Failed to start the X Server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you like to view the X Server output to diagnose the problem?

Then, you are given a “Yes” or “No” option, and you are stuck. What to do next? This is probably due to your graphical interface, meaning your graphic card driver. In Windows, you can easily install the motherboard driver which includes the onboard VGA driver.  Whereas in Ubuntu, you cannot do that with the motherboard driver given by the manufacturer (because most are built for Windows).

All you have to do is to reconfigure the X server. Type sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and answer the questions accordingly. If you are not sure which option to choose (especially on the preinstall graphic driver), I suggest you to use the trial and error method.

Please take note that you can solve this problem by typing the command above if you are just using an onboard graphic card. I’m not sure how will it work with additional graphic cards like nVidia or ATI.

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This post is a guide for those who want to install Canon PIXMA iP1880 driver to Ubuntu Linux. The following method is being tested and proved working in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 (earlier versions are not working).

Canon PIXMA iP1880

Step 1

Download 2 files from Canon Server. Click on Linux at the Select OS panel. The two rpm files you have to download are:

Common package – cnijfilter-common-2.70-1.i386
Package for iP1800 series – cnijfilter-ip1800series-2.70-1.i386

Because these are .rpm files, we have to convert it to .deb, the Ubuntu packaging format.

Step 2

To convert to .deb we need to use alien. Install the alien package by command:
sudo apt-get install alien

Convert those 2 .rpm files to .deb:
sudo alien -k cnijfilter-common-2.70-1.i386.rpm
sudo alien -k cnijfilter-ip1800series-2.70-1.i386.rpm

Install it:
sudo dpkg -i cnijfilter-common_2.70-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i cnijfilter-ip1800series_2.70-1_i386.deb

Other than those files, you need some old library such as libtiff3 and libpng3 to support it. If you can’t find libtiff3 on the repository, then you have to make a softlink to point libtiff3 to libtiff4. Without this installation, you won’t be able to print anything.

To make a softlink to point libtiff3 to libtiff4:
cd /usr/lib/
sudo ln -s ./libtiff.so.4.2.1 ./libtiff.so.3

For libpng3, install from repository:
sudo apt-get install libpng3

Step 3

After you have installed the above commands successfully, do the following:

Turn on the printer and connect the USB to the printer.

Go to System>Administration>Printing

Double click “New Printer“.

Select Printer Type “Local or Detected Printer”

Select a Detected Printer: Canon iP1800 series and click next.

If you can’t find iP1800 on the list, then select “Install Driver” and point to /usr/share/cups/model and select canonip1800.ppd.

Go to the next page and click on the apply button.

You will now see an iP1800 printer icon in your Printer window. You can make it your default printer by right click and select “Make Default”.

Lastly, you can try to print a test page that looks something like this:

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