The Canon Pixma MG5220 is part of the 5200 series of printers and is an all-in-one printer that I picked up at Best Buy for $100. I was curious at how well this would work as I was a little disappointed with my Lexmark X2670 that left me without computer scanning function. I had heard that canon had some support for Linux so I decided to give it a shot.
What works:
Everything. Printing and scanning offered me no problems with good quality and speed.
What it doesn’t have:
A few people pointed out on the forums a couple things it doesn’t have: additional software to download gift cards, mailers… and an app to read ink levels. Not a deal breaker to me. It isn’t a SANE supported device yet but Canon has also developed a seperate piece of software called ScanGear that offers basic scanning capabilities and can be called directly from Gimp for more advanced editing.
Hardware Setup
Do hardware setup on printer as instructed in the Getting Started Guide (attach print head, cartridges, activate wireless network, add printer to wireless network [wireless router]). The doc is a little confusing in that it looks like the printer is going to connect straight to the computer wirelessly but rather you’ll be adding it to your wireless network. The MG5220 does not include an Ethernet port so you’ll be adding it either wirelessly or by USB.
Download Drivers and ScanGear
As of this writing driver version 3.4 is the newest. It looks like this page will give you the latest version. The driver page is here, the ScanGear software page is here, and the ScanGear Operation Guide is here. A more direct route:
wget http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/7/0100003017/01/cnijfilter-mg5200series-3.40-1-deb.tar.gz -O Canon-Pixma-MG5200-series-print-driver-3.40.deb.tar.gz ScanGear wget http://files.canon-europe.com/files/soft40260/Software/MG5200series-scanner_driver.tar -O Canon-Pixma-MG5200-series-ScanGear-1.60.deb.tar.gz tar xvf Canon-Pixma-MG5200-series-print-driver-3.40.deb.tar.gz tar xvf Canon-Pixma-MG5200-series-ScanGear-1.60.deb.tar.gz tar xvf Canon-Pixma-MG5200-series-ScanGear-1.60.deb.tar.gz scangearmp-mg5200series-1.60-1-deb.tar.gz tar xvf scangearmp-mg5200series-1.60-1-deb.tar.gz
Canon has created scripts that automate the process of installing the debian package files, configuring the printer, and installing ScanGear (be sure your printer is configured and on by now).
sudo cnijfilter-mg5200series-3.40-1-deb/./install.sh sudo scangearmp-mg5200series-1.60-1-deb/./install.sh
That’s it. You should be able to print a page now. To use ScanGear you can invoke it from the command line (scangearmp) but since I discovered that I usually like to do additional editing running it from within Gimp is more practical (File > Create > ScanGear MP).
Additional Resources
Worked like a charm, thank you!
Rather annoyingly, it did /not/ work for me. I run Linux Mint 10 (based on Ubuntu) so the DEB files should have worked. However, the install.sh file insists “package management system cannot be identified” and exits abruptly.
Glad it works for others, but it has yet to work for me.
Ignore the install.sh and just install the deb files manually from the subfolder
I find there’s a problem as well. I got past the problem that Raymond Danner experienced by commenting out some lines.
Find the section in install.sh that starts:
## rpm and deb are error, or rpm and deb are no error, is error ##
and comment out all lines except
C_system=”deb”
C_arch32=”i386″
C_arch64=”amd64″
a thread elsewhere gives similar advice, to only leave “C_system=”deb”" but this lead to another error for me.
I’m still getting an error, however. When I run the script, the following message appears
Command executed = sudo dpkg –force-architecture -iG ./packages/scangearmp-common_1.60-1_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package scangearmp-common.
(Reading database … 75%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
files list file for package ‘adobe-certs’ is missing final newline
Command executed = sudo dpkg -P scangearmp-common
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove scangearmp-common which isn’t installed.
The message is more or less identical for both the scanner (shown) and for the printer drivers.
I’ve tried to re-install adobe-certs but that fails with a message that it is not available for download.
A similar message about adobe-certs appears if I try to manually install the debs.
I’m presently a bit stuck.
Any ideas would be welcome
Device URI for Canon PIXMA (may be helpful if you get the drivers without the install script).
cnijnet:/
strange, but oh well.
That’s actually cnijet://plus device MAC address, dashes between every second number. Got filtered out the first time.
Hi, I downloaded the above drivers and they are in my Firefox downloads menu. How do I now install them? I have 2010 HP computer and I set it up as a dual boot with windows and Ubuntu. The MG5220 printer works fine in windows but I don’t know how to set it up in Ubuntu of which I have the most recent edition. I’m not a computer Geek so please keep it very simple. Thanks, Doug
This is the simplest way, Douglas. I promise :). The above instructions are for use in the Terminal. If you haven’t used the terminal before, it’s a typing command application. You can find it in your application menu. wget refers to the download command, tar unpacks, cd changes directory, and the sudo will install. Let me know how it goes.
Todd, I’ve looked at a few printers – Cannon MG5220 Pixma looks like it will suit me if I can get it set up simply and correctly in Ubuntu 8.10 & 10.04 (running on an old Toshiba 135-S4467)
I will need the console to execute some commands for some functions, did I get that right – or was that purely for setup? I could live with that – but my wife might end up shooting me eventually if she has to open a console. But she’d mainly be printing school work from laptop (wireless), scanning less frequently. If its reliable, it would be wort it because I might be able to get the printer for around $50 – $60.
Do you know of other printers that are supported by Ubuntu that don’t require a lot of ‘Work’ to get set up?
Thanks!
Yes, you will need to use the terminal to Execute these programs. I know it is a bit daunting at first but this really is the best way to do this. As far as Linux goes, most programs and such are available in repositories (through the regular package installer) but things like drivers a lot of times have to be installed by tracking them down and doing it yourself.
Possibly, HP but not sure on that. They’ve done a good job of spreading their printer support and I know have support in a some different Linux distribution repositories.
Yep.
I am a completely new to this whole ubuntu thing… I fiddled with it for hours to no avail. Found this page, followed it to a tee and voila! Thanks a million! It was so easy : )
Just used your excellent and clear instructions to install a Canon Pixma MG5220 in Linux Mint 12. Thank you!!
Thanks for the easy instructions. Printer is working perfectly on Ubuntu 12.04 but I’m unable to scan. Installed GIMP but there’s no ScanGear option under file > create. Tried command line “user@machine:~$ scangearmp” but received “command not found”. Any advice would be much appreciated.
BTW, I did check under preferences in GIMP but found nothing. Also tried re-boot with no luck.
Scanning issue solved! Not sure why but I suspect the problem may have been that I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit, as I found separate scanner drivers for i386 and amd64 on this page.
I followed scanning installation instructions I found here (substituting mg5200series for mx880series of course).
Thanks again for your help.
@ Ted
Thanks for the update. For some reason the original download I had here for the ScanGear software no longer worked (even though it was the same exact version). Updated with your link (appreciate that) and cleaned up post a bit.
I am using Linux Mint 12. I got the package manager error above, I fixed it by changing
c_system_rpm=$?
to
c_system_rpm=1
this makes it ignore rpm and use deb as the package manager
I actually asked Canon. Per their support section:
————————
Globally, Canon is comprised of many different sales divisions. Each sales division makes their own business decisions as to the products and features they feel will help them achieve their goals and best suit their market. Canon USA has made the decision not to support operating systems other than Windows or Macintosh for any of its products sold in this market.
————
In other words, even though other Canon divisions support linux, Canon USA does not seem to think it worth the worry.
Thank you! My Cannon MG5220 would print, but not scan.
I just did copy and paste from your instructions and am now up and scanning.
I have had this printer for 9 months, and now with your help everything works.
Cannon was absolutely of no assistance.
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also pay a quick visit this webpage on regular basis to take updated from newest news update.
Thanks, Todd. I wanted to let you know I used your article to get my MG6220 working on Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit. I downloaded the Scan Gear MP v1.80 from Canon-Europe’s software download site at http://software.canon-europe.com/. I found the package by searching for a similar UK model (they have slightly different numbers) e.g. MG6250.
I downloaded the deb.tar.gz archive, unarchived it into a temporary folder, ran install.sh, and it installed without a problem. I restarted Gimp and when I pulled down the File > Create menu, the ScanGear entry was there. It had to search for the network scanner the first time, but I was able to preview and scan a document at that point.
If SANE would allow running an external program (like the scangear command), it could just talk to Canon’s software and we could have the best of both.
Thanks for getting me to the target.
It worked fine, thank you;)
Worked beautifully over wifi–scanning and printing :D
Only thing I had to do besides ./install.sh was sudo apt-get install libtiff4
Ubuntu 12.10 x64
Thank you!
NO SIRVE PARA ASER TRABAJOS DE FOTOGRAFIA NO ME DEJA TRABAJAR LOS COLORES NO HAY CONTROL EN LA FILTRACOIN DE COLORES
I’ve followed the instructions and even if I find ScanGear inside Gimp, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS will still not find my scanner on my Canon MG5220 All-in-One (Printer recognized and working).
Any suggestion?
Thank you
Stephen
Thank you for this post, I have been trying various methods suggested none of which worked. This was the solution