Reporting printer ink levels?

[Andre Rodovalho]

I have no luck on ink levels with HP printers, nor Epson... I only install
HPLIP or Epson driver, nothing more.

In office I have several printers. I prefer those with embedded web server
that shows us lots of things, including wifi and network configuration and
ink levels.

I have a HP Pro 8000, HP Pro 8100, a Brother DCP-7065DN, all those are much
more expensive printers, but you buy them only once. I also have a Epson
L355, but this specific model you can see ink levels from outside!!

At home, I own a cheap Samsung ML-2165W, it has embedded web server. It
does the job...


2014-07-24 11:37 GMT-03:00 John Hupp <lubuntu at prpcompany.com>:

>  Thanks, Eric, for the well-developed documentation for this case.
>
> For the Epson C120 that I was working with, I didn't need to download a
> PPD from Epson -- nor did they have a DEB file available to download for it
> -- but I'm glad to know that they provide this support for some models.
>
> Though I mentioned the Epson in my original post and I still have that, I
> really am interested in knowing about the availability of solutions across
> all the major manufacturers.  My currently daily-use printer is an HP
> Laserjet P2015d, but I own several brands here, and I have supported all
> brands.
>
> So far what we've rounded up regarding ink level reporting:
> - HP inkjets have general support via HPLIP
> - Epson has no support, unless some models report this via hardware on a
> control panel (as Aere reports RE an HP)
> - A general workaround concept: Install Windows in a partition or virtual
> machine and use the Windows printer software for an occasional level checkup
> - (No word yet on printing heavyweights Brother and Canon, or others)
>
>
> On 7/23/2014 9:21 PM, Eric Bradshaw wrote:
>
>  John Hupp,
>
>  I agree with Israel that the ink level reporting from HP is, in my
> experience, consistently provided with their drivers. I also find HP
> printers to be built better than Epson's; better quality hardware that
> typically lasts longer. But, despite all that, I've only set up HP printers
> for others.
>
>  For printing in my own home, I, like you, choose Epson. The two biggest
> drawbacks I've found are, as you said, the lack of ink level reporting and
> the sometimes painful-to-configure scanning and faxing (when I've actually
> had to fax). I've learned to live with all that because the Epson
> all-in-one printers I buy are typically under $100, the color is absolutely
> brilliant, networking (including wifi) is a breeze and they work and work
> and work - right up I until they don't. Typically about 2 years.
>
>  Unfortunately I've never solved the ink level reporting issue. I've just
> made sure I have ink in reserve for when my latest Epson literally stops
> printing because a particular color is out. If you get the ink level
> reporting issue solved, please share the steps. Otherwise, I'm okay. It's a
> minor annoyance. I hope you'll be okay with it too if you don't get the
> issue solved.
>
>  The drivers for Epson for Linux are available for every one I've owned
> so far. The following is a link to a page on our website that uses an Epson
> WorkForce 645 in an example for downloading PPD files (that reminds me,
> this page might need updating, but you'll get the idea);
> http://computers4christians.org/FAQ/OS/HowTo/Print/Network.html
>
>  Eric
> --
> Thank You,
> God Bless You,
> Computers4Christians
> http://Computers4Christians.org/
>
>
>  On 07/23/2014 11:35 AM, John Hupp wrote:
> > A while back (under 13.04) I was working with an Epson Stylus C120 and
> > got it installed for printing purposes after getting past
> >
> http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/system-config-printer/+bug/1133794.
>
> > I used CUPS and a Gutenprint driver.
> >
> > But unlike most Windows inkjet printer installations, I found no
> > provision for reporting ink levels.  I found Mtink, but it did not work.
> >
> > In the meantime I stumbled onto the http://libinklevel.sourceforge.net
> > project, which is a library for reporting ink levels.  And at
> > http://libinklevel.sourceforge.net/#installation there is reference to
> > packages that use this library.
> >
> > But on the library's home page there is no news since 2009, and the
> > mailing list archives seem to no longer exist.
> >
> > Epson offers this link:
> > http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/?OSC=LX. But I
> > don't find anything there for Debian or Ubuntu.
> >
> > Perhaps another manufacturer has their own package that includes
> > provision for this function.
> >
> > Is anyone successfully reporting ink levels (one way or another) for
> > any major brand of printer?
>
>
>
>
> --
> Lubuntu-users mailing list
> Lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lubuntu-users/attachments/20140724/b4c78184/attachment.html>