CUPS Ubuntu 7.04 lp -n lpr -# will not print multiple copies

Jeremy Tharp jeremy.tharp at gmail.com
Thu Dec 13 16:33:43 PST 2007


I have been struggling for a significant amount of time, trying to make two printers print multiple copies using lp -n or lpr -#.

The printers are:  Zebra EPL2 and HP LaserJet 2300n.

Both install without issue in CUPS 1.2 and print fine.

On my network I am sharing them from windows machines and printing them via a PHP interface using direct system commands.

An example of what should work is

lp -n2 -d shipping_2300n ./test.ps

or

lpr -#2 -P research_label ./test.ps

However, when I run either of these commands, I only get one copy.

MaxCopies is set to 100 in cupsd.conf

I discovered in the ppd files the "cupsManualCopies" tag.  Finally -- I was able to print multiple copies, but it is seriously slow.  CUPS simply sends the request to the printer how many ever times I request, rather than sending it once and telling the printer to print it n times.

The result is on the Zebra printer, I get about 1 label every 1/2 second -- which does not seem so bad, but it can print up to 6 labels per second.

The more dramatic problem is the pair of invoices I am printing on the 2300n which take up to 30 seconds a piece.

If anyone has any advice on this I will be appreciative.  It is terribly frustrating, and I am guessing it is a bug with CUPS that does not properly send the "quantity" to the printer.




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