[ppa] actual print from page preview doesn't exactly correspond

[David M. Karr]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

(This is my first bug reported here, I'm sure I'll be violating numerous protocols, so please be patient.)

$ apt-cache policy openoffice.org
openoffice.org:
  Installed: 1:3.0.1-1ubuntu1~intrepid1
  Candidate: 1:3.0.1-1ubuntu1~intrepid1
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.0.1-1ubuntu1~intrepid1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/main Packages
     1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages

I have OOo 3.0.1, apparently the "PPA" version, installed on Ubuntu 8.10. I have a 69 page document. When I do Page Preview, the data looks ok. When I print from that, the output also looks ok, but when I looked closer, I realized that every few pages the output got out of sync with the Page Preview data, such that at the end of the printout, the last page had 14 lines of text, whereas the Page Preview display only showed the last 8 lines on the last page.

I can attach three artifacts for this issue:

  * My 69-page document
  * A screenshot of Page Preview of the first two pages
  * Scanner images of the first two printout pages

If you examine the Page Preview image, you'll see that the heading "Dynamic Properties" starts the second page. In the scanner images, you'll see that the second page begins with a line of text, and then the heading.

This is just the first example, as the document goes on, this happens in several places, although not on every page. By the end of the 69 pages, it's about 6 lines off.

[David M. Karr (davidmichaelkarr)]

The connected printer is a "HP LaserJet P3005 Postscript".

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

Does this only happen on real printers or when you export to PDF also?

[David M. Karr (davidmichaelkarr)]

Ok, good question. Exporting to PDF isn't quite the same thing, as there doesn't appear to be a way to export the page preview directly to PDF (seems like an omission). I can export the document itself to PDF, but not the page preview.

In any case, I was able to do two things. First, instead of printing to the printer, I printed to a (postscript) file, and then I viewed the postscript file. The resulting view matched what I saw in page preview, and did NOT match what came out on the printer.

Second, I exported the document to PDF and viewed that, and that was also consistent with the original document, the page preview, and the viewed postscript document.

The only thing that is off is the actual printed output.

[David M. Karr (davidmichaelkarr)]

Another thing I've realized is that this doesn't have anything to do with page preview, either. In the normal 1 page/sheet output, I was able to see the discrepancy, in addition to the 4 pages/sheet version.

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

This sounds like it may be a cups printer driver issue since it prints to postscript fine (which should be the same print path) and exports to PDF (which might not be the same path) fine as well.

Reassigning to cups.

[Bryan Quigley (bryanquigley)]

Does anyone still have this issue on a currently supported release?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for cups (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]