PPD-O-MATIC'ally generated driver for Lexmark E120n not working

Bug #802285 reported by Jan Pieczkowski
12
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
foomatic-db (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

I recently installed my Lexmark E120n (E120 with a network interface in addition to the USB) on Maverick. Unfortunately, printing didn't work, neither via USB nor via ethernet. The problem manifests itself in the printer starting to roll the drum, but never actually feeding the paper from the feed. Upgrading to Natty didn't help, neither did the driver from openprinting.org; yet I'm fairly certain it worked out-of-the-box in prior versions of Ubuntu. It really seems to be due to an incorrect PPD file, created by PPD-O-MATIC.
The problem, and a solution which worked for me as well, have been described here (props to user ChiVampir):
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/problems-with-lexmark-e120n-printer-after-installing-ubuntu-10-10-a-837428/
TL;DR: replace the contents of the file /etc/cups/ppd/Lexmark-E120n.ppd by the one attached to this bug (which was seemingly written by Lexmark themselves, judging from the copyright notice). Ubuntu should be distributed with the latter from the start, or a working alternative.

Even though I already had a solution, I decided to report this bug since, firstly, it took me some time to find the correct solution & others should have it easier (and one needs to have a linuxquestions.org account to access the file), and secondly, I think that Ubuntu should be as flawless an experience as possible _especially_ in the regime of printing (for which Linux has some notoriety), and this is a showstopper. Apparently not too many people are keen on testing different printer models - well, here you go. One down, N-1 more to go.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: cups 1.4.6-5ubuntu1.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: amd64
CupsErrorLog: W [26/Jun/2011:22:37:20 +0200] Bad resolution "PrinterS" for printer Lexmark-E120n.
Date: Sun Jun 26 22:53:52 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
Lpstat:
 device for Lexmark-E120n: socket://192.168.0.104:9100
Lsusb:
 Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Packard Bell DOT SE
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles:
 LaserJet-CB-KTH: HP LaserJet 4350 Postscript (recommended)
 /etc/cups/ppd/Lexmark-E120n.ppd:*NickName: "Lexmark E120n"
 Canon-C5051i: Canon iR-ADV C5045/5051 UFR II ver.2.2
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: cups
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-06-20 (6 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/07/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Packard Bell
dmi.bios.version: V3.08(DDR3)
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: SJE02_PT
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: V3.08(DDR3)
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Packard Bell
dmi.chassis.version: V3.08(DDR3)
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPackardBell:bvrV3.08(DDR3):bd10/07/2010:svnPackardBell:pnDOTSE:pvrV3.08(DDR3):rvnAcer:rnSJE02_PT:rvrV3.08(DDR3):cvnPackardBell:ct10:cvrV3.08(DDR3):
dmi.product.name: DOT SE
dmi.product.version: V3.08(DDR3)
dmi.sys.vendor: Packard Bell

Revision history for this message
Jan Pieczkowski (physicalist) wrote :
description: updated
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst) wrote :

The PPD you provided contains some errors (as seen in your CupsErrorLog output) and the license of this file doesn't allow changing:
$ LANG=C cupstestppd lex120n.ppd
lex120n.ppd: FAIL
      **FAIL** Bad Resolution choice PrinterS!
                REF: Page 84, section 5.9
      **FAIL** Bad Resolution choice 1200IQ!
                REF: Page 84, section 5.9

Actually the driver was changed from pxlmono to Postscript starting with maverick (see bug #548747).

But fortunatelly the other drivers are still there, you can change them in System > Administration > Printing (system-config-printer) > Make and model > Change ... > Lexmark > E120n or create several new printing queues with different drivers. Can you try the pxlmono (previous recommended driver, is it very slow with graphics as mentioned in bug #548747?), hpijs-pcl5e (this is currently the recommended driver for the E120 without network) and ljet4 (recommended in bug #548747, ljet4d is for duplex) drivers?
Which driver gives the best print quality (try text/lineart/graphics) and which the best printing speed? Can you make an ordered list of the drivers starting with the driver you think works best to worst or not at all. How does it compare to the PPD file you added to this bug report?
Also does this printer support automatic double sided printing (duplex)? Optional module?

Changed in cups (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
affects: cups (Ubuntu) → foomatic-db (Ubuntu)
Changed in foomatic-db (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst) wrote :

It looks like the E120 without network only supports PCL6 while the E120n additionally supports PostScript but only binary via TBCP protocol (Lexmark calls this Mac only).
I have manually added "*Protocols: TBCP" line to the PPD-O-MATIC generated Lexmark E120n Foomatic/Postscript (recommended) PPD in attachment. Can you test whether you can print with this PPD? If it works we can correct it in foomatic database.

summary: - PPD-O-MATIC'ally generated driver for Lexmark E120/E120n not working
+ PPD-O-MATIC'ally generated driver for Lexmark E120n not working
Revision history for this message
Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter) wrote :

Removed Foomatic/Postscript from this printer in foomatic-db upstream for the time being. I will put it back in with "*Protocols: TBCP" added as soon as I get a confirmation that this helps.

Changed in foomatic-db (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Triaged
Changed in foomatic-db (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package foomatic-db - 20110831-0ubuntu1

---------------
foomatic-db (20110831-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  * New upstream release
     - The Lexmark E120n does not work in PostScript mode when using
       generic PostScript PPD files. Updated comment and removed support
       by "Postscript" driver. Rated down to "Mostly" (LP: #802285).
     - Removed "Halftoning Algorithm" option, it does not work any more
       with current Ghostscript (LP: #659398).
     - Updated entry for the Lexmark E230: Added Device ID, support by
       PCL-5e drivers (LP: #821818).
     - Added the Brother HL-2070N (LP: #778620).
 -- Till Kamppeter <email address hidden> Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:21:03 +0200

Changed in foomatic-db (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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