Installation of Dell B1265dnf multi-function printer

Hello!

This is my first post on this forum and I must confess I only registered because I am at my wits' end.

I have spent hours trying to install my Dell B1265dnf multi-function printer, yet without any success. Dell did release a driver for that printer (http://ftp.dell.com/Pages/Drivers/dell- ... f-all.html), yet Dell's "support" hotline even denied that any such driver exists. I followed the documentation provided by Dell as far as possible, yet the "autorun" file just won't launch.

Zorin's printer installer does not even know the model of my printer.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Headbanger

Hi headbanger, and welcome to Zorin! Go easy on the headbanging - we don't want any blood clots forming!

I have looked at the documentation with the tar.gz that I extracted from that webpage. Checked what dependencies are installed on my system and you need to open 'synaptic package manager' and search for 'sane' (Menu | System Tools | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager). Install all those highlighted withi an 'orange' circle that are not installed (if installed will be ticked or have a green box) - select the necessary packages and apply - or the scanner won't work according to the documentation - back later, just going to try something.

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

I have in the meantime installed those "dependencies" with an orange circle. Once the installation was complete, I again attempted to launch the "autorun" file in "cdroot" folder, yet the file would again only open in gedit.

Am I doing something wrong?

Hi you need to install 'lightdm' (this will change the greeter from the standard Zorin one) and follow this guide:

http://www.howopensource.com/2012/12/en ... -10-12-04/

Once you login as 'full root', open a terminal and enter 'gksudo nautilus', open another terminal and drag and drop the 'install.sh' folder inside the 'Linux' folder which should state it has 11 items in and it should start to run - in my current setup this is what happens (I don't have 'lightdm' installed).

I tried switching into "root"-mode, followed the instructions and rebooted the machine. While Zorin was loading, I was not prompted for the "root" password and I don't seem to be in "root"-mode.

Any suggestions?

Well if you don't mind saying goodbye to the cute login screen:

1. Make sure that in 'Software Updater' that Notify of newest updates to Ubuntu is set to never.

2. In a terminal enter:

Code:

sudo apt-get upgrade

This should install LDM login screen and (hopefully) you will then see 'Login' - No guarantees!

Unfortunately, I was not prompted for a "login" after rebooting the machine. What now??

Was this after you entered 'sudo apt-get upgrade'? I would reboot the machine first - my bad!

Just did another reboot - No prompt for a password..the machine just keeps loading Zorin.

Should I try another distribution? Mint?

I am not sure, I noticed that the driver for that printer supplied by Dell quotes very old Linux OS's. You could try LXLE (http://lxle.net) - this is very good for 'out-of-the-box' experience, particularly with wireless - just been playing with it today on my HP Mini Netbook - and on an old Notebook previous to that was good at picking up the Canon Printer but cannot guarantee you will have the same success. One distro worth considering though if you are after the Debian experience is SolydXK. Alternatively you could try Centos 6.5 which is based on Red Hat and is the community edition of Red Hat's Enterprise OS (CentOS = Community enterprise Operating System). Before you do go, is your Zorin pointing to 'Main Server' in your 'Software Manager' Settings?

Well you see I really do not want to leave. Zorin has a nice, intuitive feel to it. I first tried Linux in 1999, yet Suse did not recognise any of my computer's periphery. Later, around 2005 I made another attempt, yet again lack of hardware support drove me back to Windows. It is somewhat sad to see that the same problem still existinh 15 years on..

Yes, Zorin is pointing to "Main Server". Anything else you could think of to make my Dell work with Zorin? Would any of the Ubuntu derivatives allow me to switch to "root"-mode?

Hi,

try this terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) command, copy and paste it in the terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -f

Restart and see if you can get it to work!.

Thanks Wolfman, but the machine still loads Zorin as usual..

Am I correct in assuming that the main problem at this time is that Zorin won't allow me to get into "root"-mode?

Hi,

to work as root, see this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1941&p=7345#p7345

Hi Wolfman, do you need to open a new terminal after that or can you run the commands in the one that was entered 'gksudo nautilus'? It used to work on previous versions of Zorin but not on 8!

It seems that the "autorun" and "install.sh" files are still being opened by "gedit" after one double-clicks on them..

Hi HB/Swarf,

do you have the package "nautilus-open-terminal" installed, this might aid you with your attempts to get .sh files to run by opening the terminal in Nautilus and running them that way, login as described earlier by making yourself root first!.

Code:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal

nautilus-open-terminal is a Nautilus extension which allows you to
open a terminal in arbitrary local or distant folders.
It provides a right-click "Open Terminal" option in any Nautilus
window.

You must at least logout once before it will show in Nautilus!.

I did install Nautilus Open Terminal, yet there is no "Open Terminal" option when right-clicking on either autorun or install.sh..

Hi HB,

it may only show after you have done a full restart, I can see the option with a right click and in the content menu no problem!.

I have (partially) made it work!

This is what I did: I installed Elementary OS and spent about four hours reading up on printer installation on various Ubuntu forums. I then came across an article that suggested that one could launch graphical installations in "root"-mode by using the "gksudo" command. This allowed me to install the Unified Linux Driver, yet I received an error message that "SANE" was not installed. This error message kept appearing even after SANE was installed.

Still, I could not print. Eventually I found a Youtube video suggesting to log on to localhost:631, which allowed me to install the printer as a network printer and I was able to print. Yet I am still unable to scan. It is entirely possible that I entered that many commands that I messed up the system, which is why I am going to install a "pure" Ubuntu system and try the same steps once again.

Thanks for the support thus far!

Hi,

try a mix of "Simple Scan" and "Sane"!.