Install Samsung ML-1740 driver on Windows 7

The Samsung GDI driver for ml-1740 et al. is packaged in an .exe file from the Samsung download web site. http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.com/downloadfile/ContentsFile.aspx?CDSite=US&CttFileID=1291152&CDCttType=DR&ModelType=&ModelName=ML-1740&VPath=DR/200701/20070129084454453_ML-1740_GDI_Vista.exe


However, the .exe file is not Windows 7 compatible. If you try to install the driver by clicking on the executable, the program will terminate. So what to do?

Well, it's simple really. The driver works fine in Windows 7; you just have to install it manually. To do so, follow these steps:

1. download the driver from the link above
2. double click on the downloaded file. there will be a windows error message informning you this program is incompatible with this version of windows. Don't close this error message window yet, because we need to access the temporary files the install program has extracted.
3. now go to the temp directory of your computer, typically, it's (user folder)\appdata\local\temp. It's a hidden folder; to view it you need to enable view of hidden files and folders in Windows folder option. The files contained in the .exe file above were extracted in this directory. Sort by date and you'll see a temp folder containing the following directories: printer\GDI\Vista. Copy the content of the directory to a permanent folder, for example, the download directory.

-- There's actually an easier way as pointed out by one of the comments below. You can right click on the Samsung exe file and choose properties --> compatibility --> and choose to run the program under the compatibility mode for Vista SP2. I tried it and it works.

4. Now go to Start --> Devices and Printers. Select Add a printer, when you reach the page for selecting printer drivers, click on Have Disk... and choose the driver file you had copied earlier.

Works like a charm. Have a look at my printer set up:

Install Samsung ML-1740 Printer in Solaris 10

The Samsung ML-1740 is a non-postscript laser printer. To print in Solaris, I decided to install and run CUPS (common unix printing system) instead of using the standard lpcommand in Solaris

Why?

Because I know CUPS will work since that's what my Kubuntu runs.

The major steps to install and configure Samsung ML-1740 in Solaris 10 are:

1. Install CUPS. You could use a pre-compiled CUPS package (freely available from the Sun Solaris Optional Component DVD and the Solaris web site), or you could download the latest source code from www.cups.org and build the binary yourself. I've tried both and would HIGHLY recommend using the latest CUPS (version 1.3.8). It's less buggy, plays nicely with clients like Firefox and has some additional niceties, like letting you browse for a printer driver file, and telling you when a particular filter specified by your printer's driver is missing.

2. Start CUPS.
/etc/init.d/cups start
Point your browser to the CUPS management interface at localhost:631 Make sure CUPS is running and you can see the management interface before continue.

3. Get the printer driver. Because the foomatic gdi driver is platform independent, I simply use the same one I have on Kubuntu, which I downloaded from OpenPrinting.org

4. Install the foomatic-rip filter.
Because my printer is not a postscript printer, the gdi driver downloaded in step 2 uses the foomatic-rip filter to translate the postscript language for CUPS. The foomatic filter is not installed by default from either CUPS package, so I again got mine off the OpenPrinting.org web site. The foomatic tar file link is here.

5. Configure the printer in CUPS. Add the printer to your user preference.

In Kubuntu, it takes all of 2 minutes to get my Samsung ML-1740 laser printer set up. But things got a lot more interesting when I tried to follow all the steps above to install the printer in Solaris.

Stay tuned if you are interested in some troubleshooting tips with CUPS in Solaris and Foomatic printer drivers. I can tell you the story does have a happy ending...