Cups 1.3.7 and Sieko SLP450 Label Printers

[Scott Hallenbeck]

> Scott Hallenbeck wrote:
>
> >> Scott Hallenbeck wrote:
> >>
> >> >> Scott Hallenbeck wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > I am tasked with the getting these SLP450 label printers working
> >> >> > with CUPS
> >> >> > 1.3.7.  We have 2 other cups servers (v 1.1.22rc1) we are phasing
> >> >> > out, and
> >> >> > they both print to the label printers without any issues.  It hasn't
> >> >> > always been this way, and there was a large amount of time spent by
> >> >> > another technician, who is no longer here, getting it to work, but
> >> >> > unfortunately was never documented.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > The default siislp450.ppd is identical on all the servers, and the
> >> >> > printer specific ppd's are also the same, as well as the
> >> >> > configurations in these printer specific ppd's.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I have turned on debug2 on all the servers and ran the same job
> >> >> > through all 3 server, originating from the same place and printing
> >> >> > the same thing.
> >> >> >  In the logs, a few lines before I see "Printing page 1, 0%
> >> >> >  complete..."
> >> >> > and so on, I see a similar line on all 3 servers, with the newest
> >> >> > being different.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Server 1 - running cups 1.1.2rc1
> >> >> > [Job 15] S3: gDotsPerLine 576.000000, cupsHeight 568, margInInMM 0
> >> >> > [(Negative will be 0)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Server 2 - running cups 1.1.2rc1
> >> >> > [Job 7273716] S3: gDotsPerLine 576.000000, cupsHeight 568,
> >> >> > [margInInMM 0 (Negative will be 0)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > and server 3, the newest running v 1.3.7:
> >> >> > [Job 520042] S3: gDotsPerLine 576.000000, cupsHeight 3300,
> >> >> > [margInInMM -115 (Negative will be 0)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > This stood out to me as being an obvious deviation.  The first 2
> >> >> > print the label correctly, while the 3 one just pushes through an
> >> >> > empty label.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I have attempted to change *LandscapeOrientation in the specific
> >> >> > printer ppd file from Any to Plus90 and Minus90 in hopes this would
> >> >> > help, but seemed to make no difference.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I even attempted to command line print with options
> >> >> > -o orientation-requested=3 (4,5,6)
> >> >> > to see if this would fix the issue, and still blanks.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > When I do a 'print test page' from the cups GUI it prints a perfect
> >> >> > little test page on the label.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > The labels being sent are in PDF format, and I know the test page is
> >> >> > in a plain text format, so this leads me to believe there is some
> >> >> > sort of filtering missing or something, but I am really at a loss
> >> >> > where to go from here.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Anyone have any suggestions?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Thanks!
> >> >> > Scott
> >> >>
> >> >> Please tell how your label printer has been configured with CUPS, and,
> >> >> for a test print, set the log level to debug, do a test print, and
> >> >> post (an URL to) both the PPD used and the portion of the error_log
> >> >> file that contains the messages related to the test job.
> >> >>
> >> >> Helge
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Unfortunately I was not the one who set this up to start with.  I was
> >> > told that the drivers (which you linked to in your second post) were
> >> > downloaded
> >> > and freshly compiled on the the new cups server.  I do see a directory
> >> > in root home where the file has been extracted and appears to have been
> >> > compiled.
> >> >
> >> > Right now I do not have a record of a cups test page print from the to
> >> > the printer, but I did make files from test page prints from our
> >> > application server that is sending the label both on the old (working)
> >> > server and the new server. Both servers were set to debug2 level before
> >> > capturing them. Old Server that works :
> >> > http://hellandback.net/cups/devlabeltest-02.txt New Server:
> >> > http://hellandback.net/cups/devlabeltest-03.txt
> >> >
> >> > Once one of the developers gets here and sets up the QA machine I have
> >> > been testing with, I can print a cups test print and capture that as
> >> > well, if you would still like to see that.
> >> >
> >> > Thank you for any assistance in this matter.
> >> > Scott
> >>
> >> In your second log file I found some strange messages:
> >> D [27/Jun/2011:14:02:57 -0400] [Job 520042] Updating PageSize to [271
> >> 136]... which seems to be correct, but some messages later:
> >> D [27/Jun/2011:14:02:57 -0400] [Job 520042] Updating PageSize to [612
> >> 792]... which means Ghostsdcript's cups device forgot the correct page
> >> size and reverted to the default letter page size.
> >>
> >> To further trace it down I'd need the repsective PPDs from both machines.
> >>
> >> Helge
> >>
> >
> > Placed the PPD from the server printing blank labels here:
> > http://hellandback.net/cups/devlabelprinter.ppd
> >
> > and the one that does work from the older server here:
> > http://hellandback.net/cups/devlabelprinter.ppd-02
> >
> > Let me know if you have any issues getting to them.
> > Scott
>
> I suspect the culprit is your pdftops filter, which is, in cups 1.3.7, based
> on  xpdf/pdftops 3.00 . That filter tries, on start, to read a configuration
> file named xpdfrc (don't know in what directory it should lie, it depends on
> the buidling options, but probably in /etc or /etc/cups). That file should
> contain the directive
> psPaperSize match
> (the default is letter). This directive forces the generated PostScript to
> retain the page size defined by the (first page) of the PDF file.
>
> If that won't work, you could try one of the following options:
> (1) replace the pdftops filter by the alternate pdftops filter as described
> on the links at www.cups.org
> (2) replace the pstoraster filter by the gstoraster filter as described on
> the links at www.cups.org (you need to adapt your /etc/cups/*.convs file
> accordingly).
>
> Helge
>

Thank you for this response.
I could not locate xpdfrc or anything related to that.  However I do no believe xpdf is even installed, and most likely because X is not installed on the server either.
I wasn't sure what the alternate pdftops filter was that you were referring to, as all I could find was a wrapper script.  Is that what you meant?

I DID replace the pstoraster filter, as I found that and I could easily follow the instructions.  This seems to have corrected the issues with the SLP450 Label printers.  I am hoping it has no negative effect on the other printers we are using, but so far, I do not see it being used a lot.

Can you send me a link to the "alternate pdftops filter as described on the links at www.cups.org" please?  I am curious if that would resolve and issue I am having with p3005 printers.

Thanks again for your help!

Scott