HPLIP

Officejet_Pro_8000_A809.ppd error: No definition for Best Quality

Asked by Scott McMahan

I purchased an A809 printer at Office Depot a couple of weekends ago,
and have been trying to debug why it won't print on photo paper in
Linux. I have tracked this down to an error in the PPD file for this
printer.

In the print dialog for The GIMP and Inkscape, I can select the option
for Best Quality that is listed in the PPD file as:

PrintoutMode PhotoBest/Best Quality (color on photo paper): "%%
FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=PhotoBest"

But, the option PrintoutMode=PhotoBest does not exist in the PPD file:

   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Draft: "Quality=300FastDraftCol&&
   orCMYK"
   *End
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Draft.Gray: "Quality=300FastDra&&
   ftGrayscaleK"
   *End
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Normal: "Quality=300ColorCMYK"
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Normal.Gray: "Quality=300Graysc&&
   aleK"
   *End
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=High: "Quality=600ColorCMYK"
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=High.Gray: "Quality=600Grayscal&&
   eK"
   *End
   *FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Photo: "Quality=1200PhotoCMYK"

What makes this difficult to debug is that there is no error. If the
PrintoutMode is missing, the GhostScript command built by foomatic is
garbled and causes a syntax error.

How do I get an updated PPD file for this printer with the Best
Quality setting? I assume I'll have to update the HPLIP package. Can I
get a patch to apply to my PPD file that defines Best Quality to use
in the meantime? I expect it's a one-line patch.

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Scott McMahan
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Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#1

Please run hp-check -t and post the output.

I'm doing some tests on this class of units and am running into something that doesn't seem right however I want to compare your system configuration to mine.

Thanks.

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Scott McMahan (scott-skwc) said : 		#2

The hp-check -t output is below. This is the command that abends with: "Segmentation fault" before it completes. I don't know why. I am running on Fedora 10. I have not rebooted with the last kernel that yum-update just pushed out. I don't have time to restart my machine now.

hp-check[18818]: info: :
Initializing. Please wait...
Fedora

10

scheduler is running

1.3.10

Linux therru 2.6.27.21-170.2.56.fc10.i686 #1 SMP Mon Mar 23 23:37:54 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :---------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :| SYSTEM INFO |
hp-check[18818]: info: :---------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Basic system information:
hp-check[18818]: info: :Linux therru 2.6.27.21-170.2.56.fc10.i686 #1 SMP Mon Mar 23 23:37:54 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Distribution:
hp-check[18818]: info: :fedora 10
hp-check[18818]: info: :
HPOJ running?
hp-check[18818]: info: :No, HPOJ is not running (OK).
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking Python version...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, version 2.5.2 installed
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking PyQt 4.x version...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, version 4.4.4 installed.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for CUPS...
hp-check[18818]: info: :Status: scheduler is running
hp-check[18818]: info: :Version: 1.3.10
hp-check[18818]: info: :error_log is set to level: debug
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dbus/python-dbus...
hp-check[18818]: info: :dbus daemon is running.
hp-check[18818]: info: :python-dbus version: 0.83.0
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :------------------------------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :| COMPILE AND RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
hp-check[18818]: info: :------------------------------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :
note: To check for compile-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -c parameter (ie, hp-check -c).
note: To check for run-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -r parameter (ie, hp-check -r).
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: CUPS - Common Unix Printing System...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: CUPS DDK - CUPS driver development kit...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: CUPS image - CUPS image development files...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: DBus - Message bus system...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libjpeg - JPEG library...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libpthread - POSIX threads library...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libtool - Library building support services...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: libusb - USB library...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: ppdev - Parallel port support kernel module....
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python ctypes - A foreign function library for Python...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python devel - Python development files...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python XML libraries...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python 2.3 or greater - Required for fax functionality...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: scanimage - Shell scanning program...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Checking for dependency: xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE...
hp-check[18818]: info: :OK, found.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :----------------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :| HPLIP INSTALLATION |
hp-check[18818]: info: :----------------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Currently installed HPLIP version...
hp-check[18818]: info: :HPLIP 3.9.4b currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
hp-check[18818]: info: :# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.9.4b

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/cups/model/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/cups/model
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.9.4b
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv/hp/

# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
pp-build=no
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
cups-ppd-install=no
cups-drv-install=no
internal-tag=3.9.4b.10
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=yes

hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
hp-check[18818]: info: :# hplip.state - HPLIP runtime persistent variables.

[plugin]
installed=0
eula=0

hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
error: Could not access file: No such file or directory
hp-check[18818]: info: :
hp-check[18818]: info: :--------------------------
hp-check[18818]: info: :| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
hp-check[18818]: info: :--------------------------

This part isn't written to the log file but appears on the console. Note the 970c is still there, I haven't removed it although the printer is in storage. If I ever needed it, I want the plumbing in place.

  Device URI Model
  ----------------------------------------------- --------------------------
  hp:/usb/Officejet_Pro_8000_A809?serial=MY8CA140 HP Officejet Pro 8000 A809
  PY

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
 ---------------------------------

HP970c
------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/par/DESKJET_970C?device=/dev/parport0
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP970c.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 970C Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HP970c is idle. enabled since Sun 10 May 2009 01:45:30 PM EDT
Segmentation fault

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#3

I want to verify that this is also a InkScape only problem.

Thanks.

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Scott McMahan (scott-skwc) said : 		#4

No, this is not an InkScape-only problem. The PPD lacks a definition for Best Quality, and that setting can't be used period.

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#5

Are you using the Ubuntu queue automatically created when you connect the printer?

Try deleting that printer queue and the running:

sudo hp-setup

I have confirmed there is a problem with how Ubuntu us auto-configuring the printer queue. But if you run hp-setup it should select the correct PPD for your printer with the correct print quality options.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your support of HPLIP--we appreciate it.

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Scott McMahan (scott-skwc) said : 		#6

I am using Fedora 10.

I installed the latest version of HPLIP from your download, not the version that comes with Fedora (which doesn't even know what a A809 is; it guessed and installed some other printer which I deleted).

The PPD file itself is missing the definition for Best Quality. It appears in the drop-down list of printer settings in print dialogs, but doesn't map to anything in the PPD file. All the other quality settings work, so it's not a show-stopper.

I am a happy A809 owner otherwise -- I printed a 940-ish page document in about 5 hours and it took me all day and into the evening to do it on the 970c when the document was shorter, plus the print quality is better.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#7

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

Revision history for this message
Scott McMahan (scott-skwc) said : 		#8

No resolution yet - this needs to stay open ...

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#9

Please try with HPLIP 3.9.6b.

Thanks!

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Scott McMahan (scott-skwc) said : 		#10

This worked, but only after a lot of fiddling around. When I installed
the new HPLIP 3.9.6b driver, it did not upgrade the existing printer
(Officejet_Pro_8000_A809) but added a second, new printer with a "_2"
suffix (Officejet_Pro_8000_A809_2). This is not what a network admin
would want to happen, because all computers on the network that use
the printer already have the original name. I deleted "_2", and the
PPD for the original printer had not changed, so I went to its
properties and re-installed the driver. It gave me the option to
clobber the old PPD with the current one, which I did, and the Best
Quality option now works without causing a crash. So it works. I
consider this problem resolved. Thanks! So far, my A809 has been a
really good upgrade over the 970c.