Print problem - solved

[T J Tulley]

One of my early surprises in Linux Mint was the ease with which CUPs located my printer and enabled me to use it.

Now I have successfully printed the odd pages of the Gramps manual (accessed via the Help menu) but every attempt to print the even pages fails. Of course I want to print them on the reverse of the 41 sheets now carrying the odd pages.

The print process is initiated by selecting User Manual in the Help menu in Gramps, then in the File menu at the top of the Gramps Manual v2.9, selecting 'Print this document'. The printer is then selected from the available options - print to file, print to PDF, or the actual printer. An option to print odd or even pages is offered under the Page Setup tab.

At first, several times, starting to print "Even" pages produced in fact the "odd" ones again. It was necessary to cancel and to replace the sheets for pages 1,3,5 which had been spoiled. These single sheets could be successfully printed, as could page 2, page 4 - but not higher numbers.

Now, every time I try to print this document, the Print command at the bottom R of the box is "greyed out" and printing fails to start. Print Preview invariably produces a crash.

Gramps Manual 2.9 is accessed via the Help menu from the opened Gramps page, and consists of 82 pages. Another version is accessible via the website but contains 106 pages and is being revised. I would much prefer to stick with the one of which I have already printed half.

I shall be most grateful for any advice.

[muskratmx]

If some selection is grayed out that wasn't before, then it's got work in the spool some where. I've had problems printing odds and evens before. The only way I found to print without fail is ether print to PDF or export to PDF. Then open a PDF reader and then It seems to print without fail every time.

The only problem is you loss some quility of the fine print, such as text below 6 point in italices, or graphics.

But I would think you have a job hung up in there, that's whats causing the gray out.

Have you looked in cups to see if the job is still there?

[T J Tulley]

Thanks Muskratmx - but there's no job waiting - the printer shows as "Ready" with no jobs in progress or pending.

Strangely, this morning I tried to print to PDF but the Print button was greyed out even for that. Similarly for Print to file.

If worse comes to worst, I shall have to accept a link on the screen - but first I must establish a document as a link target. I use that method for several manuals while I'm learning, but anticipate that gramps will require a lot of attention - it's far from user-friendly. This one refuses to drag to screen - it's evidently not a "normal" doc. - in spite of the fact that its odd pages printed.

You mention CUPS - there's very little documentation for that. Some time ago I enquired (No reply!) about using a command to obtain a broadside setting in my printer - available in the Open Office Format/page menu. An alternative, as I mentioned then, would be to install my printer as 2 printers with different settings - portrait & broadside. But there doesn't appear to be any way to do that. CUPS doesn't show any developers who might be interested.

[muskratmx]

You can look directly into cups and do some work there, open any browser and go to http://localhost:631/ That's CUPS.

It depends on the print driver what options are available. Some have more than other. I've set up the same printer with a many as 3 drivers once. To conserve ink I set one up as gray scale only another as 600 dpi color then a normal one. In that case I actually had three different drivers.

I've never used Gramps, but installed it today, it looks interesting. I'll see how it does.

[T J Tulley]

Thanks again muskratmx:

Wow! That looks useful! I've subscribed and logged in - hope to solve my printing problems now.

[muskratmx]

I've subscribed and logged in

I don't know what you mean subscribed? That URL is an internal URL into your personal CUPS server, When ask for a user name and password, I always use user name "root" and his "password".

I installed gramps, and didn't even see a print function! I did figure out it's a data base program. And the export functions only export into different types of databases. So how are you getting it to a print funtcion?

[T J Tulley]

Thanks again muskratmx.

I naturally followed the link to the official CUPS site for printer drivers and assistance. That's where I subscribed & logged in: http://www.cups.org.

Gramps is a genealogy program as you will have gathered - version 2.2.6.1 came from the Linux Mint repository; later versions exist and if you open this one, Help/Manual opens the Manual version 2.9. The gramps website gives information about the rather complex situation concerning their available manuals.

Having opened v 2.9 as above, if you go to the File menu there is an option to Print this file - that's where life became complicated - see my first post.

Now I've printed to file, and printed from that file - with rather better results, so that now I only have to correct a few pages incorrectly inserted - reverse printed upside down.

It might have been better to print to pdf and print from that to begin with - my printer (or CUPS?) evidently doesn't like this type of file, filetype .ps

[muskratmx]

Oh, your like me you like to have a hard copy of the manual to work from. I see now.