Problem with pdfs on Canon Pixma MX880

[JeanI]

My Canon Pixma MX880 is using CUPS + Gutenprint v.5.2.9. Everything else is printing fine, but it now misbehaving with pdfs. It only ever prints them in greyscale, and ignores the double-sided setting. Sometimes it prints an entire page of solid black ink. On these occasions, it will print double-sided, thus wasting half a cartridge of black ink! Has anybody seen this before, and do you have any clues how to fix it?

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

Hello Jeanl,
The way to debug the printer is to specify the exact parameters to print with in the print dialog. If there is a mistake in the printer driver logic, then we should notice it using such specification.

So could you please print (using the Firefox browser to print 1 page from the web, for example) specifying the following for the printer parameters:

For color:

1. media: plain
2. color model: RGB
3. resolution modes:
   1. 600x600 DPI HIGH
   2. 600x600 DPI
   3. 600x600 DPI DRAFT
   4. 300x300 DPI
   5. 300x300 DPI DRAFT
4. inkset: CMYK

For black and white:

1. media: plain
2. color model: RGB
3. resolution modes:
   1. 600x600 DPI HIGH
   2. 600x600 DPI
   3. 600x600 DPI DRAFT
   4. 300x300 DPI
   5. 300x300 DPI DRAFT
4. inkset: K

Please let me know how/if all these modes printed.
Best regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug