Thanks for chiming in. Yes, I've made too many mistakes, some of them quite clumsy. But I'm grateful to everyone who's participated in this thread. And my personal conclusion is that I need to learn a lot. Little by little, I'm doing it. I've read a lot this past week. I appreciate everyone's patience with me.

Well, the first thing I did was make sure I chose the correct package, just as you warned me. So I selected epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.84.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz instead of epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.87.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz. This was crucial.

So I ran the command `tar zxf epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.84.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz` and the terminal output was:

`tar (child): epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.84.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory`
`tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now`
`tar: Child returned status 2`
`tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now`

I continued. I ran the command `cd epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.84.0.x86_64.deb/`, and I was finally able to navigate to the correct package. So I was finally able to run the command `./install.sh` on the correct package. I did it, and the correct package was successfully installed!

`` I opened Xsane and it opened! And I was able to scan!

So I'm going to mark this thread as "SOLVED".

I'm very grateful to all the participants and everyone who read this thread. The most important takeaway is the importance of reading, reading, and reading to learn, and of helping those who need it, as you all have been to me. Thank you for your patience and help.

I apologize and send a hug to everyone.

1) epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz is the source code, unless you feel like building the scanner tool from source yourself, you almost certainly want epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.87.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz (from the "drivers" section of the download page) instead.

2) You can't just stuff a 'cd' command, a directory name, a file name, and a script with relative path into one line and expect it to work.
'cd' takes exactly one argument (the target directory), you provided three.

3) Adding more random stuff to a syntactically incorrect command-line won't make it more right.

4) Nor will changing the order of said random stuff.

* Get the right file.
* Unpack the archive

tar zxf epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.87.0.x86_64.deb.tar.gz

* Change into the directory created above (use tab-complete if you value your sanity)

cd epsonscan2-bundle-6.7.87.0.x86_64.deb/

* Run the installer script

./install.sh

you need to "cd" into the right directory,
and there you can "./install.sh" or "sh ./install.sh" , sorry if am not precise enouugh,
if you get permission denied, most probably you need to add "sudo" to the command. first you untar, then enter or "cd" into proper directory, then sudo+command should do the install for you.
but my memory told me, it function without sudo, but maybe was wrong.

Thanks, Kapqa

Here are the steps I took:

1) I ran the command `tar -xzvf /home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz` and a process started in the terminal, opening the compressed tar.gz package.

2) I ran the command `cd Downloads /home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz ./install.sh` and the result was "Permission denied", both as the sudo user and as the root user.

3) I added `sudo` to `./install.sh` and it looked like this: `Downloads (in blue) /home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz sudo ./install.sh` and the result was "Permission denied".

4) I changed the position of sudo and ran: Downloads (in blue letters) sudo ./install.sh/home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz and the result was “Command not found”

Perhaps you need to install sane-airscan.

Thanks, Ralph.ronnquist, but I already have the sane-airscan package installed.

Okay, Kapqa, I opened the scanner tool's tar.gz package with the command `tar -xzvf (filename) tar.gz`, and it opened in the terminal. Then I ran the command `./install.sh`, and the terminal output was:

“No such file or directory.”

I understand that running the `tar -xzvf` command creates a container folder (I have the file in my Downloads folder). Therefore, I ran the command `cd Downloads`. Next, I copy the file path, and it looks like this:

cd Downloads /home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz

If I add ./install.sh to that, it becomes:

cd Downloads /home/atlante/Downloads/epsonscan2-6.7.87.0-1.src.tar.gz ./install.sh . Running this in the terminal, the result is:

“Permission denied.”

I tried logging in as the root user, and the result was the same.

you can just extract the tar.gz. file and go into directory and still like "./install.sh" it will ask probably for user password.
that should do it.

Today something changed when I logged into CUPS (I should clarify that I had no choice but to cheat the login process, since it keeps asking for my password. I changed the root user password to something else, clicked "Login," and when the second pop-up window appeared with the options "Update Password" and "Don't Update," I clicked the latter and was able to log in with my saved root user password, as it should be). I had previously removed the printer. When I entered my printer's location, CUPS took me to a list of brands. I clicked "Epson," and instead of the two options that appeared before, now a long list of printer models appeared. I selected mine and got "Printer Added." I went to the CUPS graphical wizard in Print Settings, clicked "Print a Test Page"... and it printed! It printed successfully!

Excited, I opened Xsane... and the message "No devices available" appeared.

I think it's a driver issue. The .deb drivers for the printing tool were already installed before I added the printer. However, the scanner tool drivers, which are tar.gz packages, were not. I also tried installing the Simple Scan tool, but it returned the "No devices connected" message.

So, at least I got the printing tool working again.

Thank you, Kapqa, for providing the .deb packages for the printing tool. The scanner tool packages are src.tar.gz, and I haven't been able to extract them with Alien. I realize how important it is to back up drivers.

At the Consumer Protection Office in my city, I filed my complaint and got a number. I'm on a loooong waiting list, and they'll confirm my mediation hearing by phone.

I can print now. I have good news for you all today. I'm halfway there. I just need the scanner.

have been using now again epson since the first release of ET and have used most often the driver package directly from epson homepage

thy have been difficult to install for some time on Debian Linux since for some reason they decided to deprecate "lsb" package
(no such issue on previous ubuntu linux)

now with recent driver packages a trick that oi have been using to install lsb-package on debian/devuan is no longer needed.

basically epson provided from the start packages for linux on amd64 and armhf, and now also on arm64;
they are hardly at fault. (imho))

however, with recent linux there is also "pòush" for "driverless" printing.

have found that this can make it hard to use "usb" connection properly with said epson printer - cannot talk fron experience for other printer company well.

you will need the appropriate package and it makes a difference (from my experience) if you use linux mint 20 or 21 or 22 for the like, beccause those packages have changed.

this is the site i normally go to for downloading the packages

https://epson.com/Support/wa00821

the site has been changed lately so it is become bit more difficult to download the driver, especilayy since there seem error involved with firefox browser (at least when using linux)

there used to be asection below the drivers where one could download "old packages" for previous versions of linux (eg. like debian wheezy, jessie etc)

this section is no longer visible .

you might checck with Epson directly if you need an older version of the driver - personally i have not made an archive of those (probably should have)

however, it is possible to use the driver from epson correcctly but it can be involved process;

sometimes you need to manually insert things (at least i had to) - and for this to my understanding the "blame" lies entirely with CUPS software or debian handling of it  (especially more difficult on debian 13/devuan 6)- but i am not knowledgeable enough to entirely understand the whole operation that is involved.

and yes, you should state which operating system you use to begin with.

què tengais suerte.

EDIT: have seen that today the download center is not providing results.
maybe there is error with database
https://download-center.epson.com/searc … anguage=en

if you have installed the driver correctly, and added the printer to CUPS, and it still would not print over USB,
you chould try to "uninstall" package "ipp-usb"

if it doesnt help you, you can always re-install it afterwards
(on my devuan-box i had to de-install it to get the printer to print reliably over USB cable)
, with epson printer ET
wink

Thanks, Kapqa, for your continued help. I uninstalled the ipp-usb package with the command “sudo apt purge ipp-usb”, restarted my computer, turned on the printer, tried to print… and it failed. So I reinstalled the ipp-usb package.

I'll tell you what I've been doing, because I've been on the lookout: the official Epson Technical Service in my city told me they aren't responsible for software installations that they provide but don't install. They also said they don't install software for individuals (only for companies). I told them they have to be responsible for the quality of the products they supply to the end consumer, and they didn't respond. I might go to the Consumer Protection Office on Wednesday to raise the issue.

I contacted a friend who uses Linux Mint and the same printer as me (he recommended it). We asked if he had the drivers for the latest installation (Linux Mint is currently on version 21.3, and the installed drivers are from version 20, so they're a bit old, but they might still work). He said yes and sent them to me. I saved them in a folder on my computer's desktop. I tried installing the printing package first with Xarchiver... and the error I got was:

"Cannot execute compression. No such file or directory."

I tried using the Gdebi installer... and the error was: "A later version of this package is already installed," which is reasonable.

The scanner package comes as a tar.gz file, so I had the same frustrating result as with the current packages when trying to convert it to a .deb package with the Alien program.

if it doesnt help you, you can always re-install it afterwards
(on my devuan-box i had to de-install it to get the printer to print reliably over USB cable)
, with epson printer ET

ARM binaries simply will not work on an AMD64 architecture, trying them is pointless.
The driver linked in post #5 is the correct architecture and already in the correct format (so no mucking around with xarchiver or alien required), just install with apt or dpkg, e.g.:

apt install ./epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.8.7-1_amd64.deb

Whether it works is another question, I don't have applicable hardware.

    ideographic characters from another alphabet appear

Are you sure that's not just Epson's website setting x-content-type incorrectly, causing your browser to render the binary file as text rather than downloading it?
Try wget or curl on the URI you get, e.g.:

wget https://download-center.epson.com/f/mod … _amd64.deb

First reply Steve_v:

Thanks for your help, friend. I really appreciate it. But unfortunately, neither of the proposed solutions worked. Please read how it went in the following comments where I reply to other commenters, because you contributed key points that I not only agree with, but which have also proven effective. Therefore, your contributions have been very important.

Reply to Rolfie:

That's right, my friend. I installed Chromium and for the first time I was able to download a .deb file. It was for the printing tool. I installed Gdebi, and it successfully installed the print drivers. Excited, I thought to myself, "Well, at least I'll be able to print!" But I was wrong. The printer went through all the printing procedures, but nothing printed. The scanner tool file was automatically converted to a tar.gz file. And I don't understand why. I'm tempted to go to Epson's official technical support and have them explain what's going on.One important detail: I had to configure Chromium to its highest security and privacy settings to download the .deb drivers. Therefore, a properly configured browser is key in this process. I don't know if Firefox configured in the same way would produce the same results, but only with that configuration was I able to download the print drivers.

Second reply to Steve_v

Thanks, Steve_v. Please read my reply to Rolfie. I really appreciate your valuable help.

Reply to Kapqa:

Thanks, friend, for your interest in the topic and for your willingness to help. Please read my first reply to Steve_v and my reply to Rolfie.

These drivers didn't work for me. They have the same problem as the drivers of the same type that I download in my country: when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.

you can try with this "workaround"

click on link to download > then you will get the characters > now click on the url-tab-bar and copy the url and insert in terminal the link do download with "wget" and you should download the .deb file correctly.

Firefox fooling you

If you inspect the stream, you'll see that the webserver incorrectly sets "content-type: text/plain" in the response header. Firefox is believing what it's told, as it should.
This is a disturbingly common misconfiguration in javascript-infested eula-gated corporate "download portal"s, and the javascript nonsense they use to make mirroring painful and ensure you agreed to all the things and clicked all the boxes tends to interfere with client-side mime-sniffing that might otherwise work around it.
It's not a browser bug.