Ubuntu
hplip package

  1. Bug #235399
  2. Comment #35

Comment 35 for bug 235399

Revision history for this message
Boudewijn (wankelwankel) wrote :

Though I do not use HP, I have a comparable problem with my Brother DCP-330c. If the problem is in the communication with HP specific, than my comment won't be of much help of course. On the other hand, maybe there's something in common on CUPS-level.

I just found out that on my system (Kubuntu; lsb_release says Ubuntu 8.04.2), the setting that seem to imply a lower quality give true black, while "higher" settings force CMY to be used. I use the CUPS web interface to set the printer options, and hope they don't get overridden by the (KDE/GTK) print dialog (it seems the dialog receives its initial settings from CUPS so that is OK)

CUPS/Printers/Set Printer Options gives some sections: "General", "Image Type", "Color Enhancement", "Banners" and "Policies". I guess the available options depend on the driver, but I have no other printer at hand to compare it to.

The Settings that allow me to "talk" CUPS into printing true black are "General/Quality", "General/Color-Grayscale" and, peculiarly enough, "General/Media Type"

For monochrome printing (grayscale, black and white):
- general color/grayscale to grayscale, of course
- general quality to normal or lower (fast, fast-normal or normal)
- general media type to plain paper (!)

If I set "paper type" to anything more suitable for printing (inktjet, photo or transparencies), "quality" has to be at least "fine" (fine, photo, highest are the other options then). The higher "quality" options force CMY to be used instead of black. The "color/grayscale" option only toggles whether it looks like grayscale or actual colors.

For me it is quite easy to discern whether black or CMY is used: magenta got "stuck" (some of the printers' intestines choked on a refill a while ago), so if CMY is used, it's actually greenscale instead of grayscale.

Since I refill with cheap ink, it is OK for me to try out some test scenarios. If there are some scenarios to be tested on the other hand, it could be that I won't respond with a day (perhaps a week or so, sorry beforehand).