[Bug 1536353] Re: [regression] Printer drivers install is broken as lsb package is not available anymore

[Richard Elkins]

Work-around for everyone, I believe.  I uninstalled my suggestion of
message #16 and followed this myself.


1. Append the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list (E.g. sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list):

        deb http://cz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main

2. sudo apt update; sudo apt install lsb

3. Go to http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/?OSC=LX

4. Enter your product name and "Linux" as the O/S.  Click on the search
sysmbol.  Accept conditions and download the latest "printer driver" DEB
file for your CPU architecture.  Mine (XP-410) was the Epson Printer
Utility for AMD64, dated 2016-04-12.

5. Install the downloaded DEB file (E.g. using gdebi).  My gdebi
installation log looked like this:

Epson Printer Utility Driver for Linux
 This is a Printer Utility program for Epson Printer Driver.
 Using this software, you can check ink levels, view error and other status... on EPSON Printers.
 For detail list of supported printer, please refer to below site:
 http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/?OSC=LX
 .
 (Converted from a rpm package by alien version 8.79ubuntu0.1.)
Do you want to install the software package? [y/N]:y
Selecting previously unselected package epson-printer-utility.
(Reading database ... 220307 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack epson-printer-utility_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking epson-printer-utility (1.0.0-1lsb3.2) ...
Setting up epson-printer-utility (1.0.0-1lsb3.2) ...
Install Message > Described entry of LITE in services.
Install Message > Backup file is /etc/services.bak.
Install Message > Start /usr/lib/epson-backend/setup to change setup.
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu3) ...

6. Using the "Add Printer" function from the "All Settings" application,
add your printer.  In my case, I found it on the Wifi network and the
driver installation worked automatically.

===============================================================================

I hope that this helps the remaining folks with hardware and software
installation issues due to the absence of the lsb packages.

It was easy to add the lsb packages to my 16.04 installation and I had
no issues.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1536353

Title:
  [regression] Printer drivers install is broken as lsb package is not
  available anymore

Status in cups-filters package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in epson-inkjet-printer-escpr package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in lsb package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in system-config-printer package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  Starting with Xenial, lsb compatibility packages were dropped (besides
  lsb-release and lsb-base):

  lsb (9.20150826) unstable; urgency=low

    * Drop all the LSB compatibility packages besides lsb-release and lsb-base
      - Drop packages-availability checking in lsb-release
      - Truncate README.Debian to a minimum
      - Document this in lsb-base.NEWS.Debian
    * Change the versioning number to avoid any ambiguity; use joeyh's
      version.date, with version being Debian next stable's

   -- Didier Raboud <odyx at debian.org>  Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:00:00 +0200

  The problem is that downloadable printer drivers (like the ones from
  Openprinting, but also from other available providers) that are
  suggested when installing a printer on Ubuntu depends on lsb, which is
  not available anymore:

  epson-inkjet-printer-201106w:
   Dépend: lsb (>=3.2) but it is not installable

  This triggers a regression where it is not possible to setup a printer
  this way (downloading a driver where no local driver is available)
  anymore.

  I see two possible solutions:

  - Add a proper replaces field to one of the remaining lsb-* packages,
  to hopefully fix missing lsb package (maybe it would be useful to also
  replace other compability packages that are not built anymore).

  - Re-introduce LSB compatibility packages, but that might be an
  overkill.

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