[ubuntu] Printing to Epson Stylus S20 T20 T20E T23 T26 T10 T11 Printers

[c_c]

Hi All,
Well the Epson Stylus series of printers has new additions - a lower end group which includes the following :-

1. Stylus S20
2. Stylus T20
3. Stylus T20E
4. Stylus T23
5. Stylus T26
6. Stylus T10
7. Stylus T11

Currently the openprinting database indicates that these printers are mostly 'paperweight'. However, there are divers available at avasys.jp that allow these printers to be used under Linux. The site has rpm based drivers available. But getting them to work on hardy was a little problematic since the documentation is written in a pretty obscure manner.

Since I've managed to get these drivers going - I thought a small howto would be in order.

1. To begin with - download the Fedora 9 rpms from the site.
2. convert these packages into .debs with the command 'alien --scripts --keep-version pips-*.rpm'
3. Install the debs with the command 'sudo dpkg -i ./pips-*.deb' or download from here.
4. You get a few errors like below :-

install: cannot create regular file `/etc/rc.d/init.d': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S11ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S11ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S11ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S11ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K89ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K89ekpd': No such file or directory
ln: creating symbolic link `/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K89ekpd': No such file or directory

5. Now create a file by running 'sudo vim /etc/init.d/ekpd'
6. Copy the following into it

x-----------------------------------------------------------x
# Photo Image Print System
# Copyright (C) 2002-2005 EPSON AVASYS Corporation.
# Copyright (C) SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 2002-2005.
#
# . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
DAEMON=/usr/local/EPAva/core/ekpd
NAME=ekpd
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
DESC="EPSON Avasys printing daemon"

unset TMPDIR

test -f $DAEMON || exit 0

OLDMASK=`umask`
umask 000

case "$1" in
start)
pidlist=`pidof $NAME`
if [ "x" = "x$pidlist" ]; then
echo -n "Starting $NAME:"
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile "$PIDFILE" --exec $DAEMON
fi
;;

stop)
echo -n "Stopping ekpd:"
start-stop-daemon --stop --retry 5 --name $NAME
;;

restart)
$0 stop
sleep 2
$0 start
;;

*)
echo "Usage: ekpd { start | stop | restart }" >&2
exit 1
;;
esac

umask $OLDMASK
exit 0
x----------------------------------------------------------------x

7. 'sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/ekpd'
8. Now install a few libraries by doing 'sudo apt-get install libtiff4 libpng2'
9. make a link with this commands
'sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libtiff.so.4.2.1 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3'
10. and copy the config file for ekpd by 'sudo cp /usr/local/EPAva/printer/st20/ekpdrc_st20 /etc/ekpdrc'
11. Run 'sudo ekpd-tool' and check that the parameters are set to
Printer Name : st<your printer number>
Connection Method : <USB>
Device Path : lp0
Select the Defualt Printer checkbox if this is your default printer.
12. Now start ekpd with 'sudo /etc/init.d/ekpd start'
13. Add the printer using the cups web interface -> Start Firefox and use the url 'localhost:631'
14. Select Administration, Add Printer
15. Set a name, location and description
16. Select Epson Stylus Txx USB #1 from the dropdown list
17. Select Epson Stylus Txx Photo Image Print System (en) as the model
18. Now send a test page to the printer.

This should get your printer printing fine. I haven't tested too much the test page is quite ok.
Run 'ekpstm' to see a graphical output that shows the printer status and the ink levels.
Hope this helps.