Help with hplip installation on Ubuntu

I’m trying to install an HP printer in Ubuntu, having problems though. I got steps 1 & 2 done, file is downloaded & converted via permissions to make it executable.

Could someone please translate this to make me understand it?

  1. Finally open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or search for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to start installing it:

./Downloads/hplip-3.19.10.run

  1. Follow the terminal prompts, answer some questions to build and install HPLIP on your system. When everything is done, plug/re-plug your printers and enjoy!

To open the terminal: you can open a terminal emulator in many ways, one of them is the above. You can also click on “activities”, and start typing “terminal” until the quick finder shows the terminal icon, then hit enter.

To run the installer: if it is located in your “Downloads” directory, you can type the exact command mentioned. The dot means “path starting from the current directory”, so if you are in your home directory, by doing so you specify the relative path, instead of the absolute path, which would be /home/<your-username>/Downloads/hplip-3.19.10.run.

If the execution bit is set, the installer should start.

Thank You Again,

I missed the boat somewhere along the line, When I enter it in terminal, I get the following error:

lardeb@lardeb-Latitude-E6420:~ /home//Downloads/hplip-3.19.10.run bash: /home//Downloads/hplip-3.19.10.run: No such file or directory lardeb@lardeb-Latitude-E6420:~

Any thoughts? I was thinking…which gets me in trouble, it’s the double // between home//Downloads, but if I make it a single slash…I still get the error.

I’m definitely missing something here. I’m in the Download directory, I entered:
/home//Downloads/hplip-3.19.10.run

And get the error. I thought, I’m in download, maybe I don’t need the /home. Same deal.

Then I got brainier and tried:

/hplip-3.19.10.run

Same thing. I’m feeling like the village idiot about now. Thinking I’m just missing something simple or basic.

You are almost there.

While in the Downloads directory, type:

./hplip-3.19.10.run

Notice the dot at the beginning of the command. It translates to “from the directory I stand in, i’d like to execute xy.run”. This is how you specify the relative path (relative to the place where you stand).

Absolute path is the opposite, when you specify what you’d like to access from the root of the filesystem, which starts with the “/” directory.

You can always check where you are at the moment with the pwd command.

I do think that I am there.

I followed what you stated, the program ran, it did give me another error message, a file not found I believe it is. To load that file, then redo the HPLIP. I’ll get that done in the morning. I was just thrilled to see it actually working.
Ain’t no way I could have ever figured it out on my own. Not without the fantastic help I’ve gotten from yourself, Lubos and everyone from LINUXCONFIG. ORG.

Thank You All

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