Status messages with Samsung driver?

[FisherG]

Hi all,

Not all printers have a display on them, only lights.

I have 2 printers:
SCX-4521 which has a display and works fine (scanner driver for some reason installs needing root permissions when you scan, but at least works)
The M2835DW only has lights and doesn't have a toner cartridge inside, but also has an "imaging unit" which is just essentially the drum.

I picked it up off someone but couldn't find out the issue of why they didn't want it, it's likely the toner drum also thinks it needs replacing, but I can only know if I see the status messages once it starts up and tells my PC.

How does one read messages through the Samsung Unified Driver?

Thanks,
Fisher

[FisherG]

Hi all,

Does the Samsung Unified Printer Driver have the feature of reading the printer messages?

Surely it does, or please let me know if its a "Windows only" feature.

Its a pity when companies don't open up their protocols, especially to the open source community because Samsung wouldn't have had to do much work to keep them updated.

I'm sure lots of Samsung printers were thrown out because of this mix or lack of support, especially now being a few years after the sale to HP.

I assume HP mainly wanted the technology, not really to sell spare parts or support older Samsung stuff.

Fisher

[bchemnet]

The Linux driver cannot read printer messages.  It is indeed a Windows only feature.  I believe that all the printers can print out a status page, and that is the official alternative method, but obviously that does not work if the printer will not print.  It appears that HP is starting to release new printers based on the Samsung technology, but they have not made any meaningful updates to the driver.

[FisherG]

Hi bchemnet,

Thanks for the reply, nice to get an official answer.

I'll find a Windows machine to check.  I've read elsewhere that its common for the imaging unit drum to claim to need replacing even while the pages are printing well.

Thankfully there are a few pages mentioning how to reset the counter with an Arduino etc and I2C bus.

Fisher