Printout too small on HP OJ 8500

Asked by Blake Hannaford

I have the Officejet_Pro_8500. Overall I love it! However printed output is a bit shrunken (about 10%) this is evident as margins that are too big (i.e. 1.25in instead of 1.0in). Same PDF file prints out correctly on ancient HP LaserJet 4mPlus.

>hp-check -t

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.9.6b)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 14.3

Copyright (c) 2001-9 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Note: hp-check can be run in three modes:
1. Compile-time check mode (-c or --compile): Use this mode before compiling the HPLIP supplied tarball
(.tar.gz or .run) to determine if the proper dependencies are installed to successfully compile HPLIP.
2. Run-time check mode (-r or --run): Use this mode to determine if a distro supplied package (.deb,
.rpm, etc) or an already built HPLIP supplied tarball has the proper dependencies installed to
successfully run.
3. Both compile- and run-time check mode (-b or --both) (Default): This mode will check both of the above
cases (both compile- and run-time dependencies).

Saving output in log file: hp-check.log

Initializing. Please wait...

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

Basic system information:
Linux beagle 2.6.24-24-generic #1 SMP Tue Jun 30 20:28:53 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Distribution:
ubuntu 8.04

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.5.2 installed

Checking PyQt 4.x version...
OK, version 4.3.3 installed.

Checking for CUPS...
Status: scheduler is running
Version: 1.3.7
error_log is set to level: warn

Checking for dbus/python-dbus...
dbus daemon is running.
python-dbus version: 0.82.4

------------------------------------
| COMPILE AND RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
------------------------------------

Checking for dependency: CUPS - Common Unix Printing System...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS DDK - CUPS driver development kit...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS image - CUPS image development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: DBus - Message bus system...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libjpeg - JPEG library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libpthread - POSIX threads library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libtool - Library building support services...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libusb - USB library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python devel - Python development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python libnotify - Python bindings for the libnotify Desktop notifications...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python XML libraries...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.3 or greater - Required for fax functionality...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: scanimage - Shell scanning program...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE...
OK, found.

----------------------
| HPLIP INSTALLATION |
----------------------

Currently installed HPLIP version...
HPLIP 3.9.6b currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.9.6b

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.9.6b
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
hpijs-install=no
foomatic-drv-install=no
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=no
cups-ppd-install=yes
internal-tag=3.9.6b.4
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=yes
hpijs-only-build=no
lite-build=no

Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
# hplip.state - HPLIP runtime persistent variables.

[plugin]
installed=0
eula=0

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[last_used]
printer_name = dthompson
working_dir = .
device_uri = "hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909a?ip=128.95.205.81"

[commands]
scan = /usr/bin/xsane -V %SANE_URI%

[installation]
version = 3.9.6b.4
date_time = 07/29/2009 20:47:32

[settings]
systray_messages = 0
systray_visible = 0

[fax]
email_address =
voice_phone =

[refresh]
rate = 30
enable = false
type = 1

[polling]
enable = false
device_list =
interval = 5

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

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

dthompson
---------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909a?ip=128.95.205.81
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/dthompson.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet Pro 8500 a909a, hpcups 3.9.6b.4
Printer status: printer dthompson is idle. enabled since Wed 29 Jul 2009 05:24:48 PM PDT
Communication status: Good

Russel
------
Type: Unknown
Device URI: socket://128.95.205.25:
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Russel.ppd
PPD Description: HP LaserJet 4/4M 600DPI Postscript (recommended)
Printer status: printer Russel is idle. enabled since Wed 29 Jul 2009 11:55:04 AM PDT

----------------------
| SANE CONFIGURATION |
----------------------

'hpaio' in '/etc/sane.d/dll.conf'...
OK, found. SANE backend 'hpaio' is properly set up.

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...
device `hpaio:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909a?ip=128.95.205.81' is a Hewlett-Packard Officejet_Pro_8500_A909a all-in-one

---------------------
| PYTHON EXTENSIONS |
---------------------

Checking 'cupsext' CUPS extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'pcardext' Photocard extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'hpmudext' I/O extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'scanext' SANE scanning extension...
OK, found.

---------------
| USER GROUPS |
---------------

blake adm dialout cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev fuse lpadmin admin

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

Please refer to the installation instructions at:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install/index.html

Done.

Question information

Language:
Yiddish Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
HPLIP Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Blake Hannaford
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said :
#1

Everything looks okay. and I'm trying to reproduce and haven't been able to. However I'm testing with Ubuntu 9.04. Do you have a specific file you could email me? ke7ezt(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll try and reproduce.

Thanks.

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#2

Thanks Aaron!

I'm emailing you a PDF which simply contains a 5"x5" square drawn in OOdraw. Results:

                                                          OJP8500 LJ4

OOdraw direct print 5.0"x5.0" 4.99"x4.95"
PDF export, acroread print 4.6"x4.6" 4.75"x4.75"

Thus this may be primarily an acroread problem. However the problem is worse for the OJP8500.

THANKS!!

Blake

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#3

Aaron,

See attached test files

Blake

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:04 AM, Aaron
Albright<email address hidden> wrote:
> Your question #78590 on HPLIP changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/78590
>
>    Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Aaron Albright requested for more information:
> Everything looks okay. and I'm trying to reproduce and haven't been able
> to. However I'm testing with Ubuntu 9.04.  Do you have a specific file
> you could email me?  ke7ezt(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll try and reproduce.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Aaron
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/78590
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
Blake Hannaford Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Voice: 1 206 543 2197 University of Washington
Fax: 1 206 221 5264 Seattle, WA 98195-2500
http://brl.ee.washington.edu
--

Revision history for this message
Aaron Albright (albrigha-deactivatedaccount) said :
#4

Blake,

Sorry---launchpad answers doesn't support attachments. Please email them to me directly.

Thanks!

Aaron

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#5

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Blake Hannaford <email address hidden>
Date: Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Fwd: [Question #78590]: Printout too small on HP OJ 8500
To: <email address hidden>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Blake Hannaford <email address hidden>
Date: Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Question #78590]: Printout too small on HP OJ 8500
To: <email address hidden>

Aaron,

See attached test files

Blake

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:04 AM, Aaron
Albright<email address hidden> wrote:
> Your question #78590 on HPLIP changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/78590
>
>    Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Aaron Albright requested for more information:
> Everything looks okay. and I'm trying to reproduce and haven't been able
> to. However I'm testing with Ubuntu 9.04.  Do you have a specific file
> you could email me?  ke7ezt(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll try and reproduce.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Aaron
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/78590
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
Blake Hannaford                         Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Voice:   1 206 543 2197                     University of Washington
Fax:       1 206 221 5264                    Seattle, WA 98195-2500
http://brl.ee.washington.edu
--

--
Blake Hannaford                         Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Voice:   1 206 543 2197                     University of Washington
Fax:       1 206 221 5264                    Seattle, WA 98195-2500
http://brl.ee.washington.edu
--

--
Blake Hannaford Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Voice: 1 206 543 2197 University of Washington
Fax: 1 206 221 5264 Seattle, WA 98195-2500
http://brl.ee.washington.edu
--

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#6

AAron,
Tried to email the files but if still not getting them, just open OpenOfficeDraw (or similar) and make a 5"x5" square. Then export it to PDF. This is what I did to generate the problem.

Thanks!

Blake

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#7

Any progress on this issue? -- Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Blake Hannaford (blake-hannaford) said :
#8

An update on this problem. When I print the PDF (of a 5"x5" square) using kPDF instead of Acroread, it comes out PERFECT, so I'm going to consider this SOLVED (i.e. an acroread problem) even though the shrinkage is different with two different HP printers.

Revision history for this message
SaintDanBert (saint-grillongroup) said :
#9

I would like to resurrect this item. I have no idea how to do that.

I have this same symptom but with different content -- print from applications is small font.
Two notable apps are Firefox to print web content and Thunderbird to print email messages.
As mentioned in the original thread, print PDF seems to make correct pages.

I'm running Ubuntu Hardy -- lsb_release --description ==>Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS. I could not get
v3.9.2 or newer hplip to load my 8500 Premier using the repositories so I had to download and install by hand to get a compatible release. I fetched and installed v3.9.8 from the hplip mirrors.

Here is my hp-check output since every item seems to want that.
###################################################################################

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.9.8)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 14.3

{snip -- boilerplate}

Saving output in log file: hp-check.log

Initializing. Please wait...

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

Basic system information:
Linux mumbles 2.6.22.1.emp12 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Mar 28 10:00:58 EDT 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

Distribution:
ubuntu 8.04

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.5.2 installed

Checking PyQt 4.x version...
OK, version 4.3.3 installed.

Checking for CUPS...
Status: scheduler is running
Version: 1.3.7
error_log is set to level: debug

Checking for dbus/python-dbus...
dbus daemon is running.
python-dbus version: 0.82.4

------------------------------------
| COMPILE AND RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
------------------------------------

Checking for dependency: CUPS - Common Unix Printing System...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS DDK - CUPS driver development kit...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS image - CUPS image development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: DBus - Message bus system...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libjpeg - JPEG library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libpthread - POSIX threads library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libtool - Library building support services...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libusb - USB library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python devel - Python development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python libnotify - Python bindings for the libnotify Desktop notifications...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python XML libraries...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.3 or greater - Required for fax functionality...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: scanimage - Shell scanning program...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE...
OK, found.

----------------------
| HPLIP INSTALLATION |
----------------------

Currently installed HPLIP version...
HPLIP 3.9.8 currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.9.8

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.9.8
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
hpijs-install=no
foomatic-drv-install=no
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=no
cups-ppd-install=yes
internal-tag=3.9.8.36
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=yes
hpijs-only-build=no
lite-build=no
udev-acl-rules=no

Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
# hplip.state - HPLIP runtime persistent variables.

[plugin]
installed=0
eula=0

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[last_used]
printer_name =
working_dir = .
device_uri = "hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909n?ip=192.168.42.85"

[commands]
fax = hp-sendfax -d %FAX_URI%
cpy = hp-makecopies -d %DEVICE_URI%
scan = xsane -V %SANE_URI%
prnt = hp-print -p%PRINTER%
pcard_int = True
prnt_int = True
pcard = hp-unload -d %DEVICE_URI%
scan_int = False
fax_int = True
cpy_int = True

[installation]
version = 3.9.8.36
date_time = 09/20/2009 14:15:11

[settings]
systray_messages = 1
systray_visible = 1

[alerts]
email_from_address =
email_alerts = False
email_to_addresses =

[fax]
email_address =
voice_phone =

[refresh]
rate = 90
enable = true
type = 2

[polling]
enable = false
device_list =
interval = 5

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

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

Ojet7310
--------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.11.75
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Ojet7310.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet 7300 Series Foomatic/hpijs, hpijs 2.8.12
Printer status: printer Ojet7310 disabled since Fri 18 Sep 2009 08:14:22 PM CDT -
 Paused

Ojet_8500
---------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909n?ip=192.168.42.85
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Ojet_8500.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet Pro 8500 a909n, hpcups 3.9.8.36
Printer status: printer Ojet_8500 is idle. enabled since Fri 18 Sep 2009 08:13:48 PM CDT

Communication status: Good

Ojet_8500_fax
-------------
Type: Fax
Device URI: hpfax:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909n?ip=192.168.42.85
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Ojet_8500_fax.ppd
PPD Description: HP Fax hpcups
Printer status: printer Ojet_8500_fax is idle. enabled since Fri 18 Sep 2009 08:13:48 PM CDT

Communication status: Good

----------------------
| SANE CONFIGURATION |
----------------------

'hpaio' in '/etc/sane.d/dll.conf'...
OK, found. SANE backend 'hpaio' is properly set up.

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...
device `hpaio:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.11.75' is a Hewlett-Packard Officejet_7300_series all-in-one

device `hpaio:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A909n?ip=192.168.42.85' is a Hewlett-Packard Officejet_Pro_8500_A909n all-in-one

---------------------
| PYTHON EXTENSIONS |
---------------------

Checking 'cupsext' CUPS extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'pcardext' Photocard extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'hpmudext' I/O extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'scanext' SANE scanning extension...
OK, found.

---------------
| USER GROUPS |
---------------

root

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

Please refer to the installation instructions at:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install/index.html

Done.

###################################################################################