PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

KimTjik · 2012-07-12 11:15:18

Ever since cups got a major upgrade I've had constant problems printing PDF-documents. I've searched and looked for solutions for more than a month. My guess was that I had messed something up by installing some kind of conflicting package that I couldn't track down. However since I made a fresh install the other day on a new SSD I could get a fresh start.

Printer: HL-Brother 5370DW
Cups and its dependencies: updated according to stable repositories with nothing added from AUR or modified packages

Issues before on older install:
- pdf printing, using common Linux tools, resultet in documents filled with thin grey lines
- Acroread would work but then it doesn't have the same dependencies

Issues on fresh install:
- pdf printing works... but screw up font size and page layout (font size is for whatever reason bigger, marginals smaller, and paragraphs that don't fit are seen as thin grey lines as described earlier)
- Acroread still works

Debugging of cups don't give much since there's no obvious errors. Related to the printer the following can be noted:

D [12/Jul/2012:12:45:05 +0200] [Job 9] Inserted workaround PostScript code for Brother printers
D [12/Jul/2012:12:45:05 +0200] [Job 9] Page = 595x842; 12,12 to 583,830
D [12/Jul/2012:12:45:05 +0200] [Job 9] slow_collate=0, slow_duplex=0, slow_order=0
D [12/Jul/2012:12:45:05 +0200] [Job 9] Before copy_comments - %!PS-Adobe-3.0

A haven't noticed any issues besides the PDF related ones. Maybe it's related to the same possible reason as some suggest, a conflict between poppler and cups filter. Debugging of cups gives this:

D [12/Jul/2012:12:45:05 +0200] PID 7342 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/pstopdf) exited with no errors.

Does anyone know a solution for Brother printers like mine? Is there a solution in the pipeline that I could test?

Last edited by KimTjik (2012-08-23 18:09:01)

David Batson · 2012-07-12 14:54:25

Not sure if this is the answer, but do you have ghostscript installed? You might try installing a2ps as well.

KimTjik · 2012-07-12 18:44:28

Ghostcript and a2ps is installed. It's a bit frustrating struggling with the same annoying issue for over a month. Downgrading cups works, but that's not really a solution. Last working cups and libcups was 1.5.3-2.

David Batson · 2012-07-12 19:06:58

Working here with a Brother 2270DW using the drivers from Brother's website and Acroread 9.

What page size is the default for your Brother Printer in CUPS? It seems that mine originally defaulted to A4 when all my documents are letter size (or occasionally legal size). You can change the default page size setting for your printer in CUPS.

KimTjik · 2012-07-12 22:31:52

As I wrote Acroread works, but it's bundled with it's own libraries. PDF tools and programs relying on the typical set of linux pdf related libraries don't work correctly on my system. I've used the most recent ppd of Postscript-Brother, which also defaults to A4, just as I need.

Sure, I can continue to use Acroread, but it doesn't solve the problems that recent upgrades resulted in, hence you get stucked with a piece of software that's well behind of its Windows' version.

David Batson · 2012-07-12 23:38:00

I though you meant you could view pages properly from Acroread, just not print properly from them. My bad.

I know there's Okular, Evince, GIMP, and Foxit Reader (AUR) for viewing pdf's (and I suppose printing from them). I only have GIMP and Acroread installed in Arch XFCE to test. Comparing test printouts of a pdf side by side (from the first page of a New York Times article), the text looks the same, but is of somewhat higher quality in Acroread.

Last edited by David Batson (2012-07-12 23:38:52)

KimTjik · 2012-07-13 11:02:50

I'm mainly ask for suggestions to find out whether it's a bug, and secondly does it belong up- or downstream.

zenlord · 2012-07-13 12:13:28

A quick Google search gives me some interesting results, f.e.:
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … ug/1021190
* https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/984082

-> this insinuates that it might be an upstream-bug.

I think I read somewhere that cups has changed from PDF to PS as the 'backend', and that means that a PDF that used to be fed directly to the printer, now has to be converted to PS. This same change has given me lots of headaches to print from libreoffice...

KimTjik · 2012-07-13 14:16:32

For some reason I didn't try the "lp" command. Tests proves that PDF-files are printed perfectly well.

I also tested LibreOffice and both PDF and Postscript driver work.

Is it really a bug in cups, or why do only PDF viewer relying on poppler screw things up?

KimTjik · 2012-07-31 20:57:33

Update: I was wrong to assume that it works from command line. Now I can't print certain pdf-documents whatever I do, using GUIs or just from command line. I still don't get any new errors to debug what's wrong.

It's quite tiresome now to struggle with the same problem for months, and no update seems to correct this problem. It's quite a basic function. Rolling back works, and I depend on being able to print such documents without issues. Hence I'll use version 1.5.3-2.

Please, can someone confirm what kind of bug I'm dealing with and where I should report it.

rabinhood · 2012-08-13 20:11:05

Until today my epson printer refused to print pdf documents still being able to print all the other files. After reading log files I've found the problem was caused by lack of bc package (some kind of calculator I think, no idea why is it necessary for printing pdfs), but after installation of that package, the problems disappeared. Hope it might help somebody.

KimTjik · 2012-08-14 21:44:56

A bit strange that you could get cups installed without bc since it's a dependency.

About my problems with cups I haven't been able to solve it. I'm forced to stay with version 1.5.3-2.

Rolling back makes me a bad "Archer", but I just can't figure this one out and it's immensely frustrating.

KimTjik · 2012-08-23 18:07:48

This issue seems to be solved, not because I found any solution, but because some update sorted out whatever inconsistency my system suffered. As of poppler 0.20.3-1 GUI apps like okular, evince and others work as well.

I mark this solved.

cfr · 2012-08-24 23:07:49

I realise this is too late but just in case you need a work around for a similar issue in the future, it might be worth trying to set pdftops-renderer=pdftops. I had horrible problems with the update of CUPS and the advice I got suggested recompiling cups and using the generated filter to overwrite Arch's. I didn't actually end up doing any of that because setting this as my default solved most of the issues. (Remaining issues I have applied to older versions of CUPS as well.) There is a thread around here somewhere about this and some posts on the CUPS site, too...

KimTjik · 2012-08-30 06:09:47

Ok, thanks for the info. Who knows some issue might reappear, even though these Brother drivers have been very reliable for years.

agihr · 2012-09-26 13:39:59

Where can I set pdftops-renderer=pdftops?

KimTjik · 2012-09-26 14:26:18

You can set it from the command line like:

 lpadmin -p <printer> -o pdftops-renderer-default=pdftops

I think you'll find more information when searching the web. I view this thread as closed, so if you have a specific issue it's better to start a new thread.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-12 11:15:18

PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#2 2012-07-12 14:54:25

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#3 2012-07-12 18:44:28

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#4 2012-07-12 19:06:58

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#5 2012-07-12 22:31:52

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#6 2012-07-12 23:38:00

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#7 2012-07-13 11:02:50

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#8 2012-07-13 12:13:28

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#9 2012-07-13 14:16:32

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#10 2012-07-31 20:57:33

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#11 2012-08-13 20:11:05

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#12 2012-08-14 21:44:56

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#13 2012-08-23 18:07:48

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#14 2012-08-24 23:07:49

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#15 2012-08-30 06:09:47

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#16 2012-09-26 13:39:59

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

#17 2012-09-26 14:26:18

Re: PDF printing issues [SOLVED]

Board footer