PageSize=Custom is broken (again) for cups/foo2zjs/foomatic-filters

Binary package hint: foomatic-filters

I previously repeated a bug relating to printing with Custom PageSize option when upgrading from Hardy to Jaunty. This was resolved previously:

https://launchpad.net/bugs/338999

Recently, I did a fresh Karmic install on a new machine. First off, like many I suffered through trying to get the machine and printer to talk to each other via USB. Lots of booting with printer off, and then plugging in USB cables, etc. I am not sure why this continues to be a source of consternation. With Hardy, things just worked for me. Finally, I did the following:

0. Installed foo2zjs. Printer was sometimes recognized, but other times not after computer was restarted. Even when recognized enough to create a queue, print jobs would just stay in the queue with the "Processing - printer not connected" type of messages. Has there ever been a concrete resolution to this? USB printing seems to have gone off the rails whereas before with Hardy it was solid for us at least.
lsusb sometimes wouldn't show the printer, and sometimes would.

1. Blacklisted 'usblp' via adding /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-cups.conf. No luck with Test Pages being printed.

2. Finally decided to try hplip even though we have been using foo2zjs since Hardy. Initially same kinds of behaviour. Ran hp-check -t. This revealed lots of missing dependencies. I thought Synaptic would have taken care of these. I followed the instructions and then installed them. Installed hp-plugin manually. All of a sudden I could print Test Pages. OK, I thought that I'll forgo foo2zjs which I have been using forever if hplip lets me get productive. No luck. Our business depends on custom page sizes for all kinds of forms: cheque runs, envelopes, project plans, scheduling calendars, etc. But none of our workflow printing worked. We rely almost exclusively on the '-o PageSize=Custom.N.NNxN.NNin' option. We create all of our documents using TeXLive.

3. Figured that maybe it was an hplip thing, so did a complete removal of hplip through Synaptic Package Manager and reinstalled foo2zjs. Same symptoms. We can print from evince and lp but only if we don't use the PageSize option. Otherwise print jobs appear on the queue and then indicate as being stopped.

Actually, one of our machines which was upgraded to Karmic was working until recently so I wonder if cups has broken (again) since it stopped working.

I am enclosing a sample pdf file and the relevant portion of /var/log/cups/error_log for the job printed from the command line using the command:

lp -o media=letter -o PageSize=Custom.2.75x6.25in -o landscape knuth.pdf

This normally should print the output on a small cheque being fed in landscape mode.

Many thanks for any help. For us this is a critical issue, and it seems to have resurfaced.

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10

$ apt-cache policy cups
cups:
  Installed: 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.4
  Candidate: 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.4
  Version table:
 *** 1.4.1-5ubuntu2.4 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.4.1-5ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages

$ apt-cache policy foomatic-filters
foomatic-filters:
  Installed: 4.0.3-0ubuntu2.2
  Candidate: 4.0.3-0ubuntu2.2
  Version table:
 *** 4.0.3-0ubuntu2.2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4.0.3-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages

# I installed foo2zjs manually using the instructions from http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/ and followed the instructions in the INSTALL file, so it doesn't show up with apt-cache:

$ apt-cache policy foo2zjs
foo2zjs:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 20090623-0ubuntu5
  Version table:
     20090623-0ubuntu5 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages