[cups.general] Forcing Blank & White

[Helge Blischke]

Bill Moseley wrote:
> I'd like to create a separate black and white only spooler and make
> this the default.  I'd like to save on color toner when not needed,
> such as when printing drafts and copies of web pages.  I'd also like
> to default to duplex printing for all users.
> 
> The printer is a HP Color LaserJet 2605dn (postscript printer), and I
> created a second entry in printer.conf to use a modified PPD.
> 
>     <DefaultPrinter HP_BW_LaserJet_2605>
>         Info HP 2605dn - Black & White (drafts!)
>         Location Office
>         DeviceURI socket://color_laser:9100
>         State Idle
>         StateTime 1180200175
>         Accepting Yes
>         Shared Yes
>         JobSheets none none
>         QuotaPeriod 0
>         PageLimit 0
>         KLimit 0
>         OpPolicy default
>         ErrorPolicy stop-printer
>     </Printer>
>     <Printer HP_Color_LaserJet_2605>
>         Info HP Color LaserJet 2605dn
>         Location Office
>         DeviceURI socket://color_laser:9100
>         State Idle
>         StateTime 1180200175
>         Accepting Yes
>         Shared Yes
>         JobSheets none none
>         QuotaPeriod 0
>         PageLimit 0
>         KLimit 0
>         OpPolicy default
>         ErrorPolicy stop-printer
>     </Printer>
> 
> 
>     $ diff HP_BW_LaserJet_2605.ppd HP_Color_LaserJet_2605.ppd 
>     70c70
>     < *ColorDevice: False
>     ---
>     > *ColorDevice: True
> 
> 
> Now, printing from, say, OpenOffice one printer prints in B&W and the
> other in Color.
> 
> But, printing in Firefox to the "HP_BW_LaserJet_2605" spooler still
> prints in color.  Does Firefox somehow bypass the PPD?  Or does it
> enable color printing by default?
> 
> I guess my PPD hack isn't correct, or there's something else I'm
> missing on how the PPD is used by Firefox.
> 
> Is there a better way to set this up?
> 
> Here's the PPD I used (except modified to enable duplex):
> 
> http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic-db/db/source/PPD/HP/HP_Color_LaserJet_2605.ppd
> 
> and my lpoptions file:
> 
>     $ cat /home/moseley/.cups/lpoptions 
>     Default HP_BW_LaserJet_2605
> 
> 
> 
> BTW -- is Firefox just not able to provide printing options provided
> in th PPD? 
> 
> 
> 
> 
The ColorDevice statement you changed is merely a hint to
applications wich, when generating PostScript jobs, by themselves
want to decide if / how to convert colors into gray scale values.

Your PPD lists a set of options which lets you define how the printer
will render colors:
---snip---
*% =================================
*% Print Color as Gray
*% Chose NOT to use standard *ColorModel keyword because color on or off is simpler
*% =================================
*OpenUI *ColorModel/Print Color as Gray:  PickOne
*OrderDependency: 20 AnySetup *ColorModel
*DefaultColorModel: CMYKImageRET2400
*ColorModel CMYKImageRET2400/Off - ImageRET 2400: "<< /ProcessColorModel /DeviceCMYK 
/HWResolution [600 600]  >> setpagedevice"
*ColorModel Gray1200x1200dpi/On - ProRes 1200: "<</ProcessColorModel /DeviceGray /HWResolution 
[1200 1200] /PreRenderingEnhance false>> setpagedevice"
*ColorModel Gray600x600dpi/On - 600 dpi: "<</ProcessColorModel /DeviceGray /HWResolution [600 
600] /PreRenderingEnhance false>> setpagedevice"

---snip---

Select your preferred color model for b/w printing from this choice list,
and you should be happy.

Helge

-- 
Helge Blischke
Softwareentwicklung

H.Blischke at acm.org