How To Install Canon Pixma MG6300 Series Printer Driver in OpenSUSE 12.2

Canon All-In-One MG6300 series, MG6310/MG6320/MG6330/MG6340/MG6350/MG6360/MG6370/MG6380

Download the MG6300 series driver package, cnijfilter-mg6300series-3.80-1-rpm.tar.gz, from the Canon support website Consumer Products Support. You will need to register if you have not already done so.

From the terminal window, unpack the file in a suitable directory to find the following:

cnijfilter-common-3.80-1.i386.rpm
cnijfilter-mg6300series-3.80-1.i386.rpm
cnijfilter-common-3.80-1.x86_64.rpm
cnijfilter-mg6300series-3.80-1.x86_64.rpm

In addition, you will most likely require a copy of libtiff.so.3 for x86 or x86_64 (e.g. libtiff3-3.9.5-8.7.1.i586.rpm) Check availability from your system repositories with YaST by searching for ‘libtiff3’.

At time of posting a copy may be found here: RPM resource libtiff.so.3 Download to the above cnijfilter package directory for convenience.

Install the top two cnijfilter rpms for machines running 32-bit OS i.e. ix86 and the lower pair for machines running 64-bit. i.e. x86_64.

Check 32-bit or 64-bit with

>uname -m

and

>file /usr/bin/file

Switch to the package directory with the rpms and install the following in the order shown for a 32-bit system using YaST2.

>yast2 -i cnijfilter-common-3.80-1.i386.rpm

The command opens the YaST2 - Software Management window and flags the package for installation. Click Accept to install. Close the YaST2 application when installation of this package is complete.

Return to the terminal and repeat the action for the libtiff3 package, if required.

>yast2 -i libtiff3-3.9.5-8.7.1.i586.rpm

Return to the terminal and repeat the action for the MG6300 series driver.

>yast2 -i cnijfilter-mg6300series-3.80-1.i386.rpm

YaST2 should resolve any dependencies during installation. If there are any that it is unable to resolve it will fail, but it may not provide a reason.

If this occurs, attempt to install the failed package using:

>rpm -Uvh <package>

This should give more of an indication of what’s failing/missing.

Once the packages have been installed check that the PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file ‘canonmg6300.ppd’ exists in /usr/share/cups/model/ . Also check if a canon sub-directory exists in /usr/share/cups/model/manufacturer-PPDs/. If not, create it, as it seems that the YaST2 printer configurator uses this as a key to populate the canon driver dropdown list. If it’s missing no match is returned and the list remains empty.

>mkdir /usr/share/cups/model/manufacturer-PPDs/canon

The following assumes that the Canon Pixma MG63xx All-In-One system has been installed and is connected to the PC in some manner (see note on wireless connectivity towards the end).

Open YaST2 from the computer menu and select Printer. In this case, it was for a directly connected Ethernet printer. So Print via Network was selected followed by the Connection Wizard and then Line Printer Daemon (LPD) Protocol on the subsequent screen. Enter the MG63xx Ethernet address and click Test Connection to check connection. If this fails, check network connections, etc. Select Canon from the printer manufacturer dropdown list and click OK.

If all is well the ‘Canon MG6300 series [canonmg6300.ppd]’ driver will be displayed mid-way down the subsequently generated dropdown list. Select the driver and click OK. Print a test page and back out of the printer configuration screens to finish.

If the list doesn’t populate and/or no driver is found, click Driver Packages to list the driver PPD directories. Check that the ‘manufacturer-PPDs : Manufacturer’s PostScript Printer Description Files’ line is checked. If not, check it and click OK.

Note. You will need to back all the way out of the YaST2 Printer configuration screens and start from scratch if the driver is not found, as the values populating the dropdown driver list appear to be held in cache or an array and do not refresh unless this is done.

It is assumed that once the MG6300 series driver has been installed that USB and wireless connectivity may be established in a similar manner. Although there are posts suggesting that setting up a temporary USB or Ethernet connection as a pre-cursor to a wireless connection is a useful exercise.

For 64-bit systems, there are postings suggesting that it may be necessary to add a symbolic link for the CUPS libraries before installing the 64-bit rpms,

>ln -s /usr/lib64/cups /usr/lib/cups

but not having a 64-bit system, I’m not able to confirm that this is actually necessary.

Thank you to all those who have contributed posts on earlier Canon printers and systems from which I’ve been able to piece together the above for a successful installation. It would be nice if Canon provided native support for Linux, so we didn’t have to go through this nausea. But where would the fun be in that?