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Nowadays, it's easy to install a Samsung printer, scanner or multifunctional in Linux Mint. You can do it like this:
Connect your printer to your computer by means of a USB cable (even when you intend to use it as a network printer later on: for initial installation a USB cable is often needed). Then turn on your printer. Doesn't it work (well)? Then read on.
Default: driverless printing/scanning with IPP
Linux Mint features driverless printing and scanning. Printers and scanners are detected and added automatically. Communication with the printer/scanner is being done through a standard protocol called IPP.
No drivers are needed; installed drivers are not being used.
So far, so good. But sometimes you've got to do the following, in order to get your printer/scanner to work (properly):
1. Is your printer/scanner not working (well)? The default driverless IPP takes priority as long as it’s installed; drivers won’t be used. So in order to try a driver instead, you first need to remove IPP support from your computer.
Proceed like this:
a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:
sudo apt-get remove ipp-usb sane-airscan
Press Enter and submit your password. Please note that in Ubuntu the password will remain invisible, not even asterisks will show when you type it, which is normal. In Linux Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.
Then proceed with step 2 below.
2. First remove any current instance of your printer in the application Printers. A proprietary driver will probably be the solution. Samsung has produced a fine Linux driver for all its printers (including multifunctionals with a scanner feature): the Unified Linux Driver.
Usually it isn't necessary to install it, because Linux Mint already contains a version of it. But if that version doesn't suffice, for example because your printer is too new, then you can install the driver as follows:
Download the compressed Linux driver from the website of.... Hewlett Packard! That's probably because in 2017, HP has bought the Samsung printer division.
3. Usually the downloaded compressed file has landed in the folder Downloads. So unzip it like this:
Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)
Use copy/paste to transfer the following command to the terminal:
cd Downloads && tar -xvzf ~/Downloads/uld*.tar.gz
Press Enter.
4. Now go to the uncompressed folder with this terminal command (use copy/paste):
cd ~/Downloads/uld
Press Enter.
Note: this might produce an error message, stating: No such file or directory. This typically happens when you've downloaded the old driver for older printers, because the new driver is only for newer printers. If so, copy/paste the following magical incantation into the terminal:
cd ~/Downloads/cdroot/Linux
Press Enter.
5. Then make the terminal window full-screen, because of an annoying license agreement (more about that later). Then execute this command line in the terminal (copy/paste):
sudo sh install.sh
Press Enter.
When asked, type your password. In Ubuntu your password remains entirely invisible: you don't even see dots when you type it, that's normal. Press Enter again.
Now you see an aggravating license agreement, which you have to walk through line by annoying line, by repeatedly pressing Enter. Note that you have to do it slowly and carefully, because if you press Enter one time too many, you shoot past the line where you have to press "y" in order to agree to the license agreement. If that happens, you have to run "sudo sh install.sh" all over again....
Now the installation starts. Answer the questions (if asked: choose to disable printing from the LTP port: that's outdated).
6. From the menu, launch the application Printers. Select your printer. The PPD file that it needs, and that you've installed just now, is not in the database of Printers; you'll have to select that manually, by clicking through to the folder /usr/share/ppd/uld-hp and by selecting the right PPD file in that folder (there might be more than one in it).
7. You're done! Enjoy your printer.
Note: does the installation fail, for example because the unzipping produces an error, or because you get the error message "Can't open install.sh" ?
Then you probably have a corrupt driver file. Solution: remove everything, download a new copy and try again.
Want more tips?
Do you want more tips and tweaks? There's a lot more of them on this website!
For example:
Speed up your Linux Mint!
Clean your Linux Mint safely
Avoid 10 fatal mistakes
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