Printer settings profile is like the export profile and like the output profile. It defines what profile darktable will use to process the final output of the image.
The printer profile is the one used by the printer to take the processed image (from the output above) to transform it for the printer.
so the top will be my paper while the bottom srgb or adobe rgb i imagine
No. The paper softproof does not go here. Only the printer icc one, if you have it. I suggest that you first try just printing using color management in printer driver.
I haven’t had Windows for years. They do have Linux drivers, but they are hard to find. To use it with Linux, CUPS and ghostscript are also required. And imagescan is required for scanner support. So, I just use mine via iPhone and iPad.
Hello, the Epson ET-8550 is a driverless printer. Switch it on, connect it to the wifi network and some moments later it appears in Settings - Printer management on Linux. Same for Windows.
If you’re trying to make a serious photo print, I’d suggest getting the driver. IPP Everywhere is great for documents and casual photo prints, but is not really suitable if you want repeatability in your printer.
That’s wrong ! We are printing photo it requires a proper ICC.
Hello, I own that printer as well and use it with Linux and Windows (IrfanView!). On Linux there’s no option Advanced B&W, that’s right. But forget about that. When I use Windows and choose that option, you get two little thumbnails (before and after) and some presets and sliders like warmer and cooler and darker or lighter. Hard to tell how the final print will look like. So better do your “advanced b&w” trick in a photo editor.
About specific printing profiles (paper+ink combo), I don’t use them with the ET-8550. I just print with sRGB or sometimes with AdobeRGB which gives a little more saturated print. My monitor is calibrated with an i1 Studio from X-Rite and the prints are quite close to what I see on my screen. At least close enough for my clients, among them photographers.
When color reproduction is critical, I use my other printer, an Epson P7000 that uses 10 pigment inks (the 8550 has only one pigment ink). In that case I do use printer profiles made with Argyll and the X-Rite, but even then not always.
As somebody said some time ago on this forum: the proof is in the print. I fully agree with that. You can only tell if your color management setup is okay when the print lies before your eyes.
Have fun with your ET-8550, it’s a very capable printer!
Can you elaborate on that? I’ve printed hundreds and hundreds of photos, among them class photos so ordered 20 times or more per photo. They all looked fine.
When printing from darktable you mean?
first off thanks for all the help it is much appreciated it!
I might be ignorant, but why use driverless when Epson provides a driver?
No when printing from any OS and any software. Without an ICC for the printer/paper/driver the output is random. There is no magic and that’s why you also need to profile your display. There is no way around that expect again random and wrong output.
Sure. IPP Everywhere, or AirPrint (same thing), is basically a minimum viable printer driver. Its driver options are such that almost any printer can support it, and the printer firmware itself will map the options onto what is suitable for the printer. The control that is desirable for photo printing en masse just isn’t there.
You say you print and they “look fine” and that is excellent. But that is not what I’m talking about. My Epson SC-P600 has it’s own ICC profiles that I generated to get printing as close as possible with my monitor and from print to print.
No way I am getting that with the IPP Everywhere driver.
I am pretty deep in this: I worked for Epson for five or so years, I wrote the original manual for the large Eco tank printer… I’ve peeree behind the curtain.
Oh that’s amazing expertise,
So without a color spectrometer to make my own profiles what would be the best way for me to go about printing images? From finishing editing them to getting them out of the eco tank?
If you don’t mind 
Ok so the monitor is calibrated, you don’t print from dark table then? Are you on Linux? What do you use to print? Or just sd card and printer directly?
No. I use a Mac or windows to print. I haven’t tested turbo print. I try and use the vendor driver. On Mac I usually print from preview.