Today, I purchased a Samsung ML-1676 Monochrome Laser Printer. I was under the impression that most printers are now supported out of the box but I was wrong. This model of the printer uses a proprietary language called the Samsung Printing Language (SPL) and hence drivers are not included in the distributions by default. But fear not, there is a very simple process to setup your printer because Samsung provides drivers not just for Windows but also for Mac and Linux based distributions! Great going Samsung, you deserve a pat on the back.
Download the "Unified Drivers" for Linux from the download center on Samsung website. At the moment of writing this post, the drivers are available here.
Switch on your printer and connect it to your PC. Then, extract the downloaded file and start your printer configuration suite. On KDE, it is found under System Settings > Printer Configuration. Click on the "New Printer" option and select a "New Network Printer". Most likely, you will see a "Samsung ML-1670 Series" connection in the various printer connection options. If you do not find it, check if the printer is connected and switched on. Select the "Samsung ML-1670 Series" connection and proceed. In the next screen, select the "Provide the PPD file" (PPD - PostScript Printer Description) option and select the following file from your downloaded directory (<Download_directory>/cdroot/Linux/noarch/at_opt/share/ppd/ML-1670spl.ppd).
The driver for the printer is installed. All you now need is the 'rastertosamsungsplc' utility which translates the default print language to the Samsung Printer Language. This utility is also present in the download. Copy the 'rastertosamsungsplc' from the <Download_directory>/cdroot/Linux/<arch>/at_root/usr/lib/cups/filter/ directory to /usr/lib/cups/filter/ on your PC. Fill the <arch> in the path appropriately. If you use a 32-bit machine, arch would be i386 and x86_64 on a 64-bit.
Setting up this printer is a little bit of a struggle but once setup, it works perfectly.
PS: The option of providing PPD works for a lot of Samsung models and you may be lucky to find your model in the "Unified Driver" download.
Comments
Thanks for the instructions. I have one problem: How to copy rastertosamsungsplc to usr?? I get the message: cannot copy to usr, no rights. Appreciate help. Christian
Christian on 08 November, 2011 15:16:14
@Christian, Guessing you are a newbie. Login as superuser (through either su or sudo) and use the cp command.
Thejaswi Puthraya on 13 November, 2011 21:46:00
I am using Fedora 14 on one machine and Fedora 16 on another. Under F14, rastertosamsungspl and rastertosamsungsplc are in the /usr/lib/cups/filter directory, but using the Samsung unified driver I get the message rastertosamsungspl failed. I have tried several Samsung drivers, but most of them give me the same message. The ML-1650 CUPS + Gutenprint v5.2.7 does not. The printer light flashes, and the printer mechanism starts, but nothing prints. Samsung tech support acknowledges there is an issue with their driver, but has no solution. Any suggestions?
Richard Hollins on 29 November, 2011 04:07:28
Thanks, I had all the steps except the 'rastertosamsungsplc' file. Works fine now. Again thanks.
Glenn on 27 December, 2011 12:27:01
I use Kubuntu 11.10, whenever i give the link for the .ppd file the program crashes......... Otherwise if i just give the manufacturer's name it reports that it has installed sucessfully but when i try to print my printer prints an error page saying"Use proper driver" along with some codes:( Looking forward to your reply ..Thank in advance. JP
JP on 29 December, 2011 20:25:01
I use a 10'' CHIRAG NET BOOK. I tried all the above steps. The driver installed correctly. The rastertosamsungsplc is pasted into the filter folder. F. BUT THE PRINTER DID NOT PRINT. 'JOB STOPPED, ERROR WITH FILTER' message received. I am not sure whether the netbook is 32 bit or 64 bit. So I did both( copied from i386 and x86_64 . Still it did not work. I use edubuntu 10.04, it@school version. Can you help. But it works in windows 7 in my desktop.
Thomas yoyaku on 10 February, 2012 22:18:26