[gentoo-user] printing problems

[gentoo-user] printing problems

[Philip Webb]

I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built machine.
'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of letters.

I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
(there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).

Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
(I didn't go back to test Gvim there, but assume it would work too).
Gedit has its own internal print-quality menu too.

I have compared  /etc/hp/hplip.conf  in Gentoo vs Mint :
the Gentoo version of Hplip is 3.14.10 , Mint has 3.15.2 ;
the Gentoo version of Cups is 2.0 , Mint has 1.7 ;
the Gentoo version of Hplip was built with 'foomatic-ppd-install=no',
the Mint version with '...=yes'.

I can contrive to print text + ps files easily
by copying them to an appropriate partition & rebooting into Mint,
but Gentoo is supposed to make these things easier, not more difficult.

Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.

Can anyone offer advice or suggestions ?

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Daniel Frey]

On 11/01/2015 04:08 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
> I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built machine.
> 'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
> When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
> there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of letters.
> 
> I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
> via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
> when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
> (there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).
> 
> Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
> which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
> after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
> (I didn't go back to test Gvim there, but assume it would work too).
> Gedit has its own internal print-quality menu too.
> 
> I have compared  /etc/hp/hplip.conf  in Gentoo vs Mint :
> the Gentoo version of Hplip is 3.14.10 , Mint has 3.15.2 ;
> the Gentoo version of Cups is 2.0 , Mint has 1.7 ;
> the Gentoo version of Hplip was built with 'foomatic-ppd-install=no',
> the Mint version with '...=yes'.
> 
> I can contrive to print text + ps files easily
> by copying them to an appropriate partition & rebooting into Mint,
> but Gentoo is supposed to make these things easier, not more difficult.
> 
> Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
> I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.
> 
> Can anyone offer advice or suggestions ?
> 

Have you tried with foomatic-ppd-install on Gentoo? It's the
`static-ppds` USE flag, which may also need the `hpijs` USE flag.

I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it. I found out there
was another way to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic, and that works
trouble free. Most of the problems was with hplip's installer, it just
refused to work. It would say it was successful, but it never installed
anything.

Dan

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Mick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: Text/Plain, Size: 2840 bytes --]

On Monday 02 Nov 2015 02:46:01 Daniel Frey wrote:
> On 11/01/2015 04:08 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
> > I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built
> > machine. 'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
> > When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
> > there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of
> > letters.
> > 
> > I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
> > via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
> > when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
> > (there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).
> > 
> > Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
> > which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
> > after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
> > (I didn't go back to test Gvim there, but assume it would work too).
> > Gedit has its own internal print-quality menu too.
> > 
> > I have compared  /etc/hp/hplip.conf  in Gentoo vs Mint :
> > the Gentoo version of Hplip is 3.14.10 , Mint has 3.15.2 ;
> > the Gentoo version of Cups is 2.0 , Mint has 1.7 ;
> > the Gentoo version of Hplip was built with 'foomatic-ppd-install=no',
> > the Mint version with '...=yes'.
> > 
> > I can contrive to print text + ps files easily
> > by copying them to an appropriate partition & rebooting into Mint,
> > but Gentoo is supposed to make these things easier, not more difficult.
> > 
> > Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
> > I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.
> > 
> > Can anyone offer advice or suggestions ?
> 
> Have you tried with foomatic-ppd-install on Gentoo? It's the
> `static-ppds` USE flag, which may also need the `hpijs` USE flag.
> 
> I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it. I found out there
> was another way to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic, and that works
> trouble free. Most of the problems was with hplip's installer, it just
> refused to work. It would say it was successful, but it never installed
> anything.
> 
> Dan

Before you reinstall with 'static-ppds' chech setting hpijs.  This is my flags 
with another (older) HP printer and it works here:

[I] net-print/hplip
     Available versions:  
            3.14.10	[X doc fax +hpcups hpijs kde libnotify -libusb0 minimal 
parport policykit qt4 scanner snmp static-ppds PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7"]
       ~    3.15.9	[X doc fax +hpcups hpijs kde libnotify -libusb0 minimal 
parport policykit qt4 scanner snmp static-ppds PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7"]
     Installed versions:  3.14.10(12:51:55 04/05/15)(X hpcups hpijs kde 
libnotify policykit qt4 -doc -fax -libusb0 -minimal -parport -scanner -snmp -
static-ppds PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7")

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Philip Webb]

151101 Daniel Frey wrote:
> On 11/01/2015 04:08 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
>> I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built machine.
>> 'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
>> When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
>> there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of letters.
>> 
>> I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
>> via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
>> when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
>> (there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).
>> 
>> Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
>> which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
>> after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
>> 
>> Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
>> I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.
 
> Have you tried with foomatic-ppd-install on Gentoo ?
> It's the `static-ppds` USE flag, which may also need the `hpijs` USE flag.

I've had  USE="hpijs"  all along & have now tried "static-ppds" too,
but there's no change with Gvim or LO ; Kwrite continues to print ok.

> I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it.  I found another way
> to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic and that works trouble-free.

Don't be coy ! -- What did you actually do which works (smile) ?

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Daniel Frey]

On 11/02/2015 04:46 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
> 151101 Daniel Frey wrote:
>> I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it.  I found another way
>> to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic and that works trouble-free.
> 
> Don't be coy ! -- What did you actually do which works (smile) ?
> 

It's a driver for Laserjet printers, it won't work on deskjets AFAIK.
The driver is foo2zjs: http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/  - it relies on
ghostscript.

I looked and it looks like that won't help you. I had so many problems
with hplip randomly stopping working and refusing to reinstall I gave up
on printing for six months before I found foo2zjs.

Dan

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Dale]

Philip Webb wrote:
> I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built machine.
> 'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
> When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
> there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of letters.
>
> I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
> via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
> when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
> (there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).
>
> Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
> which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
> after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
> (I didn't go back to test Gvim there, but assume it would work too).
> Gedit has its own internal print-quality menu too.
>
> I have compared  /etc/hp/hplip.conf  in Gentoo vs Mint :
> the Gentoo version of Hplip is 3.14.10 , Mint has 3.15.2 ;
> the Gentoo version of Cups is 2.0 , Mint has 1.7 ;
> the Gentoo version of Hplip was built with 'foomatic-ppd-install=no',
> the Mint version with '...=yes'.
>
> I can contrive to print text + ps files easily
> by copying them to an appropriate partition & rebooting into Mint,
> but Gentoo is supposed to make these things easier, not more difficult.
>
> Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
> I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.
>
> Can anyone offer advice or suggestions ?
>


I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked like
a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too. 
ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
that. 

Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went in
as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
currently out of ink, again. 

I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
hooked up then you may have to select something. 

None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-) 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Philip Webb]

151102 Daniel Frey wrote:
> I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it.  I found another way
> to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic and that works trouble-free.
> It's a driver for Laserjet printers, it won't work on deskjets AFAIK.
> The driver is foo2zjs: http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/ , wh uses Ghostscript.
> I looked and it looks like that won't help you.

Yes, they all seem to be for laser printers.  I do very little printing,
but once or twice a year need to print something,
so my cheap little HP DJ 2510 is adequate.

The basic problem is now clear : this printer won't print draft quality,
but leaves blank bands across the output (no, it's not an old cartridge).
Therefore, something has to tell it to print 'high-quality' or 'best'.

In Mint, when that is set via the 631 menu, printing works correctly :
I can print text files via Gvim (icon or  :ha ) & Gedit,  .odt  via LO
& PDF via Evince ; Gedit & Evince have their own quality settings.

In Gentoo, the 631 setting has no effect, so all printing is draft.
Only Kwrite has its own quality setting, which does work properly for text.
In addition, the icon doesn't work in Gvim, tho'  :ha  does.

So for everyday purposes, I can print anything by rebooting into Mint.
However, I'm not happy that there's a bug (or more) of some sort in Gentoo.
I'm not at all sure where it could be or how to report it.
It cb caused by the difference in desktops, Xfce on Mint, Fluxbox on Gentoo :
perhaps the bigger desktop managers do the job themselves,
whereas something else needs fixing with the lightweight Fluxbox.

Further comments mb useful to everyone.

PS thankyou to Dale, whose general experience is similar to my own.

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Alan McKinnon]

On 03/11/2015 18:05, Dale wrote:
> Philip Webb wrote:
>> I am trying to get printing to work properly in my recently built machine.
>> 'hp-probe' identifies my printer as 'HP Deskjet 2510 series'.
>> When I print a text file from Gvim or a ps file from LO,
>> there are blank bands across the page, omitting lines or parts of letters.
>>
>> I have managed to get Kwrite to print properly
>> via  file -> print -> options -> layout -> schema :
>> when set to 'normal' 'KDE' 'Vim dark', everything comes out as it should
>> (there are some amusing color effects, but it's all there).
>>
>> Alongside Gentoo, I installed Mint 17.2 (Xfce),
>> which started printing properly via Gedit + LO
>> after I set print quality to 'high' via the 'http://localhost:631' menu
>> (I didn't go back to test Gvim there, but assume it would work too).
>> Gedit has its own internal print-quality menu too.
>>
>> I have compared  /etc/hp/hplip.conf  in Gentoo vs Mint :
>> the Gentoo version of Hplip is 3.14.10 , Mint has 3.15.2 ;
>> the Gentoo version of Cups is 2.0 , Mint has 1.7 ;
>> the Gentoo version of Hplip was built with 'foomatic-ppd-install=no',
>> the Mint version with '...=yes'.
>>
>> I can contrive to print text + ps files easily
>> by copying them to an appropriate partition & rebooting into Mint,
>> but Gentoo is supposed to make these things easier, not more difficult.
>>
>> Finally, I've never got the print icon in Gvim to work :
>> I use the 'prtdialog' plug-in, which prints, but only badly as above.
>>
>> Can anyone offer advice or suggestions ?
>>
> 
> 
> I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
> at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
> time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
> and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
> period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
> delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked like
> a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too. 
> ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
> that. 
> 
> Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went in
> as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
> least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
> and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
> currently out of ink, again. 
> 
> I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
> to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
> to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
> hooked up then you may have to select something. 
> 
> None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-) 

That's my experience too. I print very little by for ages now everytime
a change was made to a printer or cups (even teeny minor ones), I'd
delete and re-add all printers plus restart cups.

Why does cups behave like this? Buggered if I know. I have an
unexpressable opinion based on a certain fruity vendor who seems better
at suing Samsung than actually writing code....


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Mick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: Text/Plain, Size: 1917 bytes --]

On Tuesday 03 Nov 2015 18:33:58 Philip Webb wrote:
> 151102 Daniel Frey wrote:
> > I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it.  I found another
> > way to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic and that works trouble-free.
> > It's a driver for Laserjet printers, it won't work on deskjets AFAIK.
> > The driver is foo2zjs: http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/ , wh uses Ghostscript.
> > I looked and it looks like that won't help you.
> 
> Yes, they all seem to be for laser printers.  I do very little printing,
> but once or twice a year need to print something,
> so my cheap little HP DJ 2510 is adequate.
> 
> The basic problem is now clear : this printer won't print draft quality,
> but leaves blank bands across the output (no, it's not an old cartridge).
> Therefore, something has to tell it to print 'high-quality' or 'best'.
> 
> In Mint, when that is set via the 631 menu, printing works correctly :
> I can print text files via Gvim (icon or  :ha ) & Gedit,  .odt  via LO
> & PDF via Evince ; Gedit & Evince have their own quality settings.
> 
> In Gentoo, the 631 setting has no effect, so all printing is draft.
> Only Kwrite has its own quality setting, which does work properly for text.
> In addition, the icon doesn't work in Gvim, tho'  :ha  does.
> 
> So for everyday purposes, I can print anything by rebooting into Mint.
> However, I'm not happy that there's a bug (or more) of some sort in Gentoo.
> I'm not at all sure where it could be or how to report it.
> It cb caused by the difference in desktops, Xfce on Mint, Fluxbox on Gentoo
> : perhaps the bigger desktop managers do the job themselves,
> whereas something else needs fixing with the lightweight Fluxbox.
> 
> Further comments mb useful to everyone.
> 
> PS thankyou to Dale, whose general experience is similar to my own.

Is your gentoo user a member of lp & lpadmin group?

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Philip Webb]

151103 Mick wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 Nov 2015 18:33:58 Philip Webb wrote:
>> The basic problem is now clear : this printer won't print draft quality,
>> but leaves blank bands across the output (no, it's not an old cartridge).
>> Therefore, something has to tell it to print 'high-quality' or 'best'.
>> 
>> In Mint, when that is set via the 631 menu, printing works correctly :
>> I can print text files via Gvim (icon or  :ha ) & Gedit,  .odt  via LO
>> & PDF via Evince ; Gedit & Evince have their own quality settings.
>> 
>> In Gentoo, the 631 setting has no effect, so all printing is draft.
>> Only Kwrite has its own quality setting, which does work properly for text.
>> In addition, the icon doesn't work in Gvim, tho'  :ha  does.
>> It cb caused by the difference in desktops, Xfce on Mint, Fluxbox on Gentoo
>> : perhaps the bigger desktop managers do the job themselves,
>> whereas something else needs fixing with the lightweight Fluxbox.
> Is your gentoo user a member of lp & lpadmin group?

'lpadmin' yes ; 'lp' no, but 'lp' is a member : I've added my userid.
On the face of it, the latter shouldn't make a difference, but I can test.

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Philip Webb]

151103 Philip Webb wrote:
> 151103 Mick wrote:
>> Is your gentoo user a member of lp & lpadmin group?
> 'lpadmin' yes ; 'lp' no, but 'lp' is a member : I've added my userid.
> On the face of it, the latter shouldn't make a difference, but I can test.

I tested it & it makes no difference.

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Dale]

Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On 03/11/2015 18:05, Dale wrote:
>>
>>
>> I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
>> at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
>> time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
>> and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
>> period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
>> delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked like
>> a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too. 
>> ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
>> that. 
>>
>> Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went in
>> as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
>> least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
>> and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
>> currently out of ink, again. 
>>
>> I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
>> to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
>> to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
>> hooked up then you may have to select something. 
>>
>> None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-) 
> That's my experience too. I print very little by for ages now everytime
> a change was made to a printer or cups (even teeny minor ones), I'd
> delete and re-add all printers plus restart cups.
>
> Why does cups behave like this? Buggered if I know. I have an
> unexpressable opinion based on a certain fruity vendor who seems better
> at suing Samsung than actually writing code....
>
>


For some reason, cups just doesn't like HP, at least in my case.  I've
had that problem for ages until a couple years or so ago.  I always used
cups to setup and mange the printer.  After getting enough of it one
day, I stopped cups.  I then set up the printer with hplip.  It took
less than a minute to do to, just keep clicking next for me.  After I
did that, I don't think I have had to delete/readd the printer since.  I
know I have updated both cups and hplip too, likely several times.  No
telling what has been updated that they depend on. 

Maybe I got lucky or maybe just not using cups works.  Odd thing is,
when I rebooted later, cups started automatically and the printer still
works and the printer shows up in cups.  It's been working ever since. 
So, kick cups out of the way, set it up using only hplip stuff and see
what happens.  Heck, it just may work.  :/

Now if I can just get Seamonkey and Firefox to stop defaulting to
English (United Kingdom) instead of English (United States) I'll be even
happier.  o_O 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

P. S.  I got my elcheapo ebay cartridges today.  It still prints fine. 
:-D   Oooo, pretty colors too. 

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Dale]

Philip Webb wrote:
> PS thankyou to Dale, whose general experience is similar to my own. 

There is a possible solution in my post.  My writing style is a bit
buckshot at times.  Basically, kick cups out of the way and just use the
hplip commands to set up the printer.  Doing it that way has worked the
last couple years for me.  Not sure if it matters or not, I do it as
root too. ;-)

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[J. Roeleveld]

On Tuesday, November 03, 2015 10:38:18 PM Dale wrote:
> Alan McKinnon wrote:
> > On 03/11/2015 18:05, Dale wrote:
> >> I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
> >> at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
> >> time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
> >> and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
> >> period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
> >> delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked like
> >> a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too.
> >> ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
> >> that.
> >> 
> >> Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went in
> >> as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
> >> least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
> >> and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
> >> currently out of ink, again.
> >> 
> >> I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
> >> to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
> >> to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
> >> hooked up then you may have to select something.
> >> 
> >> None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-)
> > 
> > That's my experience too. I print very little by for ages now everytime
> > a change was made to a printer or cups (even teeny minor ones), I'd
> > delete and re-add all printers plus restart cups.
> > 
> > Why does cups behave like this? Buggered if I know. I have an
> > unexpressable opinion based on a certain fruity vendor who seems better
> > at suing Samsung than actually writing code....
> 
> For some reason, cups just doesn't like HP, at least in my case.  I've
> had that problem for ages until a couple years or so ago.  I always used
> cups to setup and mange the printer.  After getting enough of it one
> day, I stopped cups.  I then set up the printer with hplip.  It took
> less than a minute to do to, just keep clicking next for me.  After I
> did that, I don't think I have had to delete/readd the printer since.  I
> know I have updated both cups and hplip too, likely several times.  No
> telling what has been updated that they depend on.
> 
> Maybe I got lucky or maybe just not using cups works.  Odd thing is,
> when I rebooted later, cups started automatically and the printer still
> works and the printer shows up in cups.  It's been working ever since.
> So, kick cups out of the way, set it up using only hplip stuff and see
> what happens.  Heck, it just may work.  :/
> 
> Now if I can just get Seamonkey and Firefox to stop defaulting to
> English (United Kingdom) instead of English (United States) I'll be even
> happier.  o_O
> 
> Dale
> 
> :-)  :-)
> 
> P. S.  I got my elcheapo ebay cartridges today.  It still prints fine.
> 
> :-D   Oooo, pretty colors too.

Same here.
I use hp-setup to configure the printer once and then it "just works" without 
further thinking. (Apart from having to switch it on)

I stopped using inkjet/deskjet/... printers years ago after having another one 
ruined by dried up ink.
Currently happily using a laserprinter with a network-cable :)

--
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 03, 2015 10:38:18 PM Dale wrote:
>> Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>> On 03/11/2015 18:05, Dale wrote:
>>>> I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
>>>> at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
>>>> time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
>>>> and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
>>>> period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
>>>> delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked like
>>>> a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too.
>>>> ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
>>>> that.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went in
>>>> as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
>>>> least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
>>>> and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
>>>> currently out of ink, again.
>>>>
>>>> I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
>>>> to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
>>>> to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
>>>> hooked up then you may have to select something.
>>>>
>>>> None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-)
>>> That's my experience too. I print very little by for ages now everytime
>>> a change was made to a printer or cups (even teeny minor ones), I'd
>>> delete and re-add all printers plus restart cups.
>>>
>>> Why does cups behave like this? Buggered if I know. I have an
>>> unexpressable opinion based on a certain fruity vendor who seems better
>>> at suing Samsung than actually writing code....
>> For some reason, cups just doesn't like HP, at least in my case.  I've
>> had that problem for ages until a couple years or so ago.  I always used
>> cups to setup and mange the printer.  After getting enough of it one
>> day, I stopped cups.  I then set up the printer with hplip.  It took
>> less than a minute to do to, just keep clicking next for me.  After I
>> did that, I don't think I have had to delete/readd the printer since.  I
>> know I have updated both cups and hplip too, likely several times.  No
>> telling what has been updated that they depend on.
>>
>> Maybe I got lucky or maybe just not using cups works.  Odd thing is,
>> when I rebooted later, cups started automatically and the printer still
>> works and the printer shows up in cups.  It's been working ever since.
>> So, kick cups out of the way, set it up using only hplip stuff and see
>> what happens.  Heck, it just may work.  :/
>>
>> Now if I can just get Seamonkey and Firefox to stop defaulting to
>> English (United Kingdom) instead of English (United States) I'll be even
>> happier.  o_O
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> :-)  :-)
>>
>> P. S.  I got my elcheapo ebay cartridges today.  It still prints fine.
>>
>> :-D   Oooo, pretty colors too.
> Same here.
> I use hp-setup to configure the printer once and then it "just works" without 
> further thinking. (Apart from having to switch it on)
>
> I stopped using inkjet/deskjet/... printers years ago after having another one 
> ruined by dried up ink.
> Currently happily using a laserprinter with a network-cable :)
>
> --
> Joost
>
>


I wish I could get me a laser printer.  I'm dipping off into electronics
again and will have to make PCBs and they say laser printers work
better, although I have had a couple tell me ink jets work just as good
now, maybe better.  Still, toner doesn't seem to mess up like cartridges
do.  Just keep the stuff in a relatively dry spot and it's ready to go
when ever you need to print. 

Glad to know that the way I set up my printer works for someone else
too.  Hmmmmm.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[J. Roeleveld]

On Wednesday, November 04, 2015 02:19:40 AM Dale wrote:
> J. Roeleveld wrote:
> > On Tuesday, November 03, 2015 10:38:18 PM Dale wrote:
> >> Alan McKinnon wrote:
> >>> On 03/11/2015 18:05, Dale wrote:
> >>>> I don't know if this will help or not but since you seem to be grasping
> >>>> at straws, grab this one and hold on for dear life.  For the longest
> >>>> time, every time hplip, cups and friends were updated, I had to delete
> >>>> and readd my printer.  If I didn't, printing was not going to happen,
> >>>> period.  I might also add, I'd restart cups just to be sure, after the
> >>>> delete and again after the readd.  Once I did that, printing worked
> >>>> like
> >>>> a charm.  If I didn't know better, I'd think the ink lasted longer too.
> >>>> ROFL  Just kidding but . . . .   If nothing else works, may want to try
> >>>> that.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Oh, the last time I did the setup, I ignored cups completely.  I went
> >>>> in
> >>>> as root and set up the printer using the hplip command.  That was at
> >>>> least a couple years ago.  Since then, whenever I get ready to print,
> >>>> and replace the dried out cartridges, it just works.  I have a D4260,
> >>>> currently out of ink, again.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I think the actual command is hp-setup.  I use KDE and that opens a GUI
> >>>> to do the set up.  Generally, it is just clicking next.  It just seems
> >>>> to figure out the rest itself, unless you have more than one printer
> >>>> hooked up then you may have to select something.
> >>>> 
> >>>> None of this may help but maybe one will.  May be worth a shot.  ;-)
> >>> 
> >>> That's my experience too. I print very little by for ages now everytime
> >>> a change was made to a printer or cups (even teeny minor ones), I'd
> >>> delete and re-add all printers plus restart cups.
> >>> 
> >>> Why does cups behave like this? Buggered if I know. I have an
> >>> unexpressable opinion based on a certain fruity vendor who seems better
> >>> at suing Samsung than actually writing code....
> >> 
> >> For some reason, cups just doesn't like HP, at least in my case.  I've
> >> had that problem for ages until a couple years or so ago.  I always used
> >> cups to setup and mange the printer.  After getting enough of it one
> >> day, I stopped cups.  I then set up the printer with hplip.  It took
> >> less than a minute to do to, just keep clicking next for me.  After I
> >> did that, I don't think I have had to delete/readd the printer since.  I
> >> know I have updated both cups and hplip too, likely several times.  No
> >> telling what has been updated that they depend on.
> >> 
> >> Maybe I got lucky or maybe just not using cups works.  Odd thing is,
> >> when I rebooted later, cups started automatically and the printer still
> >> works and the printer shows up in cups.  It's been working ever since.
> >> So, kick cups out of the way, set it up using only hplip stuff and see
> >> what happens.  Heck, it just may work.  :/
> >> 
> >> Now if I can just get Seamonkey and Firefox to stop defaulting to
> >> English (United Kingdom) instead of English (United States) I'll be even
> >> happier.  o_O
> >> 
> >> Dale
> >> 
> >> :-)  :-)
> >> 
> >> P. S.  I got my elcheapo ebay cartridges today.  It still prints fine.
> >> 
> >> :-D   Oooo, pretty colors too.
> > 
> > Same here.
> > I use hp-setup to configure the printer once and then it "just works"
> > without further thinking. (Apart from having to switch it on)
> > 
> > I stopped using inkjet/deskjet/... printers years ago after having another
> > one ruined by dried up ink.
> > Currently happily using a laserprinter with a network-cable :)
> > 
> > --
> > Joost
> 
> I wish I could get me a laser printer.  I'm dipping off into electronics
> again and will have to make PCBs and they say laser printers work
> better, although I have had a couple tell me ink jets work just as good
> now, maybe better.  Still, toner doesn't seem to mess up like cartridges
> do.  Just keep the stuff in a relatively dry spot and it's ready to go
> when ever you need to print.

I find laser printers to be more expensive initially, but considering the 
amount of pages I can print per toner cartridge, compared to what I used to 
get out of the same amount of ink (comparing monetary costs), I find laser 
printers to be cheaper.
Inkjet only seems to work if I print a lot. For occasional printing, lasers 
are more reliable.

But I only print on paper.

I though PCBs are hard? How do you get those through a printer?

> Glad to know that the way I set up my printer works for someone else
> too.  Hmmmmm.

I had to rethink how I did it as it's been working without issue for a few 
years now. And I do update regularly.

--
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 04, 2015 02:19:40 AM Dale wrote:
>>
>> I wish I could get me a laser printer.  I'm dipping off into electronics
>> again and will have to make PCBs and they say laser printers work
>> better, although I have had a couple tell me ink jets work just as good
>> now, maybe better.  Still, toner doesn't seem to mess up like cartridges
>> do.  Just keep the stuff in a relatively dry spot and it's ready to go
>> when ever you need to print.
> I find laser printers to be more expensive initially, but considering the 
> amount of pages I can print per toner cartridge, compared to what I used to 
> get out of the same amount of ink (comparing monetary costs), I find laser 
> printers to be cheaper.
> Inkjet only seems to work if I print a lot. For occasional printing, lasers 
> are more reliable.
>
> But I only print on paper.
>
> I though PCBs are hard? How do you get those through a printer?
>
>
> --
> Joost
>
>

I'm pretty sure you are right.  Toner goes a long ways.  The few laser
printers I have dealt with also last longer than ink jet stuff.  Right
now, I have a large gob of ink under the cartridge where it parks.  I
figure temp changes are making it have just enough pressure at times to
squeeze some out.  At least it still prints, for now. 

I used to make PCBs by hand.  I would draw with a pen or use dry
transfer sheets to make my circuits.  Once that was done, and checked
about a dozen times, I dropped it into the etchant.  A little while
later, out come the PCB ready to drill and put parts on.  Those little
drill bits are kinda cute.  lol 

From what I have read, I can print the PCB layout on paper and then use
that to transfer the circuit to the PCB which has a photo-resist coating
on it.  Or whatever that is called.  I've never done it but from what I
read, it is the way to do it home style.  If a person needs a lot of the
same board, send the files off to a PCB maker and let them run them
off.  I've been told there are a few places in China that does one heck
of a job on them even in fairly small quantities.  Price isn't bad either. 

Most likely my first project will be a new adjustable power supply. 
After that, a fence charger to keep deer and wild hogs out of my
garden.  It's either that or a bullet.  o_O 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Peter Humphrey]

On Tuesday 03 November 2015 22:38:18 Dale wrote:

> Now if I can just get Seamonkey and Firefox to stop defaulting to
> English (United Kingdom) instead of English (United States) I'll be even
> happier.  o_O

Why would you want all those wrong spellings?

;)

-- 
Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems : one solved

[Philip Webb]

151103 Philip Webb wrote:
> In addition, the icon doesn't work in Gvim, tho'  :ha  does.

That latter was mistaken : the icon is simply a shortcup for  :ha .
You have to tell Gvim which printer to use.  In  ~/.vimrc  you need :
'set pdev=Deskjet_2510' (or system name for your own device).
When this is set & Gvim restarted, the icon &  :ha  both work.

The problem of getting Gvim & LO to recognise the 631 hi-quality setting
remains, however.  Somehow, it works without a problem with Xfce on Mint.
Is it something the KDE or Gnome libraries handle, but not Fluxbox ?

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems : hiccups solve them

[Philip Webb]

151103 Philip Webb wrote:
> The basic problem is now clear : this printer won't print draft quality,
> but leaves blank bands across the output (no, it's not an old cartridge).
> Therefore, something has to tell it to print 'high-quality' or 'best'.
> 
> In Mint, when that is set via the 631 menu, printing works correctly :
> I can print text files via Gvim (icon or  :ha ) & Gedit,  .odt  via LO
> & PDF via Evince ; Gedit & Evince have their own quality settings.
> 
> In Gentoo, the 631 setting has no effect, so all printing is draft.
> Only Kwrite has its own quality setting, which does work properly for text.

I've found the source of the problem.
It's necessary to choose the 'hpcups' driver, not the 'hpijs' driver,
when setting up the printer via the 631 menu.
Once that's done, Gvim Okular LO all print 'best' quality correctly.

There is also a quality setting hidden away in the LO menus :
 tools -> options -> LO -> print : set 'high' = 300 dpi.

My route to the solution was via trying the 'gutenprint' pkg.
It doesn't offer a driver for an HP DJ 2510 , only 2500 or 2540,
but that led me to look thro' the other drivers in the 631 menu
& one of them was 'hpcups'.

I'm surprised -- well, am I really ? -- that there's no mention of all this
in any of the dox, wikis, Forum discussions etc etc I've scoured.
However as usual, all problems with Gentoo are  1  level deep :
find where it is & the solution falls into place promptly (smile).

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,   Philip Webb
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|   Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'   purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems : hiccups solve them

[Mick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: Text/Plain, Size: 1932 bytes --]

On Thursday 05 Nov 2015 06:21:16 Philip Webb wrote:
> 151103 Philip Webb wrote:
> > The basic problem is now clear : this printer won't print draft quality,
> > but leaves blank bands across the output (no, it's not an old cartridge).
> > Therefore, something has to tell it to print 'high-quality' or 'best'.
> > 
> > In Mint, when that is set via the 631 menu, printing works correctly :
> > I can print text files via Gvim (icon or  :ha ) & Gedit,  .odt  via LO
> > & PDF via Evince ; Gedit & Evince have their own quality settings.
> > 
> > In Gentoo, the 631 setting has no effect, so all printing is draft.
> > Only Kwrite has its own quality setting, which does work properly for
> > text.
> 
> I've found the source of the problem.
> It's necessary to choose the 'hpcups' driver, not the 'hpijs' driver,
> when setting up the printer via the 631 menu.
> Once that's done, Gvim Okular LO all print 'best' quality correctly.
> 
> There is also a quality setting hidden away in the LO menus :
>  tools -> options -> LO -> print : set 'high' = 300 dpi.
> 
> My route to the solution was via trying the 'gutenprint' pkg.
> It doesn't offer a driver for an HP DJ 2510 , only 2500 or 2540,
> but that led me to look thro' the other drivers in the 631 menu
> & one of them was 'hpcups'.
> 
> I'm surprised -- well, am I really ? -- that there's no mention of all this
> in any of the dox, wikis, Forum discussions etc etc I've scoured.
> However as usual, all problems with Gentoo are  1  level deep :
> find where it is & the solution falls into place promptly (smile).

Ahh!  Yes, I forgot about this.  Sorry  :-)

hpcups is the newer driver for HP printers.  On a new box I set up hpcups and 
it worked with my old HP printer, without hpjis, but older boxen still print 
fine with hpjis, so I left them alone.  From what you're saying your printer 
*must* use hpcups.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Frank Steinmetzger]

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On Mon, Nov 02, 2015 at 05:01:26PM -0800, Daniel Frey wrote:
> On 11/02/2015 04:46 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
> > 151101 Daniel Frey wrote:
> >> I had so many problems with hplip I stopped using it.  I found another way
> >> to use my hp CP1025nw with foomatic and that works trouble-free.
> > 
> > Don't be coy ! -- What did you actually do which works (smile) ?
> > 
> 
> It's a driver for Laserjet printers, it won't work on deskjets AFAIK.
> The driver is foo2zjs: http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/  - it relies on
> ghostscript.

I used to use foo2zjs happily many a year ago. But then it vanished from
portage and I never got it working again.

> I looked and it looks like that won't help you. I had so many problems
> with hplip randomly stopping working and refusing to reinstall I gave up
> on printing for six months before I found foo2zjs.

What I found out is that the plugin hplip downloads for my laserjet 1000
is a self-extracting archive running on python2, but it does not state a
python version. So if your system python is set to v3, the plugin intall
will fail with only an “I failed” message. Once I switched to python 2, it
ran through. *shrug*

A few days ago I couldn’t get my printer to print more than one page in a
go. It just stops after the first page. Luckily, I have a virtual Ubuntu
which I originally set up just out of curiosity, but now acts as my printing
client, because it just works™.

If I find the time, I will go through the tips of this thread myself.

PS.: The printer is from 2004, and only now the toner, which is the one I
bought with the printer – is getting weaker.
-- 
Gruß | Greetings | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

Why do Java developers wear glasses? – Because they don’t C#.

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Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Daniel Frey]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1400 bytes --]

On 11/10/2015 03:12 PM, Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
> I used to use foo2zjs happily many a year ago. But then it vanished from
> portage and I never got it working again.

?? Wow, I didn't even know that until just now. I still have it
installed via an ebuild, I'm surprised portage didn't through any
warnings about not being able to update.

I've attached the foo2zjs ebuild that I still have in my portage tree,
in case you want to use it or try to get it working again.

> A few days ago I couldn’t get my printer to print more than one page in a
> go. It just stops after the first page. Luckily, I have a virtual Ubuntu
> which I originally set up just out of curiosity, but now acts as my printing
> client, because it just works™.

I just had this this morning! It was driving me nuts because I am
supposed to sign a document and yep, the page that needs the signature
is on page 2! After messing around for about a half an hour, I
discovered some of my CUPS default printer settings disappeared! My
paper size and type were set to A4/envelope. I reset them and it prints
properly. I wonder what changed them?

> PS.: The printer is from 2004, and only now the toner, which is the one I
> bought with the printer – is getting weaker.

I bought mine in late 2012/early 2013. I just checked and the black is
at 60%, all the colours are at 80%. Haven't had to change a cartridge yet.

Dan



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# Copyright 1999-2014 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Id$

EAPI=4

inherit eutils

DESCRIPTION="Support for printing to ZjStream-based printers"
HOMEPAGE="http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/"

LICENSE="GPL-2"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS=""
IUSE="test"

RESTRICT="bindist"

RDEPEND="net-print/cups
	net-print/foomatic-db-engine
	|| ( >=net-print/cups-filters-1.0.43-r1[foomatic] net-print/foomatic-filters )
	virtual/udev"
DEPEND="${RDEPEND}
	app-arch/unzip
	app-editors/vim
	net-misc/wget
	sys-apps/ed
	sys-devel/bc
	test? ( sys-process/time )"

S="${WORKDIR}/${PN}"

src_unpack() {
	einfo "Fetching ${PN} tarball"
	wget "http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/${PN}.tar.gz"
	tar zxf "${WORKDIR}/${PN}.tar.gz"

	epatch "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-udev.patch"
	epatch "${FILESDIR}/${PN}-usbbackend.patch"

	cd "${S}"

	einfo "Fetching additional files (firmware, etc)"
	emake getweb

	# Display wget output, downloading takes some time.
	sed -e '/^WGETOPTS/s/-q//g' -i getweb

	./getweb all
}

src_prepare() {
	# Prevent an access violation.
	sed -e "s~/etc~${D}/etc~g" -i Makefile
	sed -e "s~/etc~${D}/etc~g" -i hplj1000

	# Prevent an access violation, do not create symlinks on live file system
	# during installation.
	sed -e 's/ install-filter / /g' -i Makefile

	# Prevent an access violation, do not remove files from live filesystem
	# during make install
	sed -e '/rm .*LIBUDEVDIR)\//d' -i Makefile
	sed -e '/rm .*lib\/udev\/rules.d\//d' -i hplj1000
}

src_compile() {
	MAKEOPTS=-j1 default
}

src_install() {
	# ppd files are installed automagically. We have to create a directory
	# for them.
	mkdir -p "${D}/usr/share/ppd"

	emake DESTDIR="${D}" -j1 install install-hotplug
}

Re: [gentoo-user] printing problems

[Marc Joliet]

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On Wednesday 11 November 2015 08:20:02 Daniel Frey wrote:
>On 11/10/2015 03:12 PM, Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
>> I used to use foo2zjs happily many a year ago. But then it vanished from
>> portage and I never got it working again.
>
>?? Wow, I didn't even know that until just now. I still have it
>installed via an ebuild, I'm surprised portage didn't through any
>warnings about not being able to update.
>
>I've attached the foo2zjs ebuild that I still have in my portage tree,
>in case you want to use it or try to get it working again.

Not a user of foo2zjs or anything, but I somewhat compulsively check these 
things when I read them on this list, and saw that the ebuild you attached is 
in fact in the portage tree, see https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/net-print/foo2zjs.  It's just a live ebuild, so I suppose that Frank Steinmetzger 
meant that whatever release was once in the tree got dropped, leaving only the 
live ebuild.

[ BTW, I only now consciously realised that it's Steinmetz*ger*.  What an 
interesting mental image that conjures ;-) . ]

Greetings
-- 
Marc Joliet
--
"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we
don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup

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