[gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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I've been using a Brother "HL-3140CW" model with the net-print/brother-
hl3140cw-bin-1.1.4 driver from the brother-overlay.

Since I moved to profile 17.0 (I think) pages are being cropped at the top 
when printing from various applications (LOWriter, Okular, etc.) on different 
PCs.

In LOWriter I had to set a 35mm margin at the top, to be able to get just 13mm 
at the top of the physical A4 paper, before the top line of text is printed.

I have used the Plasma systemsettings5 for printers as well as the http GUI of 
the printer to see if anything is amiss, but I can't find anything I can 
change to restore the page alignment as it was a couple of weeks ago.

The OEM online help pages suggest to adjust the margins on the application 
you're are printing from.

Any idea what has brought about this change and how I may be able to revert 
it?  Have you noticed anything similar?

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[tuxic]

On 12/21 02:20, Mick wrote:
> I've been using a Brother "HL-3140CW" model with the net-print/brother-
> hl3140cw-bin-1.1.4 driver from the brother-overlay.
> 
> Since I moved to profile 17.0 (I think) pages are being cropped at the top 
> when printing from various applications (LOWriter, Okular, etc.) on different 
> PCs.
> 
> In LOWriter I had to set a 35mm margin at the top, to be able to get just 13mm 
> at the top of the physical A4 paper, before the top line of text is printed.
> 
> I have used the Plasma systemsettings5 for printers as well as the http GUI of 
> the printer to see if anything is amiss, but I can't find anything I can 
> change to restore the page alignment as it was a couple of weeks ago.
> 
> The OEM online help pages suggest to adjust the margins on the application 
> you're are printing from.
> 
> Any idea what has brought about this change and how I may be able to revert 
> it?  Have you noticed anything similar?
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> Mick


Hi Mick,

a shot into the dark:
Would it be possible, that not the profile as such has caused the
problem but the recompilation of such a lot of applications?

May be a default setup has discarded a path setting to your personal
settings of the application in question.

Try the following: "Fail and win" :)

Begin with the application, which is the one with is nearest to the
user -- for example the word processor or office syit.
Find the personal settings of that application and make a backyp of
it to a save place.

Load the config file/the ocnfig files and corrupt them (yes!).

Start the application.

If the application fails: Your settings will not be ignored.
If the application runs fine: You have found the application,
which was reset to "factory settings" via the recompilation.

Until you find that application step forward into the direction
of the printer (so to say) in choosing the application.

If you have found the application, which ignores ytour personal
setting you may have found the culprit.

From the backup restore the settings then start the application and
point it to uour settings.

Restart the application.

May be this way you can figure out, what has happen.

Cheers
Meino

Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Jack]

On 2017.12.21 09:20, Mick wrote:
> I've been using a Brother "HL-3140CW" model with the  
> net-print/brother- hl3140cw-bin-1.1.4 driver from the brother-overlay.
> 
> Since I moved to profile 17.0 (I think) pages are being cropped at  
> the top when printing from various applications (LOWriter, Okular,  
> etc.) on different PCs.
> 
> In LOWriter I had to set a 35mm margin at the top, to be able to get  
> just 13mm at the top of the physical A4 paper, before the top line of  
> text is printed.
> 
> I have used the Plasma systemsettings5 for printers as well as the  
> http GUI of the printer to see if anything is amiss, but I can't find  
> anything I can change to restore the page alignment as it was a  
> couple of weeks ago.
> 
> The OEM online help pages suggest to adjust the margins on the  
> application you're are printing from.
> 
> Any idea what has brought about this change and how I may be able to  
> revert it?  Have you noticed anything similar?

It sounds to me like a possible A4/USLetter issue.  Can you confirm  
that both LOWriter (and other apps) and cups (or whatever is driving  
the printer) are both set to A4?

Jack

Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 15:16:32 GMT tuxic@posteo.de wrote:
> On 12/21 02:20, Mick wrote:
> > I've been using a Brother "HL-3140CW" model with the net-print/brother-
> > hl3140cw-bin-1.1.4 driver from the brother-overlay.
> > 
> > Since I moved to profile 17.0 (I think) pages are being cropped at the top
> > when printing from various applications (LOWriter, Okular, etc.) on
> > different PCs.
> > 
> > In LOWriter I had to set a 35mm margin at the top, to be able to get just
> > 13mm at the top of the physical A4 paper, before the top line of text is
> > printed.
> > 
> > I have used the Plasma systemsettings5 for printers as well as the http
> > GUI of the printer to see if anything is amiss, but I can't find anything
> > I can change to restore the page alignment as it was a couple of weeks
> > ago.
> > 
> > The OEM online help pages suggest to adjust the margins on the application
> > you're are printing from.
> > 
> > Any idea what has brought about this change and how I may be able to
> > revert
> > it?  Have you noticed anything similar?
> 
> Hi Mick,
> 
> a shot into the dark:
> Would it be possible, that not the profile as such has caused the
> problem but the recompilation of such a lot of applications?
[snip ...]

Thanks Meino, the problem is not with a particular application.  Even when I 
print a test page from CUPS http interface/Maintenance, the top of the page is 
cropped and the bottom of the test page is consequently printed further up.

I'll try reinstalling the firmware next using MSWindows in case something went 
sideways with the printer.  It won't be the first coincidence this week.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:01:09 GMT Jack wrote:
> On 2017.12.21 09:20, Mick wrote:
> > I've been using a Brother "HL-3140CW" model with the
> > net-print/brother- hl3140cw-bin-1.1.4 driver from the brother-overlay.
> > 
> > Since I moved to profile 17.0 (I think) pages are being cropped at
> > the top when printing from various applications (LOWriter, Okular,
> > etc.) on different PCs.
> > 
> > In LOWriter I had to set a 35mm margin at the top, to be able to get
> > just 13mm at the top of the physical A4 paper, before the top line of
> > text is printed.
> > 
> > I have used the Plasma systemsettings5 for printers as well as the
> > http GUI of the printer to see if anything is amiss, but I can't find
> > anything I can change to restore the page alignment as it was a
> > couple of weeks ago.
> > 
> > The OEM online help pages suggest to adjust the margins on the
> > application you're are printing from.
> > 
> > Any idea what has brought about this change and how I may be able to
> > revert it?  Have you noticed anything similar?
> 
> It sounds to me like a possible A4/USLetter issue.  Can you confirm
> that both LOWriter (and other apps) and cups (or whatever is driving
> the printer) are both set to A4?
> 
> Jack

Yes, CUPS and all desktop applications show A4 as the default paper size.  
CUPS reports:

$ lpoptions -p 'HL-3140CW' -l 
PageSize/Media Size: *A4 Letter Legal Executive A5 A6 B5 JISB5 JISB6 EnvDL 
EnvC5 Env10 EnvMonarch Br3x5 FanFoldGermanLegal EnvPRC5Rotated Postcard 
EnvYou4 EnvChou3 210x270mm 195x270mm 184x260mm 197x273mm
BRInputSlot/Paper Source: *AutoSelect Tray1 Manual
BRResolution/Print Quality: *600dpi 600x2400dpi
BRMonoColor/Color / Mono: Auto FullColor *Mono
BRMediaType/Media Type: *Plain Thin Thick Thicker BOND Env EnvThick EnvThin 
Recycled Label Glossy PostCard
BRColorMatching/Color Mode: *Normal Vivid None
BRGray/Improve Gray Color: OFF *ON
BREnhanceBlkPrt/Enhance Black Printing: *OFF ON
BRTonerSaveMode/Toner Save Mode: OFF *ON
BRImproveOutput/Improve Print Output: *OFF BRLessPaperCurl BRFixIntensity
BRSkipBlank/Skip Blank Page: *OFF ON
BRBrightness/Brightness: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
BRContrast/Contrast: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
BRRed/Red: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 
-1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
BRGreen/Green: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 
-3 -2 -1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
BRBlue/Blue: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 
-2 -1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
BRSaturation/Saturation: -20 -19 -18 -17 -16 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 *0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20


However, looking inside /etc/cups/ppd/HL-3140CW.ppd I see some strange things:

*%==== Media Selection ======================
*OpenUI *PageSize/Media Size: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 11 AnySetup *PageSize
*DefaultPageSize: A4
[snip ...]

*OpenUI *PageRegion: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 12 AnySetup *PageRegion
*DefaultPageRegion: A4
[snip ...]

BUT ... then I noticed this:

*DefaultImageableArea: Letter    <==What the ...?!
*ImageableArea A4/A4:                                                   "12 12 
583 830"
*ImageableArea Letter/Letter:                                   "12 12 600 
780"
*ImageableArea Legal/Legal:                                             "12 12 
600 996"
[snip ...]

AND ....

*%==== Information About Media Sizes ========
*DefaultPaperDimension: Letter    <==Should this be here ...?!
*PaperDimension A4/A4:                                                  "595 
842"
*PaperDimension Letter/Letter:                                  "612 792"
*PaperDimension Legal/Legal:                                    "612 1008"


Are the above ppd entries correct, or am I misinterpreting the ppd logic?

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 18:28:30 GMT you wrote:
> On Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:01:09 GMT Jack wrote:

> > It sounds to me like a possible A4/USLetter issue.  Can you confirm
> > that both LOWriter (and other apps) and cups (or whatever is driving
> > the printer) are both set to A4?
> > 
> > Jack
> 
> Yes, CUPS and all desktop applications show A4 as the default paper size.
> CUPS reports:
> 
> $ lpoptions -p 'HL-3140CW' -l
> PageSize/Media Size: *A4 Letter Legal Executive A5 A6 B5 JISB5 JISB6 EnvDL
[snip ...]
> 
> Are the above ppd entries correct, or am I misinterpreting the ppd logic?

OK, uninstalled cups and the brother printer driver, deleted manually the /
etc/cups/pdd/ files reinstalled cups and the brother printer driver and 
reconfigured the printer using the CUPS http page.

Now the discrepancy has disappeared from the ppd file, but still the same 
error remains.  Top of the page is cropped!  Arrgh!
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Jack]

I may be grabbing at straws here, but what happens if you print  
something in landscape?  Is the trimmed edge the new top (long edge) or  
still the same short edge?

Does the same happen with other apps?  browser, emacs, gimp (just make  
a simple line drawing), pdf display, image viewer, ...?  I'm thinking  
of printing things that originate as different image types - maybe one  
will behave differently and point to something in the process.  Can you  
send a plain text file to the printer with lp?

Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 21:24:57 GMT Jack wrote:
> I may be grabbing at straws here, but what happens if you print
> something in landscape?  Is the trimmed edge the new top (long edge) or
> still the same short edge?

Aha!  Good call.  In landscape the cropping takes place on the left (short) 
edge, not the top of the page.


> Does the same happen with other apps?  browser, emacs, gimp (just make
> a simple line drawing), pdf display, image viewer, ...?  I'm thinking
> of printing things that originate as different image types - maybe one
> will behave differently and point to something in the process.  Can you
> send a plain text file to the printer with lp?

I sent a page with Chromium in landscape, it cropped the left hand short edge 
too.

PDF readers print with cropped top, in portrait.

I sent a txt file with 'lpr -o fit-to-page' in portrait and the same cropping 
on the top of the page happens.

So it is not application specific, but page orientation specific.

Could it be something has gone wrong with the rollers?  This is a brand new 
printer!

I'll try to print a page with MSWindows tomorrow, if only to prove if this is 
a cups problem or not.

Thanks for your suggestions!
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Jack]

On 2017.12.21 17:35, Mick wrote:
> On Thursday, 21 December 2017 21:24:57 GMT Jack wrote:
> > I may be grabbing at straws here, but what happens if you print
> > something in landscape?  Is the trimmed edge the new top (long  
> edge) or
> > still the same short edge?
> 
> Aha!  Good call.  In landscape the cropping takes place on the left  
> (short)
> edge, not the top of the page.
> 
> 
> > Does the same happen with other apps?  browser, emacs, gimp (just  
> make
> > a simple line drawing), pdf display, image viewer, ...?  I'm  
> thinking
> > of printing things that originate as different image types - maybe  
> one
> > will behave differently and point to something in the process.  Can  
> you
> > send a plain text file to the printer with lp?
> 
> I sent a page with Chromium in landscape, it cropped the left hand  
> short edge
> too.
> 
> PDF readers print with cropped top, in portrait.
> 
> I sent a txt file with 'lpr -o fit-to-page' in portrait and the same  
> cropping
> on the top of the page happens.
If the actual text was sent to the printer (and not turned into ps or  
pdf first, then I blame the printer.
> 
> So it is not application specific, but page orientation specific.
No, it always happens on the first short edge to come out of the  
printer, no matter which way the pixels are oriented.  That (to me)  
rules out everything except the printer, and just possibly the printer  
driver.
> 
> Could it be something has gone wrong with the rollers?  This is a  
> brand new printer!
Possibly, but my guess is some internal printer setting.  Does the  
printer itself provide a web interface?  If so, hunt through the  
options.  You may find something there.  (I'm not familiar with that  
printer, but all of the few wireless printers I have worked with  
provide a web interface on their configured IP address.)
> 
> I'll try to print a page with MSWindows tomorrow, if only to prove if  
> this is
> a cups problem or not.
> 
> Thanks for your suggestions!
> --
> Regards,
> Mick

Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Walter Dnes]

  Is there a default page size setting in your desktop environment that
could've changed?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:01:50 GMT Walter Dnes wrote:
>   Is there a default page size setting in your desktop environment that
> could've changed?

This problem is happening across different PCs, desktops/DEs and different 
applications.  The common factor is they are all using CUPS, the same brother 
driver and the default page size of A4.

I'll have another poke tomorrow into the http GUI of the printer and then try 
to print with MSWindows to see what happens.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] What can cause printer to crop top of page?

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:20:24 GMT you wrote:
> On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:01:50 GMT Walter Dnes wrote:
> >   Is there a default page size setting in your desktop environment that
> > 
> > could've changed?
> 
> This problem is happening across different PCs, desktops/DEs and different
> applications.  The common factor is they are all using CUPS, the same
> brother driver and the default page size of A4.
> 
> I'll have another poke tomorrow into the http GUI of the printer and then
> try to print with MSWindows to see what happens.

MSWindows prints fine, just as Linux used to until recently.  I printed a 
portrait layout from Firefox on both MSWindows and Linux.

In MSWindows, the Shrink-to-fit setting made the page fit into the A4 paper, 
perfectly.

In Linux, the top of the page is cropped, the bottom stops short by an 
equivalent height and the sides are wider.  It's as if the page is both 
misaligned vertically and not shrunk-to-fit.

This tells me there's nothing wrong with the printer - half a problem solved!

I still can't explain why the Linux cups and brother driver started 
misbehaving, just because I happened to recompile them with gcc-6.4.0.

I'm also not sure what I could tweak to restore the Linux driver's behaviour 
to what it should be.

Any ideas how I could calibrate the paper size in the Linux driver to align 
with the physical dimensions of A4?  The ppd file and its measurements look 
correct to me, but as you may have figured out, I'm no printing expert ...

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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[gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Mick]

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TLDR: Why is the content of my /etc/papersize being ignored?

More detail below.

On Friday, 22 December 2017 16:30:06 GMT Mick wrote:
> On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:20:24 GMT you wrote:
> > On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:01:50 GMT Walter Dnes wrote:
> > >   Is there a default page size setting in your desktop environment that
> > > could've changed?
> > 
> > This problem is happening across different PCs, desktops/DEs and different
> > applications.  The common factor is they are all using CUPS, the same
> > brother driver and the default page size of A4.
> > 
> > I'll have another poke tomorrow into the http GUI of the printer and then
> > try to print with MSWindows to see what happens.
> 
> MSWindows prints fine, just as Linux used to until recently.  I printed a
> portrait layout from Firefox on both MSWindows and Linux.

A number of you hinted at a paper size mismatch - between printer and PC.  You 
were correct!  I foolishly believed what the cups GUI told me, despite some 
strange behaviour I came across.

In particular, modifying the printer using the cups GUI ends up changing 
*some* of the default paper size fields from "A4" (as shown in the GUI) to 
"Letter" - as shown in this extract of /etc/cups/ppd/HL-3140CW.ppd:

grep Default /etc/cups/ppd/HL-3140CW.ppd
*DefaultColorSpace: RGB
*%DefaultOutputOrder: Reverse
*DefaultPageSize: A4
*DefaultPageRegion: A4
*DefaultImageableArea: Letter
*DefaultPaperDimension: Letter
[snip ...]

Using the cups GUI to 'Set Default Settings' and (re)selecting "A4" seems to 
work, as far as the ppd file is concerned.

However, when I set the printer's Tray 1 from "Any" size to "A4" using its 
control panel and tried to print a page with:

lpr -o fit-to-page -o media=A4 -P 'HL-3140CW' test_print.txt

the printer started blinking like a Christmas tree with the message:

 Size mismatch. Load Letter paper and press Go.

So I looked in /etc/papersize and saw it is "a4":

$ cat /etc/papersize 
a4

Then I checked the $PAPERSIZE and $PAPERCONF variables both of which appeared 
to not being set.  Using paperconf to interrogate the default setting I got 
this beauty:

$ paperconf -d
letter

What the ...?!

So, why is /etc/papersize being ignored?

PS. I noticed my locale has LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF-8". Not sure if relevant, but 
thought of mentioning it just in case.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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[gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Mick]

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On Wednesday, 27 December 2017 19:45:04 GMT Mick wrote:
> TLDR: Why is the content of my /etc/papersize being ignored?

Oops!  It is not ignored:

$ paperconf
a4

Which leaves my problem unanswered.  :-(

> More detail below.
> 
> On Friday, 22 December 2017 16:30:06 GMT Mick wrote:
> > On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:20:24 GMT you wrote:
> > > On Thursday, 21 December 2017 23:01:50 GMT Walter Dnes wrote:
> > > >   Is there a default page size setting in your desktop environment
> > > >   that
> > > > 
> > > > could've changed?
> > > 
> > > This problem is happening across different PCs, desktops/DEs and
> > > different
> > > applications.  The common factor is they are all using CUPS, the same
> > > brother driver and the default page size of A4.
> > > 
> > > I'll have another poke tomorrow into the http GUI of the printer and
> > > then
> > > try to print with MSWindows to see what happens.
> > 
> > MSWindows prints fine, just as Linux used to until recently.  I printed a
> > portrait layout from Firefox on both MSWindows and Linux.
> 
> A number of you hinted at a paper size mismatch - between printer and PC. 
> You were correct!  I foolishly believed what the cups GUI told me, despite
> some strange behaviour I came across.
> 
> In particular, modifying the printer using the cups GUI ends up changing
> *some* of the default paper size fields from "A4" (as shown in the GUI) to
> "Letter" - as shown in this extract of /etc/cups/ppd/HL-3140CW.ppd:
> 
> grep Default /etc/cups/ppd/HL-3140CW.ppd
> *DefaultColorSpace: RGB
> *%DefaultOutputOrder: Reverse
> *DefaultPageSize: A4
> *DefaultPageRegion: A4
> *DefaultImageableArea: Letter
> *DefaultPaperDimension: Letter
> [snip ...]
> 
> Using the cups GUI to 'Set Default Settings' and (re)selecting "A4" seems to
> work, as far as the ppd file is concerned.
> 
> However, when I set the printer's Tray 1 from "Any" size to "A4" using its
> control panel and tried to print a page with:
> 
> lpr -o fit-to-page -o media=A4 -P 'HL-3140CW' test_print.txt
> 
> the printer started blinking like a Christmas tree with the message:
> 
>  Size mismatch. Load Letter paper and press Go.
> 
> So I looked in /etc/papersize and saw it is "a4":
> 
> $ cat /etc/papersize
> a4
> 
> Then I checked the $PAPERSIZE and $PAPERCONF variables both of which
> appeared to not being set.  Using paperconf to interrogate the default
> setting I got this beauty:
> 
> $ paperconf -d
> letter
> 
> What the ...?!
> 
> So, why is /etc/papersize being ignored?
> 
> PS. I noticed my locale has LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF-8". Not sure if relevant,
> but thought of mentioning it just in case.


-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Taiidan]

For the record I would also like to add that using the duplexer on some 
poorly designed printers cuts off the bottom or top of the page without 
any type of notification.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Mick]

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On Thursday, 28 December 2017 06:14:23 GMT Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:
> For the record I would also like to add that using the duplexer on some
> poorly designed printers cuts off the bottom or top of the page without
> any type of notification.

Debugging cups and trying all conceivable combos of settings didn't get me 
anywhere.  Then I decided to start looking around the brother driver files 
installed under /opt/brother/Printers/hl3140cw/, where I found ./inf/
brhl3140cwrc and ./inf/brhl3140cwfunc both specifying Letter instead of A4 as 
paper size.

So, I've set "PageSize=A4" in brhl3140cwrc and it now prints correctly aligned 
pages once more.

I'm not sure if this is the default path for these files across distros, or if 
some symlink from /usr/libexec/cups/filter/ or /usr/share/cups/model/ is not 
working as it should.  In any case, the bug seems to be that using the cups 
GUI interface doesn't have any effect on the driver configuration files which 
are by default set to PageSize=Letter and also messes up the created ppd file 
used by cups.

I'm posting this here to save others time, should they come across the same 
problem.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hello, Mick.

On Fri, Dec 29, 2017 at 13:51:01 +0000, Mick wrote:
> On Thursday, 28 December 2017 06:14:23 GMT Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:
> > For the record I would also like to add that using the duplexer on some
> > poorly designed printers cuts off the bottom or top of the page without
> > any type of notification.

> Debugging cups and trying all conceivable combos of settings didn't get me 
> anywhere.  Then I decided to start looking around the brother driver files 
> installed under /opt/brother/Printers/hl3140cw/, where I found ./inf/
> brhl3140cwrc and ./inf/brhl3140cwfunc both specifying Letter instead of A4 as 
> paper size.

> So, I've set "PageSize=A4" in brhl3140cwrc and it now prints correctly aligned 
> pages once more.

> I'm not sure if this is the default path for these files across distros, or if 
> some symlink from /usr/libexec/cups/filter/ or /usr/share/cups/model/ is not 
> working as it should.  In any case, the bug seems to be that using the cups 
> GUI interface doesn't have any effect on the driver configuration files which 
> are by default set to PageSize=Letter and also messes up the created ppd file 
> used by cups.

I think the bug is that "A4" has to be set in so many places, where "so
many" means more than one.  In a well designed printing system, there
would be just one place to set it.

> I'm posting this here to save others time, should they come across the same 
> problem.

I've been luckier with printing, but thanks all the same.  Who knows
when I might no longer be so lucky.

> -- 
> Regards,
> Mick

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Peter Humphrey]

On Friday, 29 December 2017 13:57:31 GMT Alan Mackenzie wrote:

> I think the bug is that "A4" has to be set in so many places, where "so
> many" means more than one.  In a well designed printing system, there
> would be just one place to set it.

And that would have to be /etc/papersize, no?

> > I'm posting this here to save others time, should they come across the
> > same problem.
> 
> I've been luckier with printing, but thanks all the same.  Who knows
> when I might no longer be so lucky.

Indeed.

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Mick]

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On Friday, 29 December 2017 14:30:43 GMT Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > I think the bug is that "A4" has to be set in so many places, where "so
> > many" means more than one.  In a well designed printing system, there
> > would be just one place to set it.
> 
> And that would have to be /etc/papersize, no?

Well, /etc/papersize should be sourced when seeking a default setting, unless 
$PAPERSIZE, or $PAPERCONF is set.

In any case, cups should be able to change the printer's default setting to a 
different size.  Also various applications should be able to select a 
different size when submitting individual print jobs, or we would have trouble 
printing labels, envelopes, photographs and what have you.  What should not 
really happen is setting defaults for the OS, the printer and the application 
and then ALL OF THEM being ignored by Brother's lpdwrapper script.  Or am I 
asking too much by companies who shy away from publishing openprinting code.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Alan McKinnon]

On 29/12/2017 16:30, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Friday, 29 December 2017 13:57:31 GMT Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> 
>> I think the bug is that "A4" has to be set in so many places, where "so
>> many" means more than one.  In a well designed printing system, there
>> would be just one place to set it.
> 
> And that would have to be /etc/papersize, no?

No, not really. IIRC that comes from ages back in time when lpd was all
the rage and really refers to the computer *driving* the printer, not
the computer *using* the printer

Nowadays you can have as many printers as you want (even printers that
are not physical objects, like pdf) and each printer can have as many
different page sizes as it has trays.

The only "correct" place for papersize nowadays is in whatever the user
is using to get something to print. And there are lots of those.
Something like CUPS ought to make it all so much easier but I find CUPS
just makes my life insanely difficult. So I mail my docs to my wife and
she prints them from Windows for me


> 
>>> I'm posting this here to save others time, should they come across the
>>> same problem.
>>
>> I've been luckier with printing, but thanks all the same.  Who knows
>> when I might no longer be so lucky.
> 
> Indeed.
> 


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Wols Lists]

On 29/12/17 16:13, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> The only "correct" place for papersize nowadays is in whatever the user
> is using to get something to print. And there are lots of those.
> Something like CUPS ought to make it all so much easier but I find CUPS
> just makes my life insanely difficult. So I mail my docs to my wife and
> she prints them from Windows for me

Exactly!

I think the problem is all the layers of indirection and pipes. If you
*pipe* a print job, it is very difficult to pass metadata such as
papersize along. So the only place the printing back end can get this
information from is the defaults. And if you've got something like a
photo-printer when half the time the paper is different from the
default, you're up a gum tree ... and of course you can't have the app
change the defaults because you can't guarantee that by the time that
job hits the printer some other app hasn't come along and changed them
to something different ...

It would be fine, of course, if all apps used the CUPS printer dialog,
but my experience is that a lot of cross-platform apps use their own
because CUPS isn't there for a lot of their target market ... on Windows
they can guarantee the windows dialog, on Apple they can guarantee CUPS,
but on linux? It's *usually* - but not always - there so they need to be
able to cope if it's missing, so they just assume it isn't ...

(Plus, of course, so much development is done for the American market,
so they don't realise how hard it is to get a change like A4 to stick :-(

Cheers,
Wol

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Peter Humphrey]

On Friday, 29 December 2017 16:45:33 GMT Wols Lists wrote:

> (Plus, of course, so much development is done for the American market,
> so they don't realise how hard it is to get a change like A4 to stick :-(

Damned colonials. It's like the baseball "world series": no-one outside 
north America plays it - in fact, in this country it's a girls' school game.

No-one outside north America uses letter-size paper either. They're in a 
small minority.

Anyone might think they were the only people on the planet. Sheesh (to coin 
a phrase).

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Alan McKinnon]

On 30/12/2017 02:44, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Friday, 29 December 2017 16:45:33 GMT Wols Lists wrote:
> 
>> (Plus, of course, so much development is done for the American market,
>> so they don't realise how hard it is to get a change like A4 to stick :-(
> 
> Damned colonials. It's like the baseball "world series": no-one outside 
> north America plays it

[random OT factoid]
baseball is hugely popular in Japan. Rugby too :-)

[2nd random OT factoid]
It's the "world series" because the first sponsor was a newspaper "News
of the World" iirc (plus some typical US bravado)


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Wols Lists]

On 30/12/17 12:55, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> [2nd random OT factoid]
> It's the "world series" because the first sponsor was a newspaper "News
> of the World" iirc (plus some typical US bravado)

Actually it was the New York World. So actually imho it was originally
perfectly legit.

As usual, however, things change, meanings change, and now it gives
completely the wrong impression.

[3rd random OT factoid]
The News Of The World was a British tabloid, which shut down after the
phone hacking scandal - a lot of their stories were obtained by hacking
into celebrities, politicians, royals voicemails, and while it was very
hard to prove it was also blatantly obvious that journalists were acting
under pressure, if not actual orders, from the very top.

Cheers,
Wol

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 30 Dec 2017 14:32:32 +0000, Wols Lists wrote:

> [3rd random OT factoid]
> The News Of The World was a British tabloid, which shut down after the
> phone hacking scandal - a lot of their stories were obtained by hacking
> into celebrities, politicians, royals voicemails, and while it was very
> hard to prove it was also blatantly obvious that journalists were acting
> under pressure, if not actual orders, from the very top.

This had been going on for years, and not just the NotW, but even though
the allegations were made no one really cared. Then they were accused of
hacking the voicemail of a murdered teenager and suddenly it mattered.

Of course, the paper didn't really close down, it was almost immediately
relaunched under a different name.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
 (Albert Einstein)

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Peter Humphrey]

On Saturday, 30 December 2017 14:32:32 GMT Wols Lists wrote:
> On 30/12/17 12:55, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> > [2nd random OT factoid]
> > It's the "world series" because the first sponsor was a newspaper "News
> > of the World" iirc (plus some typical US bravado)
> 
> Actually it was the New York World. So actually imho it was originally
> perfectly legit.

I don't agree. In that case it should have been called the New York World 
Series.

> As usual, however, things change, meanings change, and now it gives
> completely the wrong impression.

All true, alas.

> [3rd random OT factoid]
> The News Of The World was a British tabloid

A Sunday "newspaper", popularly known as the Screws of the World - no 
hardship guessing why. I can't imagine how they managed to sell a single 
copy.

> which shut down after the phone hacking scandal - a lot of their stories
> were obtained by hacking into celebrities, politicians, royals voicemails,
> and while it was very hard to prove it was also blatantly obvious that
> journalists were acting under pressure, if not actual orders, from the
> very top.

They had it coming, didn't they?

-- 
Regards,
Peter.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sun, 31 Dec 2017 02:26:26 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:

> > Actually it was the New York World. So actually imho it was originally
> > perfectly legit.  
> 
> I don't agree. In that case it should have been called the New York
> World Series.

If they were paying for it, they could call it what they wanted. I assume
the paper was generally known as "The World" otherwise it would have been
a waste of marketing money.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [was: What can cause printer to crop top of page?] /etc/papersize is ignored

[Wols Lists]

On 31/12/17 10:34, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Dec 2017 02:26:26 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> 
>>> Actually it was the New York World. So actually imho it was originally
>>> perfectly legit.  
>>
>> I don't agree. In that case it should have been called the New York
>> World Series.
> 
> If they were paying for it, they could call it what they wanted. I assume
> the paper was generally known as "The World" otherwise it would have been
> a waste of marketing money.
> 
> 
Actually, I believe it WAS originally known as The New York World Series.

Then presumably some marketeer decided that was too much of a mouthful,
and dropped the "New York" rather than "World" :-(

Cheers,
Wol