PDFs print on wrong paper size [SOLVED: kcontrol set locale]

erik258 · Last edited by erik258 on Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

I used to be able to print PDF files just fine. I used xpdf and the command-line program lp to print with CUPs. Recently I installed kghostview to view PDF files instead -- my guests wanted a more full-featured PDF viewer. Now, when I print pdf documents with either xpdf or kghostview, they print as if on a legal paper size: there is about 4 or 5 inches of margin at the top, and the printing then extends past the bottom of my US Letter size paper.

If it would just start printing at the top of the page, everything would be fine. What I would really like is for kghostview to honor the page sizes I tell it to use. Good thing I did my taxes long ago!

Has anyone else had this problem?
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wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

Have you tried looking through kghostview's configuration? From your story, it looks as if it's changed a setting somewhere that xpdf uses as well. Looking at the configuration from kghostview may reduce the number of places you have to search.

[Edit] I haven't been able to find a config file that lays down the page size but starting it here and clicking on "Print" and then "Properties" for the EpsonD88 inkjet which is the default printer, showed the page size set to A4 (under "General"), under Driver Settings it showed all the CUPS settings.

However, printing failed with a popup headed "Catastrophe! Knotify" which said that "cupsdoprint" couldn't be found.

kghostview uses libkdeprint and there have been problems between libkdeprint and CUPS in the past though this may be part of KDE (XFCE4 in use here) which it depends on but hasn't been installed.
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erik258 · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject:

I have tried several different things, including changing paper and margin size, but I haven't found the magic buttons yet.
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wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

You do have your printer set up to use "Media Size: Letter" by default, don't you?
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erik258 · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject:

Page size in Cups is and always has been US letter.

I have found a .pdf that works. It isn't the one I need to print, but it does print (and show in kghostview) at the right page size. It looks like my form thinks it's supposed to go on a legal sized paper because In KGhostview, View->Paper Size when set to "Auto" is legal sized (longer than the text on the page) and File->Print->Properties->Paper Size in kghostview (it's actually kprinter that is responsible for the dialog box) is also set to US Letter.

The problem then is that kghostview doesn't seem to resize the pages so that they fit on the page. It just prints them out as they are shown on the screen, with 4 or 5 extra margin inches on top. Since my pages are letter size, that means the print goes off the bottom of the page and starts nearly halfway down the page.

Thanks for all your suggestions, Wynn. If you think of anything else I'll be happy to give it a try.
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wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

I can only suggest a bug report: this could get kghostview fixed if it's broken or get you an explanation and a workaround.

I haven't thought of Googling: http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-print&m=101620425430984&w=2 (a bit old "Date: 2002-03-15 14:55:28")

erik258 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

That's a good idea, I think I will. It looks like I'm not the only one that this has happened to. Besides, kde apps make it easy to file bug reports.
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erik258 · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:01 pm Post subject:

Well, this isn't quite a bug. It's a KDE configuration thing.

If you install kde all at once, and use it as a desktop environment, you probably set up your locale and everything right away, the first time you log in to kde. However, if you compile kde applications alone, you may not be aware that you need to set your local with the 'kcontrol' control panel. Once I set that to US, the page size was correctly set in kghostview.
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wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

I'm glad you managed to get that sorted out.

I shy away from Gnome and KDE just because there is so much going on under the hood that I don't know about.
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erik258 · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:36 pm Post subject:

Exactly my opinion. Too big and too memory-intensive. : )
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