Nevertheless, every now and then, some app insists on using A4. It would seem like the wrong default (A4 printing on letter paper loses some lines at the bottom. The reverse does not have that problem.) Anyway, this is a really tiresome battle. I want to shoot down dead forever this A4 monster so I don’t have to worry about it any more. How do I do that? (All my printers are configured as using letter paper. One printer is kind enough to upgrade my A4 print jobs to legal, except it is rotated 90 degrees and loses even more lines than if it were on letter paper.) It really should not be so difficult. Thanks.
A lot depends on what applications you are using. OpenOffice allows you to set paper size globally and for each document. If you use KDE applications, there is an option under Properties to configure the paper size. If you always use Legal, ‘Save’ the changes as your default and this will be used by all KDE related programs; if you need to print a different size, you can select it but not save it and when you next open a KDE application, it will revert to ‘Legal’.
.
Thanks. Found the global KDE setting and it seems I had found it previously. It is set to “letter”. I was using Firefox, not Kbrowser when I encountered the issue. But, I tried it again and it printed correctly, so maybe the printer was in some funny state. Who knows? It’s too complicated to see an obvious cause. 
Thank you.
Still not done. I set OpenOffice to letter. I set KDE to letter. I configured CUPS to letter. I just used enscript. A4 again. Lost a half inch of crucial text. Letter is smaller than A4. If it is necessary to frustrate everyone by making it next to impossible to change paper type, why not at least choose the smaller paper size so at least everything is printed? >:-(
bkorb wrote:
>
> Still not done. I set OpenOffice to letter. I set KDE to letter. I
> configured CUPS to letter. I just used enscript. A4 again. Lost a
> half inch of crucial text. Letter is smaller than A4. If it is
> necessary to frustrate everyone by making it next to impossible to
> change paper type, why not at least choose the smaller paper size so at
> least everything is printed? >:-(
>
>
bkorb;
Have you set the paper size with printmanager and/or directly in cups
(http://localhost:631/printers/)?
P. V.
Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Have you had a look at /etc/papersize file? Try changing the string from ‘a4’ to ‘letter’.
I think some older apps (like xpdf and enscript) still check this config file for paper size.
bkorb wrote:
> Nevertheless, every now and then, some app insists on using A4. It
> would seem like the wrong default (A4 printing on letter paper loses
> some lines at the bottom. The reverse does not have that problem.)
> Anyway, this is a really tiresome battle. I want to shoot down dead
> forever this A4 monster so I don’t have to worry about it any more.
> How do I do that? (All my printers are configured as using letter
> paper. One printer is kind enough to upgrade my A4 print jobs to
> legal, except it is rotated 90 degrees and loses even more lines than
> if it were on letter paper.) It really should not be so difficult.
> Thanks.
>
>
In the future a thread like this might be better suited in the Software
forum as this has nothing to do with the Install/Boot/Login of the OS.
``In the future a thread like this might be better suited in
the Software forum as this has nothing to do with the
Install/Boot/Login of the OS.’’
Perhaps. It is at install time that I feel the pain, though.
Next time, “software” it is.
Anyway, three weeks later and I’m still screwing around with
finding new places where the string “A4” got hidden away and
causing my print jobs to get mutilated or forcing me to go
through several layers of menus to set paper type on each and
every print request. The installation process needs to set
the paper type correctly in all the hidden places.
Yes, I am frustrated and irritated. It has been THREE weeks.
Also:
$ cat /etc/papersize
letter
so that is not it. /etc/cups/ppd/bunker.ppd has:
*DefaultPageSize: Letter
yet jobs that go there want to print in A4.
``Have you set the paper size with printmanager and/or
directly in cups (http://localhost:631/printers/)?’’
I’ve been through the cups configury more often than I can count.
I surely don’t know where to find paper size in there.
“Modify Printer” is simply way too obvious a choice for such a
thing, and it is not in there. And I’ve set my locale to
US English, so that should hint at “letter” size. I did find
reference to using ``-o media=Letter’’ on all my print jobs.
That would suck. Especially since more often than not I’m
printing from FireFox or Thunderbird. But those apps prefer to
use the system setting and the system setting does not seem to
be either /etc/papersize or the KDE properties setting.
So, to me this feels like an installation issue because you generally want to solve it at install time. My installation suggestions:
- default to “letter” because it is smaller than A4.
- come up with an installation script that will hunt down
every last place where primary applications (FireFox,
OpenOffice, Thunderbird, KDE, CUPS, etc. etc) hide the
keyword “letter” and make it possible to easily replace it
with “A4” - Once the list of paper size config files has been assembled,
publish the thing in a Google-able place so folks with old
software (like SuSE 11.0) can go back and fix things up.
This whole thing is really, really tiresome. 
Sorry to rant
so much.
> This whole thing is really, really tiresome. Sorry to rant
> so much.
yep, sometimes a good rant is “good for the soul”…so might be to
think about all the other things good which you can have with the
money you saved by not following the M$ herd…
by the way, i had the opposite problem some years back when i used A4
and the software of that day (OS/2 from a little company named IBM)
insisted on hiding “letter” in numerous places just to get under my
skin…(in other words, i do feel for you)…it took me a lot more
than three weeks to solve (with a VERY active newsnet group
helping)!! </sigh.>
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315) via NNTP, Thunderbird 2.0.0.14, KDE
3.5.7, SUSE Linux 10.3, 2.6.22.18-0.2-default #1 SMP i686 athlon
bkorb wrote:
<snip>
> ``Have you set the paper size with printmanager and/or
directly in cups (http://localhost:631/printers/)?‘’
I’ve been through the cups configury more often than I can count.
I surely don’t know where to find paper size in there.
“Modify Printer” is simply way too obvious a choice for such a
thing, and it is not in there. And I’ve set my locale to
US English, so that should hint at “letter” size. I did find
reference to using ``-o media=Letter’’ on all my print jobs.
> That would suck. Especially since more often than not I’m
> printing from FireFox or Thunderbird. But those apps prefer to
> use the system setting and the system setting does not seem to
> be either /etc/papersize or the KDE properties setting.
>
<snip>
bkorb;
Paper Size in under the “Set printer options” tab, listed under each printer.
http://localhost:631/printers/; find your printer in the list; choose “Set
Printer Options”.
P. V.
Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Paper Size in under the “Set printer options” tab, listed under each printer.
http://localhost:631/printers/; find your printer in the list; choose “Set
Printer Options”.P. V.
Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Not nearly as simple as this unfortunately. Have a thorough read of this thread.
On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:56:04 GMT
bkorb <bkorb@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> ``In the future a thread like this might be better suited in
the Software forum as this has nothing to do with the
Install/Boot/Login of the OS.‘’
Perhaps. It is at install time that I feel the pain, though.
Next time, “software” it is.Anyway, three weeks later and I’m still screwing around with
finding new places where the string “A4” got hidden away and
causing my print jobs to get mutilated or forcing me to go
through several layers of menus to set paper type on each and
every print request. The installation process needs to set
the paper type correctly in all the hidden places.
Yes, I am frustrated and irritated. It has been THREE weeks.Also:
$ cat /etc/papersize
letterso that is not it. /etc/cups/ppd/bunker.ppd has:
*DefaultPageSize: Letter
yet jobs that go there want to print in A4.``Have you set the paper size with printmanager and/or
directly in cups (http://localhost:631/printers/)?‘’I’ve been through the cups configury more often than I can count.
I surely don’t know where to find paper size in there.
“Modify Printer” is simply way too obvious a choice for such a
thing, and it is not in there. And I’ve set my locale to
US English, so that should hint at “letter” size. I did find
reference to using ``-o media=Letter’’ on all my print jobs.
> That would suck. Especially since more often than not I’m
> printing from FireFox or Thunderbird. But those apps prefer to
> use the system setting and the system setting does not seem to
> be either /etc/papersize or the KDE properties setting.
>
> So, to me this feels like an installation issue because you generally
> want to solve it at install time. My installation suggestions:
> 1. default to “letter” because it is smaller than A4.
> 2. come up with an installation script that will hunt down
> every last place where primary applications (FireFox,
> OpenOffice, Thunderbird, KDE, CUPS, etc. etc) hide the
> keyword “letter” and make it possible to easily replace it
> with “A4”
> 3. Once the list of paper size config files has been assembled,
> publish the thing in a Google-able place so folks with old
> software (like SuSE 11.0) can go back and fix things up.
>
> This whole thing is really, really tiresome.Sorry to rant
> so much.
>
>
I certainly don’t want to upset anyone, wouldn’t want to inadvertantly offend by asking questions that might already have been asked… would anyone
be upset if I tried?
Hi. I’m Loni.
May I help?
–
L R Nix
lornix@lornix.com
> I certainly don’t want to upset anyone, wouldn’t want to
> inadvertantly offend by asking questions that might already have
> been asked… would anyone be upset if I tried?
>
> Hi. I’m Loni.
>
> May I help?
well of course you can help!
and, i’d guess this guy has had so much trouble and advice that has
not helped, that after you solve his problem he might be the FIRST of
many who want to drop a virtual coin in your Tip Jar…
–
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315) via NNTP, Thunderbird 2.0.0.14, KDE
3.5.7, SUSE Linux 10.3, 2.6.22.18-0.2-default #1 SMP i686 athlon
On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:44:33 GMT
DenverD <DenverD@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> > I certainly don’t want to upset anyone, wouldn’t want to
> > inadvertantly offend by asking questions that might already have
> > been asked… would anyone be upset if I tried?
> >
> > Hi. I’m Loni.
> >
> > May I help?
>
> well of course you can help!
> and, i’d guess this guy has had so much trouble and advice that has
> not helped, that after you solve his problem he might be the FIRST of
> many who want to drop a virtual coin in your Tip Jar…
>
{Grin} We’ll see… wanted to see if he still wanted help, got all grumpy
towards the end. {Smile}
You make me sound like some sort of miracle worker though… I’m just lil’
ol’ me… I make things work.
Loni
–
L R Nix
lornix@lornix.com
``bkorb;
Paper Size in under the “Set printer options” tab, listed under each printer.’’
Thank you. I did find that long before 3 weeks had elapsed. I’ve got Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office all printing to letter now. To fix T-Bird, I had to search some directory named ~/.thunderbird/$@&*#^$&^.default for a file named pref and hand edit the thing. Anyway, enscript still seems to like A4 much better than letter. And to the poster who talked of saving money: forget it. The time I’ve wasted on this nonsense issue massively overwhelms any “savings”.
Have you tried setting the driver options for your printer in YaST2 → Printer?
Yes, I used YAST long, long before I started posting. I wound up using configured options to enscript to get it to use 8.5 X 11 inch paper, and with finding the magic file within the ~/.mozilla directory, I’ve got what I need. Oh, wait, one remaining hang out item I’ve never figured out: Firefox doesn’t like to automatically wrap lines, so when lines are too long, it uses overlapped printing to keep it all on one line. This is likely the wrong forum for that, but still and all, not an especially clever design decision.
I doubt it is a design decision on the part of mozilla, it sounds more like a straight forward bug, which you could report.
Don’t forget
ControlPanel
-> Regional and Accessibilty
-> Country Regionand Language
-> Other
Not obvious is it?