference to (and thanks for) that link

[giocarra]

Hi ShadowMage,
in Italy we say " all is good what ends good ( or fine ? ) ".
It does mean that the things we do are fine, good, if at their end, them are ended good (or fine); and your and mine searches for the lexmark to work are finished with success.
Thank for your interest in this job and for the reference you did to me

Have a nice day.
giocarra

and of course, sorry for my bad English.

Now I found on an American Idioms Dictionary, maybe the correct way to translate the Italian "Tutto è bene quello che finisce bene", that is "All is gone for the best, despite many things happened"
Correct?

[Mr.Banana]

[SIZE=5][COLOR=DarkGreen][B]


Open up fstab

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

and add this line at the end, without the quotes,

"usbfs         /proc/bus/usb usbfs   devgid=14,devmode=0660 0 0"

then save and exit the gedit Text Editor.

Problem: even if I add the line, I cannot get the output to show up.

followed the guide to the letter.

[ShadowMage]

@giocarra: I understand. Awesome

@Mr.Banana:

Hi Mr.Banana,

I seem to have missed a command in that step, which I had in my notes but somehow was not posted in the guide (added now). You need to mount the entry that was added to fstab, like so:

sudo mount usbfs

Please let me know if this gets you the output in your case when you do ./z600 from /usr/lib/cups/backend

Regards

[w2vy]

Above in Step B-4 you enable mounting of the usb device.

How does (or might) things change if I am not using the driver for a local drive but for a SAMBA mounted network drive (on *gasp* a windows machine)?
(B-4 gives no output, but adds the network printer fine)

Also in A-1 what is the proper way to install the debian packages?
(ok sudo dpkg --install package-name.deb)

Tom

[tiggsy]

A wizard called "Printing troubleshooter" suddenly opened while I was trying again to select the drivers. After it (very slowly) had finished running, I got this message:

Status Messages
There are status messages associated with this queue.

The pinter's state message is: 'Filter "usb/lib/cups/filter/rastertoz600" for printer "1200_Series" not owned by root'.

Warnings are listed below:
Printer '1200_Series': 'cups-insecure-filter'.


There was another message which occurred when I tried to print a test page again inside the wizard, after turning debugging on. It was:

Stopping because the scheduler could not execute a filter.

[Apologies for any spelling mistakes. For some reason, none of these messages were selectable.]

I'm running Karmic Koala on my trusty Alienware desktop. And i feel that I'm getting close to a possible result on this issue... ?

[ShadowMage]

I've only been able to test this on Karmic myself for Lexmark X1270 using USB and on a 32-bit system, but I'd be glad to expand the guide if there are solutions for other cases (such as the link giocarra provided for libstdc++5 with 64-bit systems).

Also, if anyone ever decides to make a better guide I would not mind at all and they can of course use whatever they want from the one I posted. Since I got my X1270 to work on Karmic I decided to post that guide because I want other people's printers (and stuff) to work too so hopefully it would help some people out. But unfortunately I can't test the other scenarios myself.

With that said, I would love to help out wherever possible, but I am by no means an expert.

@w2vy: Yeah, the guide assumes the printer is being used through USB. For a network printer, I'm not sure if and how it can be setup. Perhaps there is a way to mount the network drive similar to what was done for the USB? If there is, I unfortunately don't know how. I'm also not sure if this would solve the problem because the Z600 driver itself might not work for this scenario, I'm not sure.

@tiggsy: The following gives me the feeling that some file permissions may be incorrect

The pinter's state message is: 'Filter "usb/lib/cups/filter/rastertoz600" for printer "1200_Series" not owned by root'.

Did you do Step B-2 as root? See also this post in the same thread, a guide posted by newonlinux for doing this on Jaunty; it has a quote at the end about the file permissions and Karmic.

[w2vy]

@w2vy: Yeah, the guide assumes the printer is being used through USB. For a network printer, I'm not sure if and how it can be setup. Perhaps there is a way to mount the network drive similar to what was done for the USB? If there is, I unfortunately don't know how. I'm also not sure if this would solve the problem because the Z600 driver itself might not work for this scenario, I'm not sure.

I edited my post... in short B-4 gives no output and the driver works fine.