Lexmark x9350 Not Detected, Missing Driver HELP!!

[FranciscoNET]

Hi,

I work as a computer technician helping people with their computer problems. Recently I decided to make the switch to Linux because I dont like the way the Windows platform is moving. If users would like to continue using Windows XP they are in their total rights to do so, but hardware manufacturers possibly in cooperation with Microsoft are ensuring that this downgrade does as a living hell as possible for users that are displeased with either Windows Vista and or Windows 7 by not posting XP drivers on their website as soon as Vista hit the streets. Lately, the latest machines comes with a newer SATA controller for which there are no XP drivers what so ever, not even driverpacks has them, so Microsoft/hardware manufacturer seems to be systematically killing Windows XP (for what ever reason that is unknown) when XP out performs both (Vista and 7) operating systems. So, as a protest I decided to dump Microsoft and move to Linux entirely, and I have been suggesting Linux to customers that comes to me complaining that their Vista/7 machines performing poorly. They mainly request an XP downgrade, but when that downgrade is not possible, then I talk to them about Linux and they do accept and I have done over 300 successful installation of Fedora so far.

But in this installation I am having a major problem.
My customer has a Lexmark x9350 all in one Inkjet printer that did not get automatically detected with Fedora, and I have spent hours in google searching for a linux driver for it to no avail. I went to Lexmark official website and they have no linux driver for this model. As far as I have learned, Lexmark seems not to be cooperating with Linux, so is there any open source/alternative driver that could work with this model?

This person wants Linux, but he wants to get his Lexmark x9350 printer working with it.

Thanks.

[GoinEasy9]

I don't know if this actually helps with the model your trying to set up, look at pages 11-13:
http://www.lexmark.com/publications/...vers/en/ug.pdf

That's the only link I've ever found for Lexmark drivers. I've never tried the drivers there, and would never recommend a Lexmark.

[sidebrnz]

From all I've been able to find, Lexmark neither provides Linux drivers for any of its newer printers nor the specs so that somebody else can write them. Their policy is to ignore Linux and hope it goes away. My recommendation is to do exactly that to Lexmark.

[FranciscoNET]

Yes, but I have a computer repair shop and what I am suppose to do when I install Linux to a customer that happens to have one of those dreaded Lexmark printers?

Also, I was experimenting a bit on the past hour with installing printer drivers under CUPS (http://127.0.0.1:631) and instead of choosing Lexmark as the manufacturer, I changed it to HP, then I choose one of the "PSC or PhotoSmart" series. When I installed that HP Printer Driver and I attempted to send a test page, the Lexmark printer moved its print head as it was ready to print, but from that nothing else happened, I kept experimenting with changing the drivers to other HP models that appears on the CUPS list, but on the ones that I picked (I did not try the whole list as I didn't had that much time) the printer did not respond (just like on the other Lexmark drivers I experimented with).

So, since the printer at least reacted with a random HP driver I had chosen, then I THINK that Lexmark printers may be built based on HP chipsets/parts. If that is true, maybe downloading or finding a good HP driver for this Lexmark x9350 printer might make it work under Linux (have you noticed how this Lexmark printer looks so similar to an HP printer of the same class?, well I wouldn't be surprised if we are able to find a compatible HP driver that makes this work)

If I cannot get this resolved, then my customer will have to deal with Vista again if he wants to keep on using this printer, and my customer furiously hates Vista and do not want to pay Microsoft to get Windows 7 with all of its new sets of problems.

I do not want to give up, I know this printer can be made to work under Linux some how, I am prepared to keep on experimenting with other drivers, I am willing to go the extra mile to make this work as it is something I can use for future reference for other customers under same/similar situations.

Thanks.

---------- Post added at 02:32 AM CST ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 AM CST ----------

Originally Posted by GoinEasy9

I don't know if this actually helps with the model your trying to set up, look at pages 11-13:
http://www.lexmark.com/publications/...vers/en/ug.pdf

That's the only link I've ever found for Lexmark drivers. I've never tried the drivers there, and would never recommend a Lexmark.

I read that PDF from page 11~13 and all references to download RPM's from it were broken. Apparently Lexmark removed these linux drivers from their servers. Any one have a copy that pertains to the RPM's? or knows where I can download them? I could try these RPM stated on that PDF (if I could find them) to see if I am in luck.

[sidebrnz]

I can't tell you how to run your business, but I can tell you what my sister did when she migrated to Ubuntu and we learned about Lexmark's attitude: she donated her printer to a charitable organization and bought a new printer that works with Linux.

[GoinEasy9]

@FranciscoNet There are Lexmark drivers on this link, I'm crossing my fingers for you.
http://www.nodevice.com/driver/compa...k/Printer.html
Go down the page a little, some of the drivers actually say Linux.

[FranciscoNET]

Originally Posted by GoinEasy9

@FranciscoNet There are Lexmark drivers on this link, I'm crossing my fingers for you.
http://www.nodevice.com/driver/compa...k/Printer.html
Go down the page a little, some of the drivers actually say Linux.

Hi,

I appreciate your, and every one help here, but the list that you gave me did not contained a working/compatible driver for this model. I tried everything I could in terms of hacking or using a generic, other 3rd party driver in the hopes that it may just work with this printer, I even tried a couple of HP's PSC drivers since I noticed that with some HP driver, the printer's print heads will move/react each time I would send a test print job, but no print would occur still. That's the best I was able to get thru this.

So here is the end result of this journey:

A TOTAL FAILURE!!

My Customer decided to go back to his crappy Windows Vista installation (I never reformated that partition in the first place, I just resize it using gParted to as low as possible (15GB) and created a new bigger partition for Linux making it the Boot partition, to reverse everything, I deleted the Linux partition and re-expanded his Windows parition to full size again, and made it back to 'boot', that way it was a no risk journey for my customer, and I didn't had to worry about wasting my time doing a reload).

My customer decided that his printer was too good for him to let it go, he refused to go the option to purchase a new printer just to make it work with linux.

So... I guess Bill Gates wins this time, and once again Linux is rejected JUST because of this one printer!.

How are we suppose to give Linux a better name if there are lots of printer models that drivers are not available for Linux?

I guess you will be fine installing Linux, but good luck if one of your customers do happens to have one of these windows only hardware.

Something needs to be done, fast and reliably to make Windows only hardware function satisfactorily under Linux. Just like you would use NDISWRAPPER to make windows only wireless adapter work under Linux, something JUST like that needs to be done to make windows only printer work under Linux -- a WRAPPER module for printers!

I think I have an idea for a coder out there that may want to take on this type of task:
develop a virtualization method where only a Minimal set of Windows32 Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL's) is loaded JUST right enough to relay printing tasks between the Linux Hosts and the Guest Win32 virtualization environment. In that virtualization environment, will give user the chance to load up their Windows drivers for their particular printer, and then using techniques like SAMBA share that printer over to Linux and make Linux Host translate Jobs sents as "Generic GDI" over to what ever model of printer is installed under the Win32 virtualized environment, -- see this as some special type of a new WINE project but that covers the PRINTERS topic.

If we are going to see Linux mass adopted by lots of users, then we need to do something about this issue because a lot of hardware manufacturers aren't cooperating with the Linux community. I would gladly work on the project I mentioned, but sadly, I am not a coder, or at least dont posses the enough coding expertise to program something like this, so I can only dream of something like this in becoming a reality, so I only hope a serious coder out there takes on coding a project like this.

In my computer repair shop, I am already doing something about this. New Custom Built computer systems that I sell are being loaded with Linux, then I will package it as a complete 100% computer system, with a printer that actually do work under Linux, LCD, Compatible webcam, keyboard, mouse and speakers. That way I am covering as many bases as I can because customers actually expects everything to "just work", I wont want them to purchas a printer on their own, from now on, customers at my shop are going to purchase everything through me when they purchase from me a new computer system.

Note:
I might repost part of this port in a suggestions category within this forum if I see one, or as a Suggestion within 'Hardware'