Ubuntu printer support

[Frunobulax]

Hi Everyone,
I moved from Linux Mint to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" when it came out because, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It's been sorta ok but lost all ability to print - a problem I ignored, thinking a solution would come along eventually. Ubuntu has no driver for my Canon combo - so, I thought the printer's old, I'll just buy a new one. Here's the kicker - Here in Australia, there's a smorgasbord of printers on sale, not ONE of which are listed as supported by Ubuntu. So, here's my question: Are there any Aussie Ubuntu users who have successfully bought a printer/scanner combo that is supported and works? If not, I guess I'll go back to Mint which seemed to work with everything. Thanks for reading this far! Cheers!

 

[Condobloke]

Here in Australia

Welcome to linux.org, fellow Aussie.

I guess I'll go back to Mint which seemed to work with everything.

There is the best idea you have had all day !

Mint tends not to have problems of that nature. It can have them, but usually they are reasonably easy to fix

 

[Mike-BTU]

Ideally, the persons you seek will see this and solve your problem. But let me share a very similar experience I had many years ago with Ubuntu and a Brother printer.

I finally searched the web for something like Brother model xxyyz printer driver for Ubuntu 7.8.whatever.

Eureka! One person wrote exactly the driver that I needed and made it available on his website. Without that, my printer was worthless on Linux.

You never know until you try.

 

[Frunobulax]

Welcome to linux.org, fellow Aussie.


There is the best idea you have had all day !

Mint tends not to have problems of that nature. It can have them, but usually they are reasonably easy to fix

Thanks, Condobloke. Mint was good but a recurring audio bug that defied every update, patch and tweak got me fed up with it. Everything else worked but crook audio is non-negotiable for me and intermittent extreme distortion killed it. Now, Ubuntu sounds good but won't print. How's the sound on yours - still using Mint?

 

[Frunobulax]

Ideally, the persons you seek will see this and solve your problem. But let me share a very similar experience I had many years ago with Ubuntu and a Brother printer.

I finally searched the web for something like Brother model xxyyz printer driver for Ubuntu 7.8.whatever.

Eureka! One person wrote exactly the driver that I needed and made it available on his website. Without that, my printer was worthless on Linux.

You never know until you try.

Thanks, Mike. I did try that without success - but thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it again before I give up on Ubuntu.

 

[Condobloke]

Yes, still using mint.....LM22.1 at the moment

I have z-cinema speakers, logitech....which function without a murmur. They are probably around 14 - 15 year old now.
----------------------------------------------
I have seen many and various printer issues on here...some Linux Mint....mostly not.

What brand of printer ?....and model number.

A few members spring to mind who may a better clue than myself....I'll leave their names here....they will get a notification and perhaps come and take a look

@osprey

@Brickwizard

 

[Brickwizard]

Canon combo

welcome

full model number please, many cannon painters are supported, its usually just a question of finding the right drivers and installing xsane from the repositories. Most makes the scanner will not work in the same way it did in windows, Linux uses an app called simple scan

 

[Condobloke]

Also, @bob466

 

[Frunobulax]

Yes, still using mint.....LM22.1 at the moment

I have z-cinema speakers, logitech....which function without a murmur. They are probably around 14 - 15 year old now.
----------------------------------------------
I have seen many and various printer issues on here...some Linux Mint....mostly not.

What brand of printer ?....and model number.

A few members spring to mind who may a better clue than myself....I'll leave their names here....they will get a notification and perhaps come and take a look

@osprey

@Brickwizard

Canon 926 combo printer/scanner but I'm not married to it - happy to buy a new one if I know it'll work. As for the audio issue, it persisted over 3 generations of Mint on two different computers. Sounding good for a while but randomly munting the signal at others. I found a few threads mentioning the issue and tried several suggested fixes but it kept coming back. The only thing the two machines had in common was AMD CPUs. I run Toslink audio out to an external DAC / HiFi system and it sounds great on flac files. If Mint has fixed the audio bug, I'd change back tomorrow.

 

[Frunobulax]

welcome

full model number please, many cannon painters are supported, its usually just a question of finding the right drivers and installing xsane from the repositories. Most makes the scanner will not work in the same way it did in windows, Linux uses an app called simple scan

Thanks, Brickwizard. It's an old Canon MX926 combo printer/scanner but I'm happy to buy a new one if I know it's compatible.

 

[Brickwizard]

old Canon MX926

not showing on my cannon product list [only goes up to mx 925] is it a pixma MX ?

 

[Brickwizard]

Forget my last post, i could not find it as it was not a world product, it was made for the Antipodean market only

you need legacy driver Deb package for all Debian based distributions

MX920 series IJ Printer Driver Ver. 3.90 for Linux (debian Packagearchive)

This software is a printer driver for printing using the Canon IJ printer.

www.canon.com.au

 

[Frunobulax]

Forget my last post, i could not find it as it was not a world product, it was made for the Antipodean market only

you need legacy driver Deb package for all Debian based distributions

MX920 series IJ Printer Driver Ver. 3.90 for Linux (debian Packagearchive)

This software is a printer driver for printing using the Canon IJ printer.

www.canon.com.au

Yes, a Pixma. That's brilliant, thanks, Brickwizard! I'll give that a shot -- Cheers!

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Condobloke ... what,no mention of moi in the Aussie contingent? I'm crushed.

@Frunobulax welcome to linux.org

If you get this solved, you can mark it as same with the following -

Near bottom left of your first post click Edit - (No Prefix) - Solved

Then consider trundling over to

Member Introductions

New here? Post an introduction thread!

www.linux.org

and say G'day.

Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi

 

[osprey]

Thanks, Brickwizard. It's an old Canon MX926 combo printer/scanner but I'm happy to buy a new one if I know it's compatible.

There is a Canon MX926 open source driver in the linux package: libgutenprint-common.

These are the gutentprint packages that are usually installed:
libgutenprint-common
libgutenprint9
printer-driver-gutenprint

If they aren't installed by default, they can be installed from the repos.

The entry in the relevant driver file: /usr/share/gutenprint/5.3/xml/printers/canon.xml, is the following which includes the linux driver name:

canon.xml: <printer translate="name" name="Canon PIXMA MX926" driver="bjc-PIXMA-MX926" manufacturer="Canon" model="9000920" parameters="PIXMA_iP4000_params">EXPERIMENTAL</printer>

Normally, the cups program will enable the user to choose this driver, and printing usually just works.

However, one should note that these open source drivers which are not proprietary, sometimes lack all the functionality of the drivers which can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. That means some fancier functions of the printer may not be available. I can't say how good this particular linux driver is, but in the past with a different Canon model, and the open source linux driver, the printing was good enough for me. It's a matter of trying it out I guess, but basic printing should happen.

For the scanning facility, the package: sane, is the one usually installed in addition to the above.

 

[Frunobulax]

@Condobloke ... what,no mention of moi in the Aussie contingent? I'm crushed.

@Frunobulax welcome to linux.org

If you get this solved, you can mark it as same with the following -

Near bottom left of your first post click Edit - (No Prefix) - Solved

Then consider trundling over to

Member Introductions

New here? Post an introduction thread!

www.linux.org

and say G'day.

Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi

@Condobloke ... what,no mention of moi in the Aussie contingent? I'm crushed.

@Frunobulax welcome to linux.org

If you get this solved, you can mark it as same with the following -

Near bottom left of your first post click Edit - (No Prefix) - Solved

Then consider trundling over to

Member Introductions

New here? Post an introduction thread!

www.linux.org

and say G'day.

Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi

OK, Thanks, Wizardfromoz. Cheers!

 

[Frunobulax]

There is a Canon MX926 open source driver in the linux package: libgutenprint-common.

These are the gutentprint packages that are usually installed:
libgutenprint-common
libgutenprint9
printer-driver-gutenprint

If they aren't installed by default, they can be installed from the repos.

The entry in the relevant driver file: /usr/share/gutenprint/5.3/xml/printers/canon.xml, is the the following which includes the linux driver name:

Normally, the cups program will enable the user to choose this driver, and printing usually just works.

However, one should note that these open source drivers which are not proprietary, sometimes lack all the functionality of the drivers which can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. That means some fancier functions of the printer may not be available. I can't say how good this particular linux driver is, but in the past with a different Canon model, and the open source linux driver, the printing was good enough for me. It's a matter of trying it out I guess, but basic printing should happen.

For the scanning facility, the package: sane, is the one usually installed in addition to the above.

Thanks, osprey - I'll check that out too. Cheers!

 

[Condobloke]

@Condobloke ... what,no mention of moi in the Aussie contingent? I'm crushed.

me bad

That's yet another beer I owe you...

 

[GatorsFan]

Drivers are available here

https://www.canon.com.au/printers/pixma-mx926/support

 

[bob466]

It seems your problem is solved.