[cups] CUPS printing problems with 'Fit to Page Size'

[Bernard]

Hi to Everyone,

I have installed my old 'HP Deskjet 1120C' on my new laptop running 
Ubuntu 14.04, using a usb to parallel converter. I configured it using 
'system-config-printer' and the cups server interface at 
http://localhost:631with the 'CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.10-pre2' driver.

At least one option fails to work. It is called:

"Shrink Page if Necessary to fit borders". In CUPS language, it is 
'StpiShrinkOutput'

It has three possible values: 'Shrink' 'Crop' or 'Expand'

Whenever printing directly from a shell:

lp -d MyPrinter myfile

I get same printing results, whichever value I chose for this option in 
the CUPS server on localhost:631

Same thing when the settings are being modified using 
'-system-config-printer'

same results again when trying to override the default setting by 
calling the option in the command line like this:

lp -d MyPrinter -o StpiShrinkOutput=Crop Myfile

Biggest problem is: the printing that I get ALWAYS fills the whole page, 
whatever option is chosen. If I want to print a 300dpi image that is 
supposed to print about 10cmx10cm, it will print 20.9x20.9cm so that it 
fits the page, with lesser dpi. This is true with whatever file type I 
am printing, whether it is an image or a simple LibreOffice Calc file 
(however this does not apply to LibreOffice text files which seem to 
print correctly so far). It goes like if the page fitting option was 
inoperative. However, if I type :

lpoptions -P MyPrinter -l

I get a list of all available options and their possible parameters with 
a '*' showing which option is the default one on y system ; the 
'StpiShrinkOutput' option appears all right and the '*' shows at the 
right place according to the choice I make in the cups server... only 
problem is that it does nothing to the printing job.

I must emphasize that other options do operate OK (media type, dpi for 
printing, contrat and gamma correction etc... )

It wouldn't bother me that much that this option was inoperative, if the 
default behaviour was 'no page fitting, print according to the image 
file infos'

Back to whole page filling for LibreOffice Calc documents, the Page 
filling problem does exist, whether the document is printed using the 
'lp' command or the 'file/print" from LibreOffice menu...

HOWEVER,

as far as images files are concerned, printing with 'The Gimp' does 
override the page size fitting problem ! With the Gimp, 'file/print' 
displays menus to set options ; in 'advanced options' there is a 
possibility to set up the Shrink/Expand/Crop page option. This does not 
seem to work either, but the advantage is that, in Gimp, the default 
printing scheme depends on something else (by default it prints with the 
default resolution in dpi, and that if you want to change printing size 
you only have to resample). My problem is that I mostly use 'Darktable' 
instead of 'Gimp', and, since Darktable does not yet support printing, I 
get image files that I attempt to print with online commands using lp.

I have tried to uninstall my printer and reinstall it, to no avail so far.

TRUE ENOUGH: my Hp Deskjet 1120C printer is a parallel printer, and I am 
now using it on as a usb device with a converter... True enough: the 
install through 'system-config-printer' proposes a driver other than 
that I am now using and no other choice than this one, which is

'HP Deskjet 1120, hpcups 3.14.3'

the only way I could install 'CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.10-pre2' was in a 
second step using the CUPS localhost interface. The first proposed 
driver (HP Deskjet 1120, hpcups 3.14.3) did not offer very many options: 
as the second one offers for 'MediaType' "Draft, Plain, Premium, Glossy 
Photo paper', the first one only has one option, that of 'plain' paper 
!  There is no way to modify gamma or contrast values either... The 
second driver works well at the exception of that crazy stuff about page 
size fitting.

Maybe there is another updated driver for such application as that 
described above ?  Or an other way to connect that printer ?

Thanks in advance for your help


Bernard7895