Description of problem: With older versions of the hpijs driver (3.9.2, perhaps?) I had two ways of selecting print quality on the DeskJet f2280: A general "printout mode", and a more detailed one that included the choice of 600dpi with black and colour cartridges. With this, black would be printed using the black cartridge. Now with: foomatic-4.0.4-1.fc12.x86_64 hpijs-3.10.2-2.fc12.x86_64 hplip-3.10.2-2.fc12.x86_64 the only option I have is for Print Quality, and when I select Normal Color, the test page prints out the blacks as composite black, with a loss of quality.
The older options you describe sound like options in some variation of the Foomatic/hpijs driver, i.e. hpijs under foomatic control. I'm not sure which exact driver you were using; perhaps "HP DeskJet F2100 Foomatic/hpijs", which seems about the closest match. However, it sounds like you are now using the hpcups driver with a better match, and I'd very much like to get the composite black problem you are seeing fixed. To confirm which driver you are using, can you please run this command?: grep '^\*NickName:' /etc/cups/ppd/*.ppd and attach the output relating to the queue you are using?
$ grep '^\*NickName:' /etc/cups/ppd/*.ppd /etc/cups/ppd/Deskjet-F2200-series.ppd:*NickName: "HP Deskjet f2200 Series, hpcups 3.10.2" The device itself: usb 5-1: New USB device found, idVendor=03f0, idProduct=2404 usb 5-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 5-1: Product: Deskjet F2200 series usb 5-1: Manufacturer: HP usb 5-1: SerialNumber: CN89H4Q0HJ0534
Thanks. What does this command say?: su -c 'lpinfo --include-schemes=usb -l -v'
# lpinfo --include-schemes=usb -l -v Device: uri = usb://HP/Deskjet%20F2200%20series?serial=CN89H4Q0HJ0534 class = direct info = HP Deskjet F2200 series make-and-model = HP Deskjet F2200 series device-id = MFG:HP;MDL:Deskjet F2200 series;CMD:LDL,MLC,PML,DYN;CLS:PRINTER;1284.4DL:4d,4e,1;SN:CN89H4Q0HJ0534;S:0380008000020020002c1480016c2500047;Z:007,0A20000,147; location = (end of output)
Thanks. Reported upstream.
Updating release for tracking purposes. Still present in hplip-3.10.5-1.fc13.x86_64, with a loss of quality/resolution in colour dithering.
Any news on this?
I seem to have a partial solution. The problem is in the PPD for the printer,/etc/cups/ppd/Deskjet-F2200-series.ppd, starting around line 206 (where the OutputModes are defined). There are various possible options for cupsString0 (I just guessed by running strings on the hpcups binary), so added the following line with PlainNormalKColor: *OutputMode NormalCMYK/Normal Color with Black Cartridge: "<</cupsColorSpace 1/cupsBitsPerColor 8/cupsRowStep 1/OutputType(1)/cupsString0(PlainNormalKColor)/HWResolution[600 600]>>setpagedevice" and chose "Normal Color with Black Cartridge" as the quality setting. I now seem to get blacks from the black cartridge. The quality of the colour dithering still seems a bit coarse, but I'll live with that for the time-being (until I get to experiment with hpcups settings some more).
Just another note: I have a sneaking suspicion that with PlainNormalKColor, it's actually double-printing black text (i.e., now both true black and composite...).
Sorry, no news from upstream yet.
Composite issue still present with driver 3.11.3a.
How about with 3.11.5? That version seems to fix some colour issues.
I'm currently away from the affected hardware at the moment. I'll be able to test this version in a few weeks' time.
(In reply to comment #12) > How about with 3.11.5? That version seems to fix some colour issues. OK, with 3.11.5-3, I deleted the printer and then re-installed it (so, fresh PPD). On the default settings, it now appears to be over-printing blacks (i.e., using the black cartridge and then wasting colour ink by going over the same region). The colour half-toning is still coarse.
Reported upstream: https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/235399/comments/71
Still present with hpijs-3.11.7-2.fc15.x86_64.
I don't know exactly where this regression took place, but I just hooked the printer up to a box running hpijs 2.8.6.b, and the difference is stunning: smooth half-toning, beautiful crisp blacks. I wonder if I can hack porting the binary over...
With the working driver, what does the command from comment #2 say?
(In reply to comment #18) > With the working driver, what does the command from comment #2 say? /etc/cups/ppd/hp-djf2280.ppd:*NickName: "HP Deskjet f2200 series Foomatic/hpijs, hpijs 2.8.6b"
Could you please try switching to this driver?: Model: name = drv:///hp/hpijs.drv/hp-deskjet_f2200_series-hpijs.ppd natural_language = en make-and-model = HP Deskjet f2200 Series hpijs, 3.11.10 device-id = MFG:HP;MDL:deskjet f2200 series;DES:deskjet f2200 series; From that command line, that would be: lpadmin -p Deskjet-F2200-series -m drv:///hp/hpijs.drv/hp-deskjet_f2200_series-hpijs.ppd ...or else, using system-config-printer choose "HP", then "DeskJet d2200", then the second of the two options for 'drivers'. Does that give better results?
(In reply to comment #24) > ...or else, using system-config-printer choose "HP", then "DeskJet d2200", then > the second of the two options for 'drivers'. [I take it you mean the "f2200"? I tried that with the hpijs (rather than hpcups) driver.] I set the printer to use "600 dpi, color, black + color cartridge" in the "resolution...media type" box as the Prinout mode drop-down only has either colour- or black-cartridge-only modes. This appears to work. Halftoning is smooth. The blacks are crisp and printed with the black cartridge, and I don't *think* there's any over-printing going on.
Sorry, yes of course, f2200. Glad that's working -- so it's just hpcups that's broken. I'll update the upstream report.