Lexmark's X215 MFP multi-function printer under linux

Printer installation using Samsung's Unified Linux Driver

I do (silently) assume for this tutorial, that you are using and have installed CUPS.
The tutorial is based on Debian 4.0 with CUPS 1.2.7, but should not be (too) distribution specific. The installation is described in a way, that does not use Samsung's installation program (as this does also install other software parts that - at least with my X215 - do not work or are not necessary)!

Download and extract the Samsung driver package

First download the linux driver package from Samsung (see Links page from table of contents). The tar.gz archive is (compressed) about 20 MB in size:

wget http://do....20070725085320093_UnifiedLinuxDriver.tar.gz

Now extract the archive (filename can be different!):

tar -xzf 20070725085320093_UnifiedLinuxDriver.tar.gz

You fill find a directory structure under cdroot/ of about 60 MB of files, of which we will need only 2 (two!) files:

PPD file scx4x16.ppd
filter program rastertosamsungspl

Copy necessary files for CUPS

First we will copy the PPD file into the related CUPS directory. Before that we cann create a subdirectory for Samsung PPD files (if it doesn't already exist):

mkdir /usr/share/cups/model/samsung/
cp cdroot/Linux/noarch/at_opt/share/ppd/scx4x16.ppd \
  /usr/share/cups/model/samsung/

Next we copy the filter program rastertosamsungspl:

cp cdroot/Linux/i386/at_root/usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertosamsungspl \
  /usr/lib/cups/filter/

or for 64bit systems:

cp cdroot/Linux/x86_64/at_root/usr/lib64/cups/filter/rastertosamsungspl \
  /usr/lib/cups/filter/

Installing a CUPS printer

In general

Installing a printer under CUPS can be achieved using distribution specific tools like:

printconf-gui for Redhat 7.2 - 9, Fedora Core 1-5;
printerdrake for Mandrake/Mandriva
yast2 for SUSE
....

... or you can use the web-based installation by simply directing your internet browse to the url http://127.0.0.1:631, then go to "Add Printer" geht ...

... or you create a printer entry from command line / shell (as root).

Using `lpadmin` from command line / shell

From the command line interface one can create printer spools with lpadmin. Depending on whether the Lexmark X215 is attached to the parallel interface (LPT, /dev/lpx) or the usb interface, this could look like this:

lpadmin -p X215LPT \
        -v parallel:/dev/lp0 \
        -E \
        -P /usr/share/cups/model/samsung/scx4x16.ppd

lpadmin -p X215USB \
        -v usb://Lexmark/X215 \
        -E \
        -P /usr/share/cups/model/samsung/scx4x16.ppd

Options mean here ...

-p X215USB: name of the printer queue
-v usb://Lexmark/X215: device uri; tells CUPS where the printer is attached to or can be reached; structured like a url
-E: activates (enables) the printer queue
-P /usr/share/cups/model/samsung/scx4x16.ppd: tell cups where to find the PPD file