Reporting printer ink levels?

[Eric Bradshaw]

John Hupp,

Some added info that may help with ink level reporting:

Ink, inkblot, qink and several other ink reporting packages seem to use libinklevel as their back end [ http://libinklevel.sourceforge.net/#installation ], but unfortunately the Epson C120 quite literally tops libinklevel's list of unsupported printers.

Not that I'm saying this would work to report the ink levels, but the Epson Stylus C120 does have Linux drivers available from Epson at http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/?OSC=LX

The following is an (old) post to the Ubuntu forums in which a frustrated Epson Stylus user gives step-by-step what he did to create ink level reporting for his USB connected Epson Stylus via command line, then with a GUI; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1415955

I found this for the command line package ink at the end of a Ubuntu Forums post [ http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1540862 ] about ink reporting for network printers. Seems almost too simple...
sudo apt-get install ink
ink -p bjnp

The following two links are great sources of printing info for all the major printer manufacturers. With all the printers you seem to work with, I'd look up my printers on these. The OpenPrinting one is an extra huge database featuring what seems to be every printer that ever was. Hopefully it will help you and maybe you can help them be even more awesome with your attention to ink level reporting.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsPrinters
http://www.openprinting.org/printers

Eric
--
Thank You,
God Bless You,
Computers4Christians
http://Computers4Christians.org/

John Hupp <lubuntu at prpcompany.com> wrote:

>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?
>
>
>
>
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