OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[Mike McCarty]

Off topic due to age of FC2?

Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.

I have used Google, but no joy. Many hits, but none
seems to look just like this one.

Printer is direct connect, no other computers on a LAN etc.
Printer is connected to parallel port.
I am using an IEEE compliant bi-directional cable purchased
just two days ago (just in case the old cable might contribute
to the problem, no change).
No other printer installed.

As an example of print speed (if that is the correct word)

$ ls -l test.txt
-rw-rw-r--  1 jmccarty jmccarty 16 Jan 17 00:44 test.txt

$ cat test.txt
This is a test.

$ lpr test.txt

Here are the elapsed times to significant events...

0:00	hit return on command
0:06	printer data light flashing, loaded sheet of paper
0:38	printer actually printed something, not all...
	at approximately 10 second intervals, printer moved
	the print head, data light flashing continually
1:58	sheet ejected, with one line on it printed

So, two minutes to print "This is a test." I have to believe
that, since the data transfer light was flashing the whole
time, something is translating this into a giant
postscript program, or into a pure bit map, or something,
and transferring a huge amount of data. There must
be something wrong in my setup for this printer.

Here is what (Red Hat Symbol)->System Settings->Printing
gives for the printer.

Queue Type
	Queue Type: locally connected
Queue Options
	At start: no banner
	At end:   no banner
	Top margin: 36	right margin: 36
	left margin:36  bottom:       36

	cpi		12
	lpi	 	 7
	page-bottom	86
	page-left	57
	page-right	57
	scaling		100
	wrap		true
Printer Driver
	DeskJet 870C	hpijs
Driver Options
	send FF			no
	send EOT		no
	assume unknown is text	no
	prerender postscript	no
	convert text to ps	yes
	effective filter locale	C
	res,qual,ink,media	300 dpi,Color,Black+Color Cart
	page size		letter
	model			HP DeskJet 870C
	printout mode		normal

I have another queue for that printer which does two-up printing,
but I haven't checked it for speed. I just know that this queue
is unbearably slow, and I must have set up something wrong.

I tried changing the option "convert text to postscript" to
no, but that made no change.

I would like some direction on how to proceed with this.

Thank you for your time in reading this message.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Klaasjan Brand]

On 1/17/06, Mike McCarty <mike.mccarty(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; wrote:
>  Off topic due to age of FC2?
>
>  Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>  
If you have the option of testing the printer on another system maybe you
can determine if it's the operating or the printer itself that needs fixing.


Klaasjan

[Mike McCarty]

Klaasjan Brand wrote:
>  On 1/17/06, Mike McCarty <mike.mccarty(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; wrote:
>  
> >Off topic due to age of FC2?
> >
> >Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
> >unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
> >
>  
>  
>  If you have the option of testing the printer on another system maybe you
>  can determine if it's the operating or the printer itself that needs fixing. 
I was able to do something even better. I was able to take a
web page which took 30 minutes per page to print, and subset
it to one which prints quite quickly. So I know that it is
not just the printer, nor is it the CPU getting bottled up,
but something with the configuration and how it handles things.

But I still don't know what the problem is.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Les Mikesell]

On Tue, 2006-01-17 at 23:56, Mike McCarty wrote:
>  >>
>  >>Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  >>unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>  >>
>  > 
>  > 
>  > If you have the option of testing the printer on another system maybe you
>  > can determine if it's the operating or the printer itself that needs fixing.
>  
>  I was able to do something even better. I was able to take a
>  web page which took 30 minutes per page to print, and subset
>  it to one which prints quite quickly. So I know that it is
>  not just the printer, nor is it the CPU getting bottled up,
>  but something with the configuration and how it handles things.
>  
>  But I still don't know what the problem is. 
The usual scenario is that the linux app generates postscript,
substituting fonts as needed, then for printers that don't
accept postscript, it is fed through ghostscript to generate
an appropriate bitimage and commands for your printer model,
which is then dribbled out the printer port.  It sounds like
you might be having trouble with several of these steps.  One
potential problem is that your parallel port isn't generating
an interrupt and runs in a really slow polled mode but it has
been so long since I've seen that that I've forgotten the
solution.  The way to avoid the whole mess is to use printers
that accept postscript on a network connection.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell(a)gmail.com

[Mike McCarty]

Klaasjan Brand wrote:
>  On 1/17/06, Mike McCarty <mike.mccarty(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; wrote:
>  
> >Off topic due to age of FC2?
> >
> >Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
> >unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
> >
>  
>  
>  If you have the option of testing the printer on another system maybe you
>  can determine if it's the operating or the printer itself that needs fixing.
>  
>  
>  Klaasjan 
I now have one .GIF file which, when viewed by Mozilla on my machine,
and then printed, takes an inordinate amount of time. I printed
it to a PostScript file, and it takes the same length of time to
print this with lpr. I ran ps2ps and got a smaller file which
is still very slow.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mogens Kjaer]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  
>  Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page. 
If you run the "top" command on your machine while printing,
does it show anything using a lot of CPU or memory?

Mogens
-- 
Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
Email: mk(a)crc.dk Homepage: http://www.crc.dk

[Mike McCarty]

Mogens Kjaer wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  
> > Off topic due to age of FC2?
> >
> > Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
> > unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>  
>  
>  If you run the "top" command on your machine while printing,
>  does it show anything using a lot of CPU or memory?
>  
>  Mogens 
It ran 0.7% to 1.3% (max, not often hit) during a test print.
That is CPU utilization. So I don't think it is CPU limited.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mogens Kjaer]

Mike McCarty wrote:
...
>  It ran 0.7% to 1.3% (max, not often hit) during a test print.
>  That is CPU utilization. So I don't think it is CPU limited. 
On FC4, one can create a custom device (instead of /dev/lp0),
and send the output to /tmp/printer.out (create this file first,
with 777 permission). Try this, and see how long it takes to print
to the file.

Try to copy the file to /dev/lp0 and see how long that takes.

Mogens

-- 
Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
Email: mk(a)crc.dk Homepage: http://www.crc.dk

[Mike McCarty]

Mogens Kjaer wrote:

Thanks for the help.

>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  ...
>  
> > It ran 0.7% to 1.3% (max, not often hit) during a test print.
> > That is CPU utilization. So I don't think it is CPU limited.
>  
>  
>  On FC4, one can create a custom device (instead of /dev/lp0), 
I'm sorry, but I'm not an experienced UNIX admin. I'd need more
information about how to run MAKEDEV. Oh, and I run FC2, not FC4.

>  and send the output to /tmp/printer.out (create this file first,
>  with 777 permission). Try this, and see how long it takes to print
>  to the file. 
Umm, it took not any time at all to create a one line text file.
I'm experiencing the problem even with a file with only 16
ASCII characters in it.

>  Try to copy the file to /dev/lp0 and see how long that takes. 
Ok, I tried this file...

$ ls -l test.txt
-rw-rw-r--  1 jmccarty jmccarty 17 Jan 17 03:47 test.txt

$ cat test.txt
This is a sheet.

The "data transfer" light on the printer started to flash immediately,
and after 16 seconds, the printer grabbed a sheet and printed the line
instantly. It LOOKED like it might have been downloading the font,
perhaps. It certainly used a different font from the one that
lpr used.

But, I did this... I printed a one-page thing from Mozilla to a file
in my home directory, and got mozilla.ps

$ ls -l ~/*.ps
-rw-rw-r--  1 jmccarty jmccarty 504768 Jan 17 11:02 home/jmccarty/mozilla.ps

Creation of that file was essentially instantaneous. Copying it to
/dev/lp0 caused the printer to spit out one page with the PostScript
header on it, and the error light to flash. Pressing resume caused
the printer to spit out one blank sheet, and then think it was
through.

Thanks again for the help.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Aaron M. Hirsch]

They were only going to hook up to MS SQL servers so the only additional piece 
they require is:

Part#: 400100-1xx	
Name: SQL APM
Price: 1075 (MSRP)

They need 2 of these.  We'll have to get in touch with Chad Whalen about 
waiving the 20% fee...or maybe getting deeper discounts and passing them 
along.  (i.e. a additional 20% off to cover!)

On Tuesday 17 January 2006 11:08, Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Mogens Kjaer wrote:
>
>  Thanks for the help.
>
>  > Mike McCarty wrote:
>  > ...
>  >
>  >> It ran 0.7% to 1.3% (max, not often hit) during a test print.
>  >> That is CPU utilization. So I don't think it is CPU limited.
>  >
>  > On FC4, one can create a custom device (instead of /dev/lp0),
>
>  I'm sorry, but I'm not an experienced UNIX admin. I'd need more
>  information about how to run MAKEDEV. Oh, and I run FC2, not FC4.
>
>  > and send the output to /tmp/printer.out (create this file first,
>  > with 777 permission). Try this, and see how long it takes to print
>  > to the file.
>
>  Umm, it took not any time at all to create a one line text file.
>  I'm experiencing the problem even with a file with only 16
>  ASCII characters in it.
>
>  > Try to copy the file to /dev/lp0 and see how long that takes.
>
>  Ok, I tried this file...
>
>  $ ls -l test.txt
>  -rw-rw-r--  1 jmccarty jmccarty 17 Jan 17 03:47 test.txt
>
>  $ cat test.txt
>  This is a sheet.
>
>  The "data transfer" light on the printer started to flash immediately,
>  and after 16 seconds, the printer grabbed a sheet and printed the line
>  instantly. It LOOKED like it might have been downloading the font,
>  perhaps. It certainly used a different font from the one that
>  lpr used.
>
>  But, I did this... I printed a one-page thing from Mozilla to a file
>  in my home directory, and got mozilla.ps
>
>  $ ls -l ~/*.ps
>  -rw-rw-r--  1 jmccarty jmccarty 504768 Jan 17 11:02
>  home/jmccarty/mozilla.ps
>
>  Creation of that file was essentially instantaneous. Copying it to
>  /dev/lp0 caused the printer to spit out one page with the PostScript
>  header on it, and the error light to flash. Pressing resume caused
>  the printer to spit out one blank sheet, and then think it was
>  through.
>
>  Thanks again for the help.
>
>  Mike
>  --
>  p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
>  This message made from 100% recycled bits.
>  You have found the bank of Larn.
>  I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
>  I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that! 
-- 
Aaron M. Hirsch
Systems Engineer
UpTime Ltd.

Mobile:	[phone]
Office:	[phone]
Fax:	[phone]

http://www.uptime.net

[Mike McCarty]

Here's a copy of /proc/interrupts. Can anyone help
me figure out whether the machine is even configured
to accept interrupts from the printer? I don't see
anything which would lead me to believe that it is.


            CPU0
   0:  123049771          XT-PIC  timer
   1:     102313          XT-PIC  i8042
   2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
   3:          0          XT-PIC  uhci_hcd
   5:        943          XT-PIC  Intel 82801DB-ICH4
   8:          1          XT-PIC  rtc
   9:        944          XT-PIC  uhci_hcd
  10:          0          XT-PIC  uhci_hcd
  11:     489740          XT-PIC  ehci_hcd, eth0
  12:     591304          XT-PIC  i8042
  14:     408191          XT-PIC  ide0
  15:    1332973          XT-PIC  ide1
NMI:          0
ERR:          1

I interpret this as:

timer		"i8254" CTC
i8042		keyboard controller or ?
cascade		PIC cascade input
uhci_hcd	?
82801DB-ICH4	?
rtc		"MC146818" TOD + RAM
uhci_hcd	?
uhci_hcd	?
ehci_hcd	ethernet I/F
i8042		? or keyboard controller
ide0		ATA I/F
ide1		ATA I/F

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mikkel]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Here's a copy of /proc/interrupts. Can anyone help
>  me figure out whether the machine is even configured
>  to accept interrupts from the printer? I don't see
>  anything which would lead me to believe that it is.
>   
You are not using interrupts for the printer port. You may
want to run tunelp to turn it on. You probably need:

tunelp /dev/lp0 -i 7

Tunelp can also make other adjustments for you...

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

[Mike McCarty]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  
> >Here's a copy of /proc/interrupts. Can anyone help
> >me figure out whether the machine is even configured
> >to accept interrupts from the printer? I don't see
> >anything which would lead me to believe that it is.
> >
>  
>  You are not using interrupts for the printer port. You may
>  want to run tunelp to turn it on. You probably need:
>  
>  tunelp /dev/lp0 -i 7
>  
>  Tunelp can also make other adjustments for you...
>  
>  Mikkel 
I read the man page for tunelp, and it looked like just
the thing. But...

# tunelp /dev/lp0 -i 7
tunelp: ioctl: Invalid argument
/dev/lp0 using IRQ -1

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mike McCarty]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  
> >Here's a copy of /proc/interrupts. Can anyone help
> >me figure out whether the machine is even configured
> >to accept interrupts from the printer? I don't see
> >anything which would lead me to believe that it is.
> >
>  
>  You are not using interrupts for the printer port. You may
>  want to run tunelp to turn it on. You probably need:
>  
>  tunelp /dev/lp0 -i 7
>  
>  Tunelp can also make other adjustments for you...
>  
>  Mikkel 
Hmm, I missed this part...

NOTE: This option will have no effect with  kernel  2.1.131  or later 
since  the irq is handled by the parport driver. You can
change the parport irq  for  example  via  /proc/parport/*/irq.
Read  /usr/src/linux/Documentation/parport.txt for more details
on parport.

# uname -r
2.6.10-1.771_FC2

# ls /proc/parport
ls: /proc/parport: No such file or directory

# ls /usr/src/linux/Documentation/parport.txt
ls: /usr/src/linux/Documentation/parport.txt: No such file or directory

Hmm...

Google turned up a document named parport.txt, but it looks
rather old.

I did find this...

# cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/irq
-1

And -1 happens to be what tunelp reports.

I wonder whether putting a 7 in there would help
any.

# cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/autoprobe
CLASS:PRINTER;
MODEL:DESKJET 870C;
MANUFACTURER:HEWLETT-PACKARD;
DESCRIPTION:Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 870C;
COMMAND SET:PCL,MLC,PML;

which looks correct as much as I understand (command set
I dunno)

# cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/modes
PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP

Hmm. EPP looks ok, I guess. I dunno what PCSPP means.

# cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/spintime
500

I wonder whether tuning this might speed things up?


Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mikkel]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  
>  I did find this...
>  
>  # cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/irq
>  -1
>  
>  And -1 happens to be what tunelp reports.
>  
>  I wonder whether putting a 7 in there would help
>  any.
>   
Well, I have 7 in there, and "tunelp /dev/lp0" returns
/dev/lp0 using IRQ 7

But I suspect you will get the same error as with tunelp.
What you may want to do is the next time you boot the system,
go into the BIOS setup and check the mode, and if it has an
IRQ assigned to it.
>  
>  # cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/modes
>  PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP
>  
>  Hmm. EPP looks ok, I guess. I dunno what PCSPP means.
>   
I forget what it stands for, but I believe that is the mode where
the port uses DMA for transfers.

>  # cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/spintime
>  500
>  
>  I wonder whether tuning this might speed things up?
>   
Well, that is one of the things that tunelp is supposed to be tweak.
You may want to use tunelp instead of writing it directly.

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

[Mike McCarty]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  
> >I did find this...
> >
> ># cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/irq
> >-1
> >
> >And -1 happens to be what tunelp reports.
> >
> >I wonder whether putting a 7 in there would help
> >any.
> >
>  
>  Well, I have 7 in there, and "tunelp /dev/lp0" returns
>  /dev/lp0 using IRQ 7
>  
>  But I suspect you will get the same error as with tunelp.
>  What you may want to do is the next time you boot the system,
>  go into the BIOS setup and check the mode, and if it has an
>  IRQ assigned to it. 
I can't modify the "file". (Yes, I was root.)

> ># cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/modes
> >PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP
> >
> >Hmm. EPP looks ok, I guess. I dunno what PCSPP means.
> >
>  
>  I forget what it stands for, but I believe that is the mode where
>  the port uses DMA for transfers.
>  
>  
> ># cat /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport0/spintime
> >500
> >
> >I wonder whether tuning this might speed things up?
> >
>  
>  Well, that is one of the things that tunelp is supposed to be tweak.
>  You may want to use tunelp instead of writing it directly. 
It seems that tunelp cannot modify that, either.

BIOS Reports I/O 378, IRQ 7, ECP mode.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mike McCarty]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  
>  Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page. 
UPDATE:

I finally bit the bullet, and got out an old adaptor I made
with both a male and a female connector on each end, and my
'scope, and looked at the lines. Well, the timing I looked
at seemed odd. I saw long periods of time with very brief
exchanges (like a few bytes), with the printer printing
along, then a furious burst of what looked like normal
timing, followed by long periods again. I also saw the
BUSY line active for seconds at a time. Hmm.

So, as an experiment, I waited until the comm seemed quiescent,
and pulled the cable. The printer continued to print for a
few minutes, then started flashing the "error" light, indicating
"loss of comm". I plugged in the cable for a second, and the printer
was happy again, and I withdrew the cable, and the printer
merrily printed for another few minutes. I did this for an
entire page, which came out printed perfectly.

Sooo... communication time is not the culprit. For some
reason, the printer is very very slow when printing these
images.

I wonder what is going on inside there? And how did it print
a page one time in less than three minutes?

Perhaps I should investigate the default dpi...

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

RESOLVED: Re: OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[Mike McCarty]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  
>  Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page. 
Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

Success at last! Using GNOME I edited the printer driver options
to "Prerender Postscript" enabled, and I have now printed a 26
page document (which includes the "test page" I've been printing)
start to finish, including queueing time and one paper jam I had
to clear in just under six minutes. That's just about four pages a
minute. Just the one "test page" was taking over twenty minutes.
That's more than 80x speedup.

So, one misconception I had was that this is not a postscript
capable printer. Apparently it is. But the postcript interpreting
engine is S-L-O-W.

Pre-rendering was the trick.

Thanks all for your time and help.

Where should we make note of this, if at all?

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

RESOLVED: Re: OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[Kam Leo]

On 2/8/06, Mike McCarty <mike.mccarty(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  > Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  >
>  > Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  > unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>
>  Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!
>
>  Success at last! Using GNOME I edited the printer driver options
>  to "Prerender Postscript" enabled, and I have now printed a 26
>  page document (which includes the "test page" I've been printing)
>  start to finish, including queueing time and one paper jam I had
>  to clear in just under six minutes. That's just about four pages a
>  minute. Just the one "test page" was taking over twenty minutes.
>  That's more than 80x speedup.
>
>  So, one misconception I had was that this is not a postscript
>  capable printer. Apparently it is. But the postcript interpreting
>  engine is S-L-O-W.
>
>  Pre-rendering was the trick.
>
>  Thanks all for your time and help.
>
>  Where should we make note of this, if at all?
>
>  Mike
>  
You might try the CUPS site. I believe they have an FAQ.  Also your
experience is not unique. Many people with old postscript printers
forget that the engine in thoses things run in the 10s of megahertz.
Today's desktop/laptop processor is at minimum an order of magnitude
faster so it makes more sense to perform the rendering at the host.

RESOLVED: Re: OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[Fred Smith]

On Wed, Feb 08, 2006 at 11:07:49AM -0800, Kam Leo wrote:
>  On 2/8/06, Mike McCarty <mike.mccarty(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; wrote:
>  > Mike McCarty wrote:
>  > > Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  > >
>  > > Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  > > unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>  >
>  > Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!
>  >
>  > Success at last! Using GNOME I edited the printer driver options
>  > to "Prerender Postscript" enabled, and I have now printed a 26
>  > page document (which includes the "test page" I've been printing)
>  > start to finish, including queueing time and one paper jam I had
>  > to clear in just under six minutes. That's just about four pages a
>  > minute. Just the one "test page" was taking over twenty minutes.
>  > That's more than 80x speedup.
>  >
>  > So, one misconception I had was that this is not a postscript
>  > capable printer. Apparently it is. But the postcript interpreting
>  > engine is S-L-O-W.
>  >
>  > Pre-rendering was the trick.
>  >
>  > Thanks all for your time and help.
>  >
>  > Where should we make note of this, if at all?
>  >
>  > Mike
>  >
>  
>  You might try the CUPS site. I believe they have an FAQ.  Also your
>  experience is not unique. Many people with old postscript printers
>  forget that the engine in thoses things run in the 10s of megahertz.
>  Today's desktop/laptop processor is at minimum an order of magnitude
>  faster so it makes more sense to perform the rendering at the host.
>   
I've got a Lexmark Optra Color 40, Postscript inkjet printer. Its engine
is also fairly slow, but nothing like as slow as the OP describes
his HP printer to be. Sometimes it takes a while to get a page out of
it, for complex pages, so maybe I'll try the 'pre-render' thing too.


-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex(a)fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
   "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged 
   sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; 
              it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  
---------------------------- Hebrews 4:12 (niv) ------------------------------

RESOLVED: Re: OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[taharka]

Howdy Mike,

On Wed, 2006-02-08 at 12:52 -0600, Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Mike McCarty wrote:
>  > Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  > 
>  > Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  > unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page.
>  
>  Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!
>  
>  Success at last! Using GNOME I edited the printer driver options
>  to "Prerender Postscript" enabled, and I have now printed a 26
>  page document (which includes the "test page" I've been printing)
>  start to finish, including queueing time and one paper jam I had
>  to clear in just under six minutes. That's just about four pages a
>  minute. Just the one "test page" was taking over twenty minutes.
>  That's more than 80x speedup. 
So, you want to run that past me/us again? I assume you used gedit
(gnome editor)? And exactly what path/file did you edit? Inquiring minds
want to know ;-)

taharka

Lexington, Kentucky U.S.A.

RESOLVED: Re: OT(?) FC2 Very slow printing to HP DeskJet 870Cse

[Mike McCarty]

taharka wrote:
>  Howdy Mike,
>  
>  So, you want to run that past me/us again? I assume you used gedit
>  (gnome editor)? And exactly what path/file did you edit? Inquiring minds
>  want to know ;-) 
No, I used the "GNOME Print Queue Properties Editor".

At the bottom of my screen, I see an icon of a printer.
I clicked on that. It can also be started by clicking 
[RedHat]->SystemSettings->Printing, which goes directly to
"Printer Configuration".

Anyway, using the icon on the "task bar" at the bottom
brings up the "GNOME Print Manager". Right clicking on
a queue associated with the printer and selecting Properties
brings up "Printer Configuration", which shows all
queues associated with the printer, associated with that queue.
(Hard to understand here. I mean that there is a printer
associated with the queue one clicked on to change Properties.
The next box shows all queues associated with that printer.)

Right clicking on the queue and selecting "Edit" brings up
"Edit a Print Queue". Clicking on the "Driver Options" tab
allows one to select or deselect "Prerender Postscript".
I clicked it to make a check mark appear there. That had to
be done for all queues associated with the printer. Then I
clicked "Apply" in the "Printer Configuration" dialogue box.

I hope that was clear.

I use FC2, so YMMV.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!

[Mike McCarty]

Mike McCarty wrote:
>  Off topic due to age of FC2?
>  
>  Anyway, have installed an HP DeskJet 870Cse, and it prints
>  unbearably slowly, like 30 minutes per page. 
Well, the one queue works fine, now, but the "two up"
queue I created which prints two up now does not.
First, it no longer prints "two up" but "one up".
And, it is still slow. Interesting. But at least my
printer is usable now.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!