# Epson B300 color (business) inkjet printer

## kernelOfTruth

Hi ladies & gentlemen,

I'm planning to buy a new printer for work any the Epson B300 has caught my attention, unfortunately 

there aren't any "field reports" with this device and ubuntu and/or linux in general:

http://www.openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Epson-B300

I know that 2 drivers exist supporting that device:

1) gutenprint since version 5.0.0 (run by the escp2-b300 driver)

2) and drivers developed for / by epson by avasys (http://www.avasys.jp/lx-bin2/linux_e/ink/DL1.do)

my questions are:

* when using the gutenprint driver does the printer reach full speed indicated in the manual / specs or are there problems that it needs to re-think every 2-4 pages (a problem I'm having with my HL-5240 right now in windows AND linux with certain drivers)

* how well do those avasys drivers and/or epson printers work in general with linux / gentoo ?

* is amd64 / x86_64 (64bit) a problem ? in their FAQ they're writing about libexec stuff which should be no problem: copying over stuff from /usr/lib/cups to /usr/libexec/cups

many thanks in advance, your input is highly appreciated 

have a nice day   :Smile: 

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## alex.blackbit

i do not have practical experience with such printers, but i remember to read on the linuxprinting website that buying epson printers for the use under linux in the best you can do. second one was hp, if i remember right.

so i guess you shouldn't run into too much trouble. but as i said, this is only a guess.

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## kernelOfTruth

 *alex.blackbit wrote:*   

> i do not have practical experience with such printers, but i remember to read on the linuxprinting website that buying epson printers for the use under linux in the best you can do. second one was hp, if i remember right.
> 
> so i guess you shouldn't run into too much trouble. but as i said, this is only a guess.

 

thanks, alex !

I was already at buying it when the following caught my attention:

http://www.avasys.jp/cgi-bin/lx/bbs/en/ink-bbs/hyperbbs.cgi?start=1;mode=view;Code=1014;R=1

 *Quote:*   

> In file included from pipsmem.h:39,
> 
> from pipsmem.c:32:
> 
> pipsdef.h:34:18: error: ltdl.h: No such file or directory
> ...

 

I'm getting a similar and several more errors - this really sucks

I don't even own this printer and it already gets me headache   :Rolling Eyes: 

there is a driver for nearly every distro out there:

I've figured out (IMO) working way to get it running but due to lack of the hardware (I don't have it yet and before it isn't sure to work 100% I won't buy it - nice circle isn't it ?   :Razz:  )

1) download the drivers for fedora 9

2) extract that stuff

3) convert the rpms to a tgz file using rpm2targz

4) extracting those tgz-archives

5) manually copying over the files extracted to the corresponding / correct folders and eventually adjusting permissions

6) working printer ?

can anyone with a (new) epson printer and those (avasys) drivers test this procedure whether it works ?

OR

at least check if the extracted files from those converted rpm's are residing on those folder of the system (hope that sentence can be understood)  :Wink: 

I read that the gutenprint driver isn't as good as it's (theoretical) reputation: it needs at least twice ink and is much slower than the driver provided by avasys/seiko/epson

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## kernelOfTruth

*BUMP*

can anyone confirm that the avasys drivers work with gentoo ? and amd64 ?

input please   :Sad: 

thanks

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