Print quality less with CUPS

[Kurt Pfeifle]

aiah metropolitan <i_d_r_c at hotmail.com> wrote (Tuesday 18 July 2006 13:57):

> I use a NRG P7527n printer connected via eternet/LPD
> Connection and printing from CUPS work.
> 
> 
> System 1: uses LPRng
> System 2: uses CUPS v1.1.23
> Both systems print to the same NRG P7527n printer.
> 
> I want to print a plaintextfile.
> 
> When printed with LPRnr (system1) the printout looks sharp
> When printed with CUPS (system2) the printout looks less sharp
> - text is of lighter collor (almost like if the toner is empty)
> - also the upper margin is less then printed with LPRng
> - CUPS uses linebreaking

The reasons *may* be:

 * precondition: your printer knows how to process and print plain 
   text
 * LPRng may be set up by you to send the textfile unfiltered 
   ("raw")
 * CUPS uses a "texttops" filter to convert your text file into 
   PostScript (and, depending on your printer, send PostScript,
   or converts into the printer's format {PCL?}...)

> 3 questions:
> 1) how do i increse the "sharpness" of the text

Try to print "raw" from CUPS: "lp -d printername -oraw textfile.txt"

> 2) how do i change the margings

Only if you do *not* use raw: the commandline options given as "-o
page-*" determine top, left, bottom and right margins {values are 
PostScript points; a value of 72 is equal to 1 inch):

   -o page-top=24         # top margin, 0.33333 inches 
   -o page-left=12        # left magin, 0.16666 inches
   -o page-bottom=54      # bottom margin, 0.75 inches
   -o page-right=36       # right margin, 0.5 inches

> 3) how do i stop CUPS breaking up line with are longer than the 
> width of the page. 

The texttops filter does support a "wrap" options; however, I just
now discovered that its documentation is amiss:

   lp -d printername -o wrap=false textfile.txt

or, a more complete line as you may need it:

   lp -d printername -o wrap=false -o page-top=24 -o page-left=33 textfile.txt

Print options for CUPS 1.1.23 are documented here:

   http://localhost:631/sum.html
   http://www.cups.org/sum.html

Cheers,
Kurt