Why does Ubuntu add a .5" margin to the top when printing to my HP PSC-750?

Question

It's that time of year again when I'm trying to print off all my tax forms. When I print to my printer, an HP PSC-750, from Ubuntu, I consistently get a 1/2" margin at the top of the document. According to this page however, the top margin required by the printer is only .07".

In previous releases of Ubuntu (such as the 10.04 prerelease I was running this time last year), it appears that something in the print pipeline would automatically scale the output to fit these margins. This year, 12.04 Beta is trying to use the whole page (unless I manually tell it to scale and manually tell it to use a 1/2" margin), resulting in part of the text being cut off.

Does anyone know why, when using the default print driver provided by Ubuntu, the printer would behave this way? I see the same behavior whether I have the printer connected directly to my laptop, or if I use my Debian stable server as a print server. Is this a problem with the printer itself? The strange 1/2" top margin has always been a problem since it was first purchased, but I've only ever used it with Linux, never with Windows, so I can't say whether this is a Linux-specific problem.

Answer 1

It sounds like it's not printing with the correct page size. Please check the default setting in System Settings / Printing / [your printer] / Properties / Printer Options.

If you are sure the page size is correct, please file a bug on launchpad and attach the CUPS error log right after you printed something with wrong margins [1]. Feel free to assign me so that I find it quicker ;) (larsu)

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems#CUPS_error_log

Answer 2

I'm having the same problem. My printouts are cut.

System is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with HP Photosmart 6510 printer.

Here what I found (talking about A4 and cm, however, should be the same with Letter and inches, I just cannot try it with my setup)

1. Printer (at least mine) has a "scale-to-fit" options which allows pdf to be rendered properly. The printout is scaled down, so it is smaller, but the margins are looking good.

   Printers -> -> Job Options -> scale-to-fit

   This is of course not acceptable for predefined paper positions or if I want data to be as large as possible (for me Music Sheets and Labels for CDs)

   so there is

2. the option to use the full paper size

   During print:

   Page Setup -> Paper Size -> ... Borderless ...

   This allows to print pages without borders.

Hope this helps to solve you problem as well ;-)

Klaus

Answer 3

Historically, many printers have not been able to print to the edges of the paper. It quickly became standard practice to leave a 1/2" margin all the way around. In some cases it is even enforced by printer drivers. It looks better, is convenient for holding papers in your hands, for binding them on the left or top, and for writing notes in the margins so today most programs default to having 1/2" margins.

If your printer driver will permit it, most programs that can print will also allow you to adjust the margins. You may even be able to set the default margins in whatever program(s) you use.

Answer 4

Solved by deleting printer in System->Administration->Printers and reinstalling it with another driver.

Ubuntu is 12.04 LTS (Precise).

Printer is HP Officejet G55.

Actual (good) driver is "HP OfficeJet G55 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.8-pre1".

Previous (bad) driver was "HP Officejet g55, hpcups 3.12.2".

Noted that Ubuntu "Printer test page" border adjust to hardware margins.

Answer 5

I solved this issue - HP Officejet 6500 Wireless and 12.04 LTS - by changing the driver. First go the the printer window and remove the printer. Then add a new printer and choose the proper driver (the one including hpcups was the wrong one and the one including hpijs was ok).

Margins are now back to normal.