multipage (2 pages to 1) print function not working

Thanks for your bug. That's known upstream: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=166564

It doesn't seem that this has been fixed for Gnome 2.14:

The following workaround worked fine for me:
1. install psutils using apt-get
2. print your document into a file in.ps using a postscript printer
3. type: psnup -2 in.ps out.ps
4. print the out.ps file

But I guess this cumbersome for everyday usage.

For printing pdf files you might find the program pdfnup more straightforward.
You have to install the package pdfjam.
Note that pdfjam depends on latex so only consider this option if you have enough space on your hard-disk.

Unfortunately pdf-printing does not work by default:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/33127

The upstream report basically says that this does not work and will not be fixed since the next gtk release will replace libgnomeprint.

However, can't we at least disable the option for dapper, to avoid annoying users by offering a feature but not implementing it.
(an even better solution would be to review and apply the patch in the gnome report...)

I think Dapper urgently needs printing to work properly if it wants to reach the desktop.

If upstream is not going to fix this problem, the patch should be applied and repacked for Ubuntu.

I'm also experiencing problems with printing in GNOME. Basically, GNOME printing dialog disabled the paper tray dropdown listbox for my HP Laserjet 4050, but KDE and non-GNOME applications allow me to choose from four different paper trays.

Attach http://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=46154 from http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=166564 works for me. It could be possible to fix in dapper?

Please don't assign team bugs to me when I've not said I'll work on the bug, would be nice to have it used upstream before considering that change for a dapper-updates upload

With the latest updates it seems to be fixed (at least for me). Now i can print 2 pages to 1.

OK to close this bug?

This is not solved yet on my box :\ (amd64) and HP PSC1510 via ipp. Also local generic postcript printer to a file didn't work (I get one page for each sheet).

$ LANG=en COLUMNS=150 dpkg -l *gnomeprint*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-===============================-===============================-==============================================================================
ii libgnomeprint2.2-0 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - runtime files
ii libgnomeprint2.2-data 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - data files
ii libgnomeprint2.2-dev 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - development files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-0 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - runtime files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-common 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - common files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-dev 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - devel files

Thomas: Latest dapper or edgy? Printing from evince to a .ps (can try on real printer at work tomorrow) still does not work. I do upgrade from dapper-updates, and my system is up to date.

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Thomas: More specifically, what versions of evince and libgnomeprint are you using?

Ubuntu Dapper Drake with all updates.

thomas@ubuntu:~$ LANG=en COLUMNS=150 dpkg -l *gnomeprint*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-===============================-===============================-==============================================================================
ii libgnomeprint2.2-0 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - runtime files
ii libgnomeprint2.2-data 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - data files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-0 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - runtime files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-common 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - common files

I was able to print from evince 2 pages on 1.

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Thomas: More specifically, what versions of evince and libgnomeprint are you using?

I have:

$ LANG=en COLUMNS=150 dpkg -l *gnomeprint* | grep ^ii
ii libgnomeprint2.2-0 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - runtime files
ii libgnomeprint2.2-data 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - data files
ii libgnomeprint2.2-dev 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 The GNOME 2.2 print architecture - development files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-0 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - runtime files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-common 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - common files
ii libgnomeprintui2.2-dev 2.12.1-2ubuntu1 GNOME 2.2 print architecture User Interface - devel files

and
ii evince 0.5.2-0ubuntu3 Document (postscript, pdf) viewer

The print libraries seem to be the same as Thomas's.

I tried printing to file with 2 to one and 4 to one settings enabled, with both evince and evolution, using the generic PS driver. The output is still only one page per page. I'll try with a real printer tomorrow, but I doubt that will change anything...

Oi, why are my comments being repeated? I don't think *I*'m doing anything wrong? Anyway, sorry for the annoyance.

OK, confirm that 2 to 1 printing works on a real printer (HP ColorLaserJet 3800 in this case), but does not work when printing to file.

Should we expect 2 to 1 printing to work when printing to file? I've certainly wanted to do it before...

> Should we expect 2 to 1 printing to work when printing to file?

Yes, we should. At least, printing to a shared printer via ipp

Hello,

Multipage printing is very usefull I hope you will add it in Dapper since it has a Long Time Support !!!

I will add that other things that psnup (and other psutils commands lines http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~ajcd/psutils/) provide should also be add in gnome-print :
- booklet printing (psbook ...)
- mirror printing (convert -flop input.ps output.ps)
- multipage printing (psnup -n 2 ... or more !)

The user interface should allow to act as a tube (pipe |)... a sort of filter...

It should be possible to have more than one action
for example
- I should be able to print with a mirror effect with 2 pages to 1
- I should be able to print with a mirror effect a booklet
- I should be able to call my own bash script
    tube script like ... | psbook | ...
   or script with parameters such as $i for input file and $o for output file (that's just an example)
...

therefore I think the user interface shouldn't have buttons to tick but should have 2 parts
on the left part the differents effects (multipage, mirror, ...) are shown
the right part will be the "printing tube" that will show what effects are chosen and in what order (and whis what parameters)

The user who only want a multipage print will drag and drop multipage from the right to the left.
On the right part a right click on the multipage will allow him to selct how many pages he wants (it is a parameter of the multipage effect)

The paramaters of a selected effect on the right part could appear by a right click or could be on the bottom of the window (maybe it's easier for users on the bottom...)

I hope you like the idea of this interface...
I really think that it will allow users to do everything they want !!!
I dont't think it 's a geek interface ;-)

Regards

If I can request for it, also I would like to be able to print only even or odd pages, ones in inverted sort. (To help with double-side printing, like kpdf)
thx

Well? Does anybody know a way to fix this?

wow, a really old bug...

It's worse in Edgy: it used to "auto recognise" if the page should be laid out horizontally or vertically (I don't know if the behaviour depends on variables/consts set in the files, all I know is that acroread works), and there's no use selecting multiple (virtual) pages per page, it spews out a single page, incomplete if the file called for landscape orientation instead of vertical.

@Frank Niedermann

In Dapper the "n pages to 1" issue should be fixed with libgnomeprint 2.12.1-3ubuntu2 from dapper-updates. I'm able to print n-up without problems on my Dapper machine.
Do you still have this problem?
If so please attach the output of the printingbuginfo script for some basic information about your printing setup, the printingbuginfo script can be found here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrintingBugInfoScript.

This fix is also present in Edgy for applications that use libgnomeprint.

@Adriano
This bug is about applications that use libgnomeprint for printing (e.g. gedit).
Evince in Edgy uses the new GtkPrintDialog, n-up issue for Edgy has already been reported as bug #67164.

I'm closing the libgnomeprint portion (the others are still open). please reopen if you can provide the info to this post https://bugs.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/libgnomeprint/+bug/3667/comments/26

Is this a duplicate of

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libgnomeprint/+bug/18700

In Dapper the 2 of 1 bug was fixed with an update from dapper-updates. But in Feisty it is here again, eg. with GEdit, which still uses the old libgnomeprint library.
If I print a file with the option Handout 2 pages on 1 under Layout, the preview shows a normal output, that contains 1 page on 1. Printing with this setting on a HP Laserjet 5 prints also 1 page on 1. The options 1 page distributed to 2 and booklet seems to does nothing.

As I can see, the layout dialog has changed between dapper and feisty. Perhaps there is an error interpreting the settings from the newer dialog.

I have the same problem with ubuntu 8.04: I cannot print 2 pages on 1. It prints still 1 complete page. Is there any solution? It would be nice too, to enable this feature in the gnome printing dialog. This isn't possible in the moment, so I have to enter the printer setup and change the default settings. I know this feature from Windows: there you can enable it via the printing dialog in each application as a per job setting.

Markus: Strange, seems to WorkForMe with hardy printing from evince.

Well this seems to work for me in today's openSUSE 11.0, although the 'only odd/even sheets' is actually 'only odd/even pages', thus - unusable.

I haven't yet met no app (nor win, nor lin) that would make two sided printing of 2 to 1 the right way ;)

This is working for me now, I think this bug could be closed.

Yes, me too, a quick look at it proved that printing only odd / even sheets with n-to-1 pages does work.