Setting up my new Epson Eco-tank printer-scanner on Garuda-XFCE

Discussion
, , , ,
1

I’ll start with some background. I’ve had a Canon Pixma MX-490 All-In-One Printer/Scanner/Fax device t for several years, and it has served me well, but all good things come to an end, and so it was for my faithful Canon printer. Several days ago, it started to complain that it could not recognize my black ink cartridge, so I ordered a new set of cartridges (one black, and one color). After replacing the cartridges, the printer still produced the same error code. I did some research, and found no solution. I needed to complete an interim report for a local government agency, so time was an issue for me, so I decided to purchase a new printer-scanner.

Since I don’t like HP products (printers in particular - a personal prejudice), and I’ve just had an issue with my Canon printer, I decided to go with another major brand. My first printer was an Epson, and it lived longer than any printer I’ve had since then, so I decided to take a look at the current offerings from Epson. They have several All-in-ones that look a lot like what just went down on me, and Epson’s been pushing their EcoTank printers. I found the Epson ET-2800 printer-scanner on Amazon, for about $200.00(US) plus sales tax. I decided to get it, because the ink supply that comes with it’s supposed to last about two years (an estimate, I’ll see), and I want to get a better quality device than what’s commonly available in the marketplace.

Setting up my new printer was quick and easy on Windows 11. I simply followed the instructions that came with the printer, and the prompts on the roughly 4-inch square LCD screen on the tilt-able front panel. With the printer set up, and connected to my home network, I went to the support page for my printer, and downloaded the user’s manual, and the driver-software installation utility, just to get the utilities for my new scanner. These are probably on the CD that came with my printer, but I don’t have or need a CD reader-writer anymore.

After getting the new printer set up on Windows, and scanning that document (mentioned above) as a PDF, then sending it out, I switched to Garuda. I decided to use the Garuda-setup utility to set everything up (again), much as I did when I installed the OS. This time, I included all the available printer and scanner support items. After completing that process, and restarting the system, my printer was detected almost immediately. I now have a scanner utility to scan documents and images, and I can print from LibreOffice Writer, so I suspect that I can print from any app that supports it.

The more I use Garuda, the better I like it. While I’m not a fan of their flagship release, “Garuda KDE Dr460nized” (I don’t like its looks), I am a fan of both the Garuda-XFCE, and “Garuda Linux KDE lite” flavors. I very much like the familiarity of their XFCE implementation, and I just like the KDE-Plasma desktop environment in general. The thing I like most about their implementation of both of these desktop environments, is the simplicity of their implementations, combined with how well they have integrated the various Garuda utilities they provide. That combination makes for a great looking desktop environment, and surprisingly easy system management.

These are my observations so far. If anything changes, I’ll update this,

Ernie

3 Likes
2

Garuda linux, I have never used,
Why choose that ?
when runninng using xfce does it look and feel similar to xfce on debian ?

I believe Epson make great printers, never had any problems with them just plug and go, but like most makes they wear out, about to replace my own after 15 years of service getting tired and wondered about changing to using the tank of inks instead of paying a fortune for lumps of plastic.

3 Likes
3

I have always wondered about Epson printers on Linux.
Now I know of at least one that works.

2 Likes
4

I’m only making a suggestion that anyone looking for a great distribution give Garuda a try. The devs have given a lot of thought to which utilities to include, and how to make them very easy to use. I’ve found Garuda to be a very stable distribution, even though it uses a very current kernel (Garuda-XFCE provides the LTS kernel by default).

I don’t know how Debian implements XFCE, but if they use the default set-up, no, Garuda’s implementation has a panel across the bottom of the screen (not a dock), with app icons and the App menu at the left, and the clock, and several informational icons at the right. All in all, it looks a lot like Windows 10, but it’s still Linux.

I’ve only had my EcoTank printer for two days, but I like how it’s gone so far. I’ll know more in a year or two. I’m hoping it lasts like my first printer did, but it was created for MS- and PC-DOS in the 1990s.

Ernie

1 Like
5

Garuda Linux uses Btrfs by default.
I would be interested to hear how you manage with Btrfs. Do you use its backup
ability? Do you have any compatability issues?
I am not likely to try Garuda, because it uses systemd, but I would like to try Btrfs.

6

I’m glad if my experience helps. I can’t take any credit for getting this printer working on Garuda, though. To get the resources installed to set it up, I used the Garuda Setup utility. Following the first boot after installation, the Garuda Welcome utility launches, and runs the Garuda Set-up utility as part of the initial setup procedure. The utility has tabs across the top of the window, and you progress from one to the next, selecting options for that category. When you’ve completed your selections in all tabs, you click the “Apply” button at the lower-right to install everything you selected. When that process is finished, you have all the software installed that you requested in all the tabs. I’ve used the app to add new software a few times, (like today) too.

After a reboot, I was able to get my printer-scanner set up with no problems, in fact, I don’t even quite remember what I had to do to make it my default printer, the process was so intuitive. Now I remember, I ran the Printer Management Utility (in System in the Apps Menu). It opened a Cups page in the browser. I was able to set up the printer there. After choosing all the options in the Scanner section, following the reboot, I also have a scanner management utility that I can use to run the scanner, too. Like I said in my original post, the devs have given a lot of thought to how they want to implement their utilities, and I think that impresses me about as much as the stability of the system overall does.

Ernie

2 Likes
7

Look forward to hearing how you get on with the printer.

As for garuda… going to give it a miss happy with debian, but always interesting to read others stories

2 Likes
8

That’s O.K.! I only want to let others know things I’ve learned. We all have our own reasons for using the distributions we do. If you’re happy with Debian, that’s a good thing. As for me, I’ve found that GNU/Linux is GNU/Linux, no matter which distribution I use, but I’ve found Garuda to be a bit different, thanks to how they’ve implemented the custom utilities they include with their distribution, so I’m impressed. All I’m doing here, is expressing that, and my appreciation for the work the devs at Garuda have put in, and how they’ve implemented those tools. :slight_smile:

Ernie

3 Likes
9

Good for you my friend, it helps the community when we have a selection of different environments and experience, I am all for that

3 Likes
10

I had Canon printers for years and printed
50 000 and much more pages with each.
Every now & then I needed to clean the contact pins in the print head. That’s where the chip on the cartridge contacts, and the printer reads information from the carteidge.
If you are interested in fixing the printer, you may try to clean it…

1 Like
11

If I remember correctly, this is the favourite of our moderator @Mina too…
:wink:

1 Like
12

Its funny how or why we make a choice in life of one over another, same with cars, colour, where we live…

3 Likes
13

I’m not discarding the Cannon printer yet. I’ll try cleaning the contacts, although I did replace both cartridges. Do I also need to clean the contacts on the printer side of the connection too?

14

In that case, in my opinion, she has good taste, but then again, I may be biased :wink:

Ernie

2 Likes
15

Yes, that’s what I mean.
I don’t have my Canon anymore, so I cannot show you, but try to describe.

When you use the printer, there’s a light fog of ink everywhere inside, that condenses everywhere, and develops a very thin black layer.
That has to ber removed (or at least decreased at the sensitive points).

First remove the cartridge of course. :slight_smile:

My Canons had the habit, that after couple minutes returned the head to the parking position, eve if the lid was still open and I was doing the cleaning.
This caused me an unpleasant surprise once, so to avoid this, unplug the printer, after it moved head to the service position.

Take an ear cleaning stick, or twist a piece of paper handkerchief onto one end of a toothpicker.

With that tool gently and carefully wipe the pins, but carefully, so do not warp or deform them. Also clean the surroundings of the pins.

Replace the cartridge, plug in the printer and switch it on.
Hopefully, it will recognize the cartridge.

This process will work only, If the ribbon cable between the head and the board is intact.

1 Like
16

Because we are free to choose. Life is not deterministic.
But you are saying why do we make particular choices?
I suppose it is based on our genes and our experiences up till now.
We rarely make random choices… there must be some survival value in making
informed choices

3 Likes
17

Hi Paul.

I don’t want to influence you, but two years ago I changed my printer to an Epson EcoTank and it was the best thing I ever did.

Jorge

1 Like
18

Thank you! I’ll give that a try tomorrow (I live in Eastern (U.S.) time zone). As I write this, the time is about 03:00 AM.

Ernie

2 Likes
19

Good to know! Now I’m happier than ever about my decision.

1 Like
20

My wife is complaining our printer is not functioning correctly, I told her its because she usues windows …

But guess the time is coming to change

1 Like