XP to Linux Mint questions

ThemeOne

@esuhl - very well put.

I think you really have to want to learn to enjoy using Linux.

Norman_Castle

henm2 wrote: »

start button, Administration, Printers, select 'unlock' put your password in and select add. Most connected printers will come up and you just select device 'usb connection', forward, apply. As easy as that.

As easy as that? My printer didn't come up so I couldn't just select anything. I've found the correct driver through linux and it is installed but it needs to be enabled. When I try to enable it it is already enabled. Alternately I need to supply the printer UPI. No idea what this is or why its needed. The printer is a Samsung CLP 325. I installed this and another printer easily within the last year in XP. If dated XP can install a printer without this nonsense why can't linux?

Fightsback

Norman_Castle wrote: »

As easy as that? My printer didn't come up so I couldn't just select anything. I've found the correct driver through linux and it is installed but it needs to be enabled. When I try to enable it it is already enabled. Alternately I need to supply the printer UPI. No idea what this is or why its needed. The printer is a Samsung CLP 325. I installed this and another printer easily within the last year in XP. If dated XP can install a printer without this nonsense why can't linux?

Manufacturers Linux driver here:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/CLP-325/SEE

see here for instructions, they are the same but no need to install the scanner driver.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2331973

Norman_Castle

Fightsback wrote: »

Manufacturers Linux driver here:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/CLP-325/SEE

see here for instructions, they are the same but no need to install the scanner driver.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2331973

Thanks for trying to help but,

Open up a terminal and navigate to where you extracted the archive. Example let us say we extracted it to our Downloads folder. Let us also assume you extracted the archive to a folder called uld (that is typically a default for Samsung, well for my printer in any case... off course you can name it what you want).

Hit Ctrl+Alt+t
in the terminal type: Finally figured out what a "terminal" is. Five appeared after pressing Ctrl+Alt+t

Code:
cd cd Downloads cd uld sudo ./install.sh
Follow the prompts and answer the questions. (In the long EULA you can press q to escape and then press y enter to accept...)

Copy and pasted the above. There were no prompts or question. No idea if there was a "long EULA". It asked for a password but I cannot type anything into the "terminal".
Notice that the op in the thread you linked to didn't return

As previously asked,
If dated XP can install this printer without this nonsense why can't linux?

victor2

If you ever worked with MS DOS (you know, before Windows 3.1, 3.11 etc. etc., then the Linux terminal screen won't appear too alien to you.
Some patience and learning is required. Get an idea of the correct command syntax, and what basic commands do.
No matter what flavour of Linux you run, there will be times when you need to use the terminal commands. Following commands given by others blindly often works, but every now and then, they contain a simple error which if copied parrot fashion, will cause it to fail to execute.

Windows was built to distance the user from the operating system, Linux, to a large extent, is not. But Linux is free.

psychic_teabag

Norman_Castle wrote: »

I installed this and another printer easily within the last year in XP. If dated XP can install a printer without this nonsense why can't linux?

A bit catch-22 : windows is popular, so the printer manufactures go to some trouble to provide drivers and make it work easily. They don't see much demand from linux, and so don't bother providing drivers. Some make details available, and so enthusiasts can figure out how to write the driver themselves, but others keep the details very secret.

Also, I believe some printers are able to use some bits of windows (GDI) to do some of the preparation of the image for them. So these can only work with windows. I'm not too sure of the details. http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Printing-HOWTO/winprinters.html

Pre-broadband, there was a similar problem with "winmodems" which were very cheap because these used minimal hardware. All the comms protocols were implemented by proprietry software that was supplied for windows only.

bat999

Norman_Castle wrote: »

cd cd Downloads cd uld sudo ./install.sh
Copy and pasted the above.

That single command won't work.

The instructions in the Ubuntu link are...

cd
cd Downloads
cd uld
sudo ./install.sh

This is four separate commands, each followed by the enter/return key.

bat999@mint ~ $ cd
bat999@mint ~ $ cd Downloads
bat999@mint ~/Downloads $ cd uld
bat999@mint ~/Downloads/uld $ sudo ./install.sh
[sudo] password for bat999: 
**** Running install ...
**** Press 'Enter' to continue or 'q' and then 'Enter' to quit. :

debitcardmayhem

bat999 wrote: »

That single command won't work.

The instructions in the Ubuntu link are...

cd
cd Downloads
cd uld
sudo ./install.sh

This is four separate commands, each followed by the enter/return key.

bat999@mint ~ $ cd
bat999@mint ~ $ cd Downloads
bat999@mint ~/Downloads $ cd uld
bat999@mint ~/Downloads/uld $ sudo ./install.sh
[sudo] password for bat999: 
**** Running install ...
**** Press 'Enter' to continue or 'q' and then 'Enter' to quit. :

or
cd;cd Downloads;cd uld;sudo ./install.sh
then press enter :cool:

Norman_Castle

^ I have wasted even more time typing this into a terminal. I got a Samsung user agreement but the printer is still not working. Linux is still asking for the printer UPI.

Lifes to short for this.

esuhl

Norman_Castle wrote: »

As previously asked,
If dated XP can install this printer without this nonsense why can't linux?

Partly because printer drivers are often produced for Windows, but not Linux. So getting a printer to work in the latter is generally more difficult.

Also, Linux-users tend to be more technically competent than Windows-users, so there isn't the demand to make things trivially easy.

Before doing anything in GNU/Linux, you really need to familiarise yourself with the relevant documentation or you'll find it rather confusing.

Have you had a look at the CUPS help pages?
https://www.cups.org/documentation.html

The Arch Linux wiki is also quite good. If you're using a different distro, the details might be a little different, but it can sometimes point you in the right direction by explaining which packages are required for certain features and the various commands and parameters you might typically use.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CUPS