help me set up drivers to my Epson printer

Question

I have Ubuntu installed on my computer but I honestly don't know a thing about running programs off of this OS. I'm trying to set up a printer to this computer through a USB connection for the ease of set up, although I would prefer to have a wireless connection. (If someone can help with that, I would really appreciate it, but one thing at a time.) I've gone on to the Epson website and tried to download the drivers for this OS but first it gives me a notice:

In order to install these drivers, you need to install LSB package (version 3.2 or later) beforehand.

Ubuntu:

apt-get install lsb

which I have no idea what it means. I did some research and tried to type into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install lsb 3.2

The response I get is:

sudo: unable to resolve host 

then it asks me for a password and after I enter this, I get

Reading package listing... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no package: Header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/is.arcive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could bot be parsed or opened. 

Like I said before, I don't know how to run this OS, someone else installed it for me. I would really just like to know exactly how to install these drivers, exactly how to, like step-by-step (dumb it down, like a 101 class.) My printer is called Epson Workforce WF-3640.

Answer 1

You need to install Epson driver from a deb file from Epson site.

You will get an error message regarding lsb.

Then run sudo apt-get install -f and all will be resolved if you are connected to internet.

Answer 2

First, there are multiple issues visible from the information you provide:

1. sudo: unable to resolve host – see Error message when I run sudo: unable to resolve host (none)

2. Malformed Apt repository lists – see How do I fix a “Problem with MergeList” or “status file could not be parsed” error when trying to do an update?

After you fixed those (preferably in the above order), we can address the task at hand properly: The instruction to install the package lsb via the command apt-get install lsb means pretty much this:

1. Open a command interpreter terminal, e. g. with Ctrl+Alt+T.

2. Type in sudo, a space and the aforementioned command:

   sudo apt-get install lsb
   

   Press Enter to have the shell interpreter execute the command.

3. sudo (super-user do) elevates the privileges of the subsequent command, provided that the system allows it to do so. If your user account is in the administrative group, you'll be granted "super-user" privileges, provided you can authenticate yourself with your account password.

4. apt will then try to install the package lsb, as you have asked it. If you want to verify the package version before installing it, you can use

   apt-cache show lsb
   

   and look for the line staring with Version: in its output. You don't need elevated privileges to run this command, since it doesn't alter any system files.