[Mageia-discuss] HP printing issue

[TJ]

I have an Officejet 6110 with the duplexer attachment. The way it's 
supposed to work to print a multipage document using that duplexer, the 
first page prints, the printer pauses to let the ink dry, and then draws 
the paper back into the duplexer where it is "flipped" over so the other 
side is presented to the print head for the second page. At the end of 
the second page the paper is put into the "out" tray.

If I'm printing a job with an even number of pages, all works fine. But, 
if the job has an odd number of pages, that last odd page will be drawn 
back into the duplexer - and it stays there. Every time. Mageia says the 
job is done, but the printer says it isn't. Using the cancel button on 
the printer does nothing. To get the paper to eject, I have to cycle the 
power button on the printer.

Having little knowledge of the guts of this stuff, I have no idea if 
this is a HPLIP issue, a CUPS issue, or something else altogether. I see 
that Mageia uses hplip 3.11.3a. I had the same problem with Mandriva 
2010.1/2, using hplip 3.10.2. I did not have it with earlier Mandrivas.

A workaround is easy enough, if a bit annoying. If I have an odd-paged 
document, I print all but the last page duplexed, and then print the 
last page as a separate job. Not exactly elegant, but it gets the job done.

It shouldn't have to be this way. If somebody knows what is the source 
of this issue and who to notify about it and how, I'd be happy to tell 
them about it. As it is, all I have is my annoying workaround.

TJ