Xerox Phaser Printers - no color printing available

[P.Constantine]

There is no way to print on color printer Xerox 6250DP in color, only Grayscale and Inverted-grayscale are available.
Same problem reported here about Xerox 7500
http://wwww.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1607945

There was no problem printing in color in ALL earlier Ubuntu versions starting from 8.04 and including 10.04
---
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
Lpstat:
 device for Xerox-Phaser-3420: dnssd://Xerox%20Phaser%203420%20(XRX0000f0a98133)._ipp._tcp.local/
 device for Xerox-Phaser-6250DP: socket://172.17.252.12:9100
 device for Xerox-Phaser-6250DP-2: socket://172.17.252.12:9100
MachineType: LENOVO 1951FCG
Package: cups 1.4.4-6ubuntu2.1
PackageArchitecture: i386
Papersize: letter
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
PpdFiles:
 Xerox-Phaser-3420: Xerox Phaser 3420, SpliX V. 2.0.0
 Xerox-Phaser-6250DP-2: Xerox Phaser 6250DP - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.6 Simplified
 Xerox-Phaser-6250DP: Xerox Phaser 6250DP
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=5ce26719-ebc8-4667-a885-978654885976 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.35-generic 2.6.35.4
Tags: maverick
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 07/27/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 79ET65WW (1.09a)
dmi.board.name: 1951FCG
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr79ET65WW(1.09a):bd07/27/2006:svnLENOVO:pn1951FCG:pvrThinkPadT60:rvnLENOVO:rn1951FCG:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 1951FCG
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T60
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We need some more information from you before we can start working on this bug.

Please include the information requested at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems as separate attachments.

follow only the CUPS error_log chapter.
Thanks
Fabio

[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

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[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

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[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

Support for the Phaser 6250DP was added in gutenprint 5.2.6 / Ubuntu 10.10 and probably only grayscale for now.
Before there was no gutenprint driver for this printer, other open source drivers in Ubuntu 10.04 (Foomatic/Postscript, Foomatic/hpijs-pcl5e, Foomatic/ljet4, ...) are only for monochrome output.

Only driver I see that is able to do color is the proprietary Postscript driver from Xerox which you can find here:
http://www.support.xerox.com/support/phaser-6250/file-download/enus.html?operatingSystem=linux&fileLanguage=en_GB&contentId=61334&from=downloads&viewArchived=false
or here:
http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=Postscript-Xerox&printer=Xerox-Phaser_6250DP&show=1

>There was no problem printing in color in ALL earlier Ubuntu versions starting from 8.04 and including 10.04
What driver did you use in Ubuntu 10.04 that did color? Risk-free testing without installation is possible with the live-cd.

[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

> What driver did you use in Ubuntu 10.04 that did color? Risk-free testing without installation is possible with the live-cd.

Hmmm...strange, I will search the backup for the cups configuration and update.
I really do not remember what driver I used, I've set it in 2008 and never changed it since.

[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

Found it.
It doesn't seem the same as here:
http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=Postscript-Xerox&printer=Xerox-Phaser_6250DP&show=1

But it's still www.openprinting.org driver...

[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

P.S. the file date is "2010-05-01 12:47" so It seems like it got updated somehow...

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

I compared the file ColorPhaser6250.ppd you attached with the 6250DP Foomatic/Postscript driver in Ubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 10.10 and they are all identical.

I captured the print job data from a odt file with color in Ubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 10.10 since I don't have this printer:
- with the 6250DP Foomatic/Postscript driver I get grayscale output on both 10.04 and 10.10 (using the default color: from driver in the OO print dialog). With Color: color in the OO print dialog I get color output on both 10.04 and 10.10.
- with the manufacturer driver from http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=Postscript-Xerox&printer=Xerox-Phaser_6250DP&show=1, I get color output on both 10.04 and 10.10

So I don't see a difference between Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 other than the gutenprint driver being used by default in 10.10 instead of the Foomatic/Postscript driver. You can easily change the driver in 10.10 to Foomatic/Postscript in System > Administration > Printing. If the Foomatic/Postscript driver is better in your opinion then we just need to change the default driver to this.

Please try in maverick the driver from http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=Postscript-Xerox&printer=Xerox-Phaser_6250DP&show=1 and report back if you can print in color with it. If not please attach the document you tried to print, the application you used and your cups error_log as described here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems#CUPS%20error_log

[P.Constantine (pconstantine)]

The proprietary Xerox driver indeed prints in Color with no problem.

But I do not see "Color" profile for Foomatic driver in 10.10, only "Normal" which is B&W.
I will try to check it again later.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Problem is that system-config-printer assigns the Gutenprint driver to this printer. The Gutenprint driver is a monochrome PCL 5e driver. The printer needs a color driver, PCL 5c or PostScript. I have changed system-config-printer's prioritization for PostScript/PCL printers without manufacturer-supplied PPD now, so that PostScript and HPIJS are preferred and not Gutenprint. The Xerox Phaser printers are used in PostScript mode then.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Note that system-config-printer's prioritization only acts on newly created print queues, For existing queues please change the driver manually or remove and recreate the print queue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package system-config-printer - 1.2.3+20100723-0ubuntu11

---------------
system-config-printer (1.2.3+20100723-0ubuntu11) natty; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/80_do-not-prioritize-gutenprint-for-ps-and-pcl-printers.patch:
    For PostScript and PCL printers without manufacturer-supplied PPDs and
    with explicit support by Gutenprint, the (inferior) Gutenprint PCL driver
    got selected. Demoted Gutenprint to make Foomatic/Postscript and HPIJS
    preferred (LP: #669152).
 -- Till Kamppeter <email address hidden> Tue, 2 Nov 2010 12:57:06 +0100

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

The fix is a rather simple patch (attached) and I suggest to apply it also as an SRU for Maverick, as not only the Xerox Phaser series but general PostScript and PCL printers with explicit support by Gutenprint and no manufacturer-supplied PPD file are affected.

No package uploaded yet to -proposed, as there is a freeze on -proposed for Linaro.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Till Kamppeter [2010-11-02 12:36 -0000]:
> No package uploaded yet to -proposed, as there is a freeze on -proposed
> for Linaro.

Feel free to upload, but it will be stuck in the queue for some more
days until the freeze gets lifted.

Martin
--
Martin Pitt | http://www.piware.de
Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com) | Debian Developer (www.debian.org)