Bug 690511

Summary: PostScript of ps2write causes error on HP LaserJet 4350 and P3005
Product: Ghostscript Reporter: Till Kamppeter <till.kamppeter>
Component: PS WriterAssignee: Ken Sharp <ken.sharp>
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX    
Severity: normal    
Priority: P4    
Version: master   
Hardware: PC   
OS: Linux   
Customer: Word Size: ---
Attachments: input.pdf

Description Till Kamppeter 2009-06-03 08:07:47 UTC 
If you convert the attached PDF file to PostScript with

gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sDEVICE=ps2write -sOUTPUTFILE=%stdout
-dLanguageLevel=2 -r600 -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=595 -dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=842
input.pdf > output.ps

the resulting file gets displayed perfectly with Ghostscript but if you send it
to an HP LaserJet 4350 or P3005 unfiltered, for example via

nc -w1 192.168.2.110 9100 < output.ps

The first 9 pages get printed and then a page containing:

ERROR:
typecheck
OFFENDING COMMAND:
known

The remaining pages do not get printed.
Comment 1 Till Kamppeter 2009-06-03 08:10:49 UTC 
Created attachment 5070 [details]
input.pdf
Comment 2 Alex Cherepanov 2009-06-04 14:46:01 UTC 
Testing on Ghostscript shows that the operands of the operator "known"
are valid and page is 9 similar to other pages.
IMHO this problem cannot be solved without experiments with the printer.
The printer costs about $250 on ebay.
Comment 3 Ray Johnston 2009-06-04 14:53:25 UTC 
The only other way to solve this is to modify the error handler in the
ps2write header to print more detail, but if our ps2write works on most
printers (and "real Adobe PS" printers) we cannot spend time on somebody
else's (HP's) broken PS interpreter.
Comment 4 Marcos H. Woehrmann 2009-06-08 10:15:09 UTC 
I own an HP P3005 printer and so did some testing.

Page 9 is missing a portion of the page header, it's supposed to say

  "LOVE AND MONEY"

but instead

  "LOVE A"

is printed.

The problem goes away if the you only convert through page 41 with Ghostscript, i.e. this command 
line results in a PostScript file that the printer is willing to print

  bin/gs -sDEVICE=ps2write -o output.ps -dFirstPage=9 -dLastPage=41 input.pdf

but this command line 

  bin/gs -sDEVICE=ps2write -o output.ps -dFirstPage=9 -dLastPage=42 input.pdf

produces the error when the output.ps file is printed (the other command line options listed in 
comment #0 are not needed to reproduce the problem).