Okular can't print pdf.

deltasata · 04-21-2021, 02:48 AM

Okular can'r print pdf files. The document viewer prints it but all the fonts look bad (print preview works fine though). I don't know how to debug. So tired of this. What is the `cups`? Anyone can help? Thanks in advance.

floppy_stuttgart · 04-21-2021, 03:21 AM

Hello,
pdf can be a weird thing.
I would try the options after each (and keep the working one):
a) export to pdf (if it works on Okular; I dont know); then open the pdf in a pdfviewer and print from there
b) print to file (if it works on Okular; I dont know); then open the pdf in a pdfviewer and print from there
c) install the "cups-pdf" and print with "cups-pdf" into a file; then open the pdf in a pdfviewer and print from there

michaelk · 04-21-2021, 04:09 AM

What version of Ubuntu are you running?

Have you tried other readers like evince?

cups is the linux printing system. It is a print spooler that converts stuff you want to print into the print language the printer supports and sends it to the printer.

deltasata · 04-23-2021, 03:46 AM

I am on 20.04. Evince messes up the fonts (of a scientific paper prepared with latex, you can find one at say https://arxiv.org/pdf/2104.11171.pdf). Never faced these issues. In Okular if I do "print to file" it also messes up some of the fonts! Do not know where to start from.

shruggy · 04-23-2021, 04:27 AM

Well, the only non-embedded font that document uses is Times-Roman (e.g in the vertically running text along the left margin arXiv:2104.11171v1 [astro-ph.CO] 22 Apr 2021). On Ubuntu 20.04, I have

Code:

$ fc-match Times-Roman
NimbusRoman-Regular.otf: "Nimbus Roman" "Regular"
$ fc-match Times-Roman:fontformat=Type\ 1
NimbusRoman-Regular.t1: "Nimbus Roman" "Regular"

Check your fontconfig settings, particularly /etc/fonts/conf.avail/30-metric-aliases.conf. Is the package fonts-urw-base35 installed? An older non-Unicode variant of this font is provided by package gsfonts:

Code:

$ fc-match 'Nimbus Roman No9 L'
n021003l.pfb: "Nimbus Roman No9 L" "Regular"

On my system, the CUPS charset for texttopdf filter points to pdf.utf-8.simple:

Code:

$readlink -e /usr/share/cups/charsets/pdf.utf-8
/usr/share/cups/charsets/pdf.utf-8.simple

which only references font alias monospace (well, technically also ARPLUmingCN for double-width, but I doubt you need it):

Code:

$ grep ^[^#] /usr/share/cups/charsets/pdf.utf-8
charset utf8
0000 04FF ltor single monospace monospace:bold monospace:oblique monospace:bold:oblique
0500 05FF rtol single monospace
3000 9FFF ltor double ARPLUmingCN

which, in turn, is provided by DejaVu Sans Mono from package fonts-dejavu-core

Code:

$ fc-match monospace
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"

The CUPS filters used to convert PDF are texttobrf, pdftopdf and pstotiff:

Code:

$ grep -h ^application/pdf /usr/share/cups/mime/*.convs|tr -s \\t
application/pdf	application/vnd.cups-brf	100	texttobrf
application/pdf	application/vnd.cups-pdf	66	pdftopdf
application/pdf image/tiff      80       pstotiff

application/vnd.cups-pdf is further converted like this:

Code:

$ grep -h ^application/vnd.cups-pdf /usr/share/cups/mime/*.convs
application/vnd.cups-pdf-banner	application/pdf			32	bannertopdf
application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-postscript	100	pdftops
application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-raster	99	gstoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf	image/pwg-raster		99	gstoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-raster	101	mupdftoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf	image/pwg-raster		101	mupdftoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-raster	100	pdftoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf	image/pwg-raster		100	pdftoraster
application/vnd.cups-pdf image/tiff 80 pstotiff

webertt · 04-25-2021, 08:33 PM

Interesting issue, never heard about this before

deltasata · 05-05-2021, 10:41 PM

Thanks for the reply but I am not sure how to troubleshoot. Funnily my office has three different computers, managed by three different people, all running on ubuntu 20.04 and all faces the similar issues with printing! The print previews are not good also.

deltasata · 05-05-2021, 10:47 PM

Interestingly, all the mac computers can print the same pdf files on the same printers without any issue, the fonts appear perfectly fine! I am absolutely sure that there is something funny going on in ubuntu 20.04 (18.04 also had issues to my opinion).

Is there any viable alternative to cups?

shruggy · 05-06-2021, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltasata

Is there any viable alternative to cups?

LPRng, but its last release was in 2012, and I'm not sure it will help you. AFAIK, macOS uses CUPS, too.

deltasata · 05-06-2021, 01:55 AM

If I print the pdf files from a usb drive, the printer could print it fine! Don't know what is the problem with my ubuntu now!

deltasata · 05-06-2021, 02:14 AM

After I deleted cups from my computer, still the print preview is bad with okular. Don't know what should I do. Feeling completely frustrated.

shruggy · 05-06-2021, 08:41 AM

Ok, let's eliminate the most obvious cause: incorrect font configuration or missing fonts.

Download the files base14-fonts.pdf and base14-fonts.png from the TeXworks repository. Open the PDF file in Okular and compare it to the PNG file as described in the README. They should be rendered identically.

deltasata · 05-06-2021, 10:47 PM

They (pdf, png given above) look pretty similar on okular. I found the problems with the scientific papers with figures made by newer matplotlib. My old papers look not that bad.

Edit: Courier looks slightly different in the pdf file though.

deltasata · 05-06-2021, 11:11 PM

I am so curious to know what is happening. So I explain the situation point-wise, please let me know what to blame according to you.
1. I can see some pdf files fine with okular but the print in the print previews okular messes up some fonts. What to blame-- okular or system fonts or cups?
2. Okular cannot print on any of the network printers installed. What to blame -- okular or cups?
3. Evince shows the pdf files fine, the print previews are also fine. From evince I can print also, but the print outs have very bad fonts. What to blame -- Evince or system fonts or cups?

Extra info: All mac computers can print the files perfectly. If I print the files from a usb drive, the printouts are fine. Google chrome can show the files fine, the print previews are also fine. But it can't print.

Edit 1: I found that my `pdf2ps` also mess up the fonts for those pdf files. By any chance okular uses pdf2ps while printing or showing print preview?

deltasata · 05-07-2021, 03:35 AM

I tried to reinstall ghostscript 9.54, same issues persist. FRUSTRATED....