Comment 49 for bug 98520

Dave White, thank you very much for your long report.

Did you download my packages AFTER 2007-03-30 13:26:10 CEST? If you are not sure, re-download and install them again, as I have replaced them by new packages at that time. My new version contains a fix concerning parallel printers, so it can be helpful on your problems.

> printerbuginfo missing stderr complaint that "No packages found matching libgnomeprint2.2-0."

This is no problem. The script checks the presence and version of a certain amount of packages. It perhaps simply lacks an update for a recent change in Feisty. For our test this is not relevant, as it is not affected by libgnomeprint2.

> Step 2. HPLIP fails to start. Get bouncing icon for 3 minutes. Is there a way to kill it? Rebooted.
> No HP FAX/Scan capability so skipped to step 3.

Sorry, I did not say that test step 2 does not apply to Kubuntu. The situation of missing Python Qt in Kubuntu does not exist. The fallback which I wanted to trigger in this step is irrelevant for Kubuntu. So ignore this problem. This is neither a bug in the HPLIP packaging nor a regression in HPLIP 1.7.3, it is a bug in my testing scheme presented here.

> Test page has banding in graphic.
[...]
> CUPS recommended gutenprint. Set it to crop, printed test page. No banding present!!!

As the banding problem occurs only with HPLIP and not with Gutenprint this seems to be a bug in the HPIJS driver. Did this problem already occur before you updated to HPLIP 1.7.3? Does it persist if you downgrade to 1.7.1 (instructions in my testing step 15).

Don, Raghu, Aaron, can you check whether the HPIJS driver of HPLIP 1.7.3 works correctly with the HP DeskJet 960C device class?

> Bottom of bounding box (line below hp logo) is clipped,
> probably because it defaults to A4 paper. (Couldn't you use my timezone to guess I'd want
> letter?)

Check the paper size default setting in ~/.cups/lpoptions and in /etc/cups/ppd/<your printer>.ppd. How is it set?

Don, Raghu, Aaron, how do you set the default paper size when you create a queue with hp-setup. I observed in older HPLIP versions that I always got Letter and I need A4 as default in Europe. The best solution would be to check /etc/papersize and/or the internationalization setting (command "locale", "LC_..." environment variables instead of using a static default setting.

> Print control tab display is clipped, in middle of "The printer is currently NOT SET AS DEFAULT", > approximately mid-"e" of "The".

This is a purely cosmetic problem, see my answer to Johnny Levai in my previous posting.

> OpenOffice subdialog is a subset of controls offered by HPLIP.

This is correct. OpenOffice.org only shows the printer-specific options (defined in /etc/cups/ppd/<your printer>.ppd) and not the options provided by CUPS (N-up, Brightness, Gamma, ...). This is a missing feature of OpenOffice.org. File a feature request on the OpenOffice.org web site.

> Current toolbox settings do NOT appear in OpenOffice Print dialog, even though OO started after > changes were made. Requested Landscape, 2 sheets/page in toolbox. OO printed as 2 individual > portraits.

OpenOffice.org seems to save printer options per-document. So if you start OpenOffice with an existing document, you will not get you option changes from the HP Toolbox. You should get them if you start OpenOffice.org with a new document. If your setting are correctly saved in ~/.cups/lpoptions but do not appear in OpenOffice.org, file a bug against OpenOffice.org.

> Step 8. With Landscape, 2 up, 2 thin borders, mirror print, text file prints but text and right
> edge of box are in unprintable region on right side of page. [I was expecting a "booklet" style
> printout, but that didn't happen.]

At first make sure that the default paper size is set to "Letter" (Use the KDE Printing Manager, the "Printers" tab of the CUPS web interface, or "sudo lpadmin -p <your printer> -o PageSize=Letter" on the command line). If the problem persists, unprintable margins in the PPD file are not correct.

Did you have the same problem with HPLIP 1.7.1?

Don, Raghu, Aaron, can you check the unprintable margins for the HP DeskJet 960 device class?

> Step 11 - No HPLIP printer device, used HP960 parport.

> Used HPLIP to print test page. It requested me to load plain paper even though printer still had
> paper.

HPLIP does not check whether there is actually paper in the printer. It always tells you to insert paper. This was the case also in every older HPLIP version which I know. So it is no regression.

> HPLIP test page prints black and white low-res graphic, despite CUPS indicationg RGB or CMYK
> color modes.

Check the option settings inside the HP Toolbox. Or close the Toolbox, remove ~/.cups/lpoptions and start the Toolbox again.

> Banding and clipping w cdj970 driver, though now banding runs parallel to each edge of color
> wheel. Right edge and bottom of bounding box missing.

The "cdj970" driver is obsolete, do not use it. HPIJS and Gutenprint should give much better results.

> If I right click to bring up the HP960C printer menu in the KDE Printing Manager, then click on
> Printer Tools, the flyout says "EPSON inkjet".

This is a bug of the KDE Printing Manager. It does not adapt the "Printer Tools" menu to the actually installed printer.

> Step 13 - Don't know if these are new or old bugs. Didn't have this recipe to follow previously.

To determine whether you have found regressions, follow the instructions of downgrading to HPLIP 1.7.1 in my step 15.

> FYI - CUPS is detecting Canon and EPSON printers on the parallel port, despite the fact that
> there's only the HP960C on the port.

This is a bug of Gutenprint and not of HPLIP or CUPS.

The HPLIP problems which you have found are

- Banding on printed images
- Choice of default page size A4 or Letter

Don, Raghu, Aaron, can you look into these? Thanks.