[cups.general] ImageableArea confusion

Johannes Meixner jsmeix at suse.de
Tue Jan 9 06:44:34 PST 2007


Hello,

I am a bit confused how ImageableArea settings in a PPD are
supposed to work.

I did some tests (described below) and got results which I do not
understand.

I use CUPS 1.2.7 and have default media size settings "A4" in my PPDs.
I have a HP LaserJet 1220 PCL+PostScript printer and an
Epson Stylus Photo RX420.

For testing I changed the ImageableArea in my PPDs to
*ImageableArea A4/A4: "100 200 300 500"

When I print plain text via
echo Hello | lp -d <queue>
I get different results depending on which kind of driver
is used via the PPD.

For each PPD I used
export PPD=/etc/cups/ppd/<queue>.ppd
echo Hello | /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttops a b c 1 d >Hello.ps
to verify that texttops produces always the same PostScript.

Additionally I printed via
echo Hello | lp -d <queue> -o number-up=1 -o page-border=single
to get an idea what the actually imaged area is for the
particular PPD and driver.


1.) PCL via foomatic-rip/Ghostscript/ljet4:
When I use the Foomatic PPD
"Generic PCL 5e Printer Foomatic/ljet4",
the printout looks correct according to my special ImageableArea.


2.) PCL via rastertohp:
When I use the CUPS laserjet.ppd
"HP LaserJet Series PCL 4/5 CUPS v1.2",
the overall size of the imaged area is the same as for
test 1.) which looks correct but the place on the paper is wrong
because it is moved to the upper left corner of the paper.
The same happens if I print the above mentioned Hello.ps
(i.e. it prints starting at the upper left corner of the paper).


3.) ESC/P via rastertogutenprint.5.0:
When I use the Gutenprint PPD
"Epson Stylus Photo RX420 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.0.0 Simplified"
the overall size of the imaged area is wrong because it
fills up the whole paper and the letters in "Hello" are
accordingly magnified as if "-o fitplot" was specified
(wich I didn't do).
The same happens if I print the above mentioned Hello.ps
(i.e. it prints magnified starting at the upper left corner
of the paper).


Because of 2.) and 3.) could it be the case that the "cups"
device in ESP Ghostscript (I use version 8.15.3) produces
raster data which starts always at the upper left corner?

Because of 3.) could it be additionally the case that the
Gutenprint driver does some kind of automated "fitplot"?

I should better ask the latter question on the Gimp-Print
mailing list - but first of all I would be happy if I could
get some general comments how ImageableArea settings are
supposed to work.


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
-- 
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5      Mail: jsmeix at suse.de
90409 Nuernberg, Germany                    WWW: http://www.suse.de/





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