Hallo, rcrsn51 (and everybody else!)
FYI: I run a Stylus SX 218, which works perfectly with the supplied driver from Epson's download page for my model. Curiously, it installs through CUPS initially
only with the generic ESCP/R driver, but
will use the correct driver if you then go back into 'Admin' and select 'Modify Printer', and select from the drop-down list as you go through the steps again in CUPS.
The point of my post is to let fellow Epson users know about the
'epson-printer-utility_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb' package, which appears to be offered with the majority of the Epson printer drivers. This is basically a Linux version of the well-known Windows 'Epson Status Monitor'; offering ink-levels, head-cleaning, nozzle check, etc. Except instead of being the tiny little thing squashed into a corner of the screen as it appears in Windows, this is almost full-page, and therefore very easy to read.
It also offers the facility to change which printer is being monitored, if you run more than one.
It can be found
here, and is a little over 1MB in size. Scroll to the bottom of the page, click on 'Accept', and the page will unscroll a bit further, showing the download. Most of you will want the
'i386.deb' package; this will install by clicking on it, like any .pet package.
For those of you running 64-bit Pups, use the 'amd_64.deb' entry, rather than the 'i386' one.
I've included a screenshot by way of illustration. I downloaded this thing nearly a year ago now, and only just got around to trying it the other night. It runs
perfectly in all four of the Pups in my sig! Once installed, you can drag'n'drop it from /usr/bin to the desktop (and 'doll it up' with an icon, if you like!), so you have a launcher within easy access.
Until recently, I've been using a version of
'escputil', which the absent
MikeB modified, several years ago, with his own, home-grown GTK+ front-end. I'm offering it here, if anybody else is interested. As far as I recall, you need 'escputil' installed first.
I'm guessing that the Epson 'Status Monitor' printer utility is probably based upon escputil as well.
Apologies if any of this is duplicating earlier postings from previous years.
Hope that helps some of you.
Mike.