[PLUG] LJ5 Envelope Printing

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Thu Jan 24 18:42:46 UTC 2013


On Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:41:15 -0800 (PST)
Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> dijo:

>I need to be able to print envelopes on my LJ5 from a file created by
>LibreOffice-3.5.5.3. I created the envelope template in 2003 with
>whatever version of OO.o was then available. It worked until OO.o was
>supplanted by LO; hasn't worked since and it's time for me to resolve
>this issue.
>
>Part of the problem is most likely within LO and I've just subscribed to
>that mail list to ask for help from them on why, when I try to print
>the envelope directly to the printer, CUPS doesn't move the bits to
>the printer because the rastorizer fails.
>
>Trying an alternate route I print to a .pdf file. When I try to print the
>file using lpr, the printer gets all upset because the paper size is
>not expected. I can print the file to an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper,
>but not to a commercial size 10 envelope. It's the latter that
>confuses the printer.
>
>Do I need to manually set the printer for the envelope? I assumed that the
>paper size and orientation was sent to the printer with the document,
>but since the image on a letter-size page is centered rather than on
>the left (but it is in landscape mode) perhaps the paper sensor is
>missing the envelope so it just feeds through with a nice curl to it.

My first thought is that over many years of printing with Windows and
Linux to various laser printers the one thing that is a constant PITA
is getting the page orientation right. The cause of this problem is
that there are three programs telling the printer what to do: The
program inside the printer, the application on your computer that you
are printing from, and the printer driver and how you have set it up on
your computer. I swear that even when I am careful to make sure that
all three are saying the same thing I still get unexpected results. And
for some reason PDF files are the worst. PDF files are so bad that I
always print just the first page to make sure that the orientation is
right before I send the entire file. 

As for specifically printing envelopes, I would start by making sure
that the driver lists #10 envelope as an option. If not (or even if it
does) you need a different driver. I have a LJ4+ and there are so many
different drivers available for it that it makes me dizzy. I imagine
the LJ5 is the same, since these printers are very popular in spite of
their age. 

I never print envelopes on my LJ4+ because I find the curl
unacceptable. Instead, I created an envelope template where the
inside address is positioned perfectly for a window envelope. But I did
try printing envelopes a few times before giving up and, if I recall
correctly, I had to move the sliders in the manual tray to feed the
envelope in the center. Looking at the manual tray on my LJ4+ just now
I see the Avery label I placed on it marking the position is still
there, together with instructions to myself "feed print side
up" (another PITA that is easy to mess up).

I don't know why the rasterizer is not sending the job to the printer,
but there ought to be some error messages somewhere. I would check the
usual suspects, starting with var/log/messages. 



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