ITEM: BA0821L

IBM 3112 printer leaves large bottom margin

ENV:
        AIX 3.2.5
        IBM 3112 laser print

DESC:
        I am trying to print a report and get about 80 to 85 lines
        per page.  However, after about 75 lines I get a form feed
        and printing continues on the next page, leaving a large
        (2 to 3 inch) margin at the bottom of the page.  This same
        job works fine on HP LaserJet and 4039 printers.  What can
        be done?

ACT:

  There are actually two courses of action.  The first is to
  use the 3112 virtual printer and make the changes as listed
  below.  The second is to add the printer as an HPLJ4 and then
  it will work just as the HPLJ4.  Caution: Some levels of HPLJ4
  have the wrong value for the second paper tray in the et 
  attribute.  Change the number '5' in this attribute to '4'
  and it will work fine.  Now for the longer way:

        Had you create a test file:

        \^[(s32H\^[s72V\^[&l5G
                followed by 82 lines of "lptest" output

        On any other printer you tried (4039, Optra, HPLJ4) this
        always prints on a single page.  On the 3112 printer, it
        prints 80 lines and then 2 lines on the next page.  The
        characters are the same size, etc but the bottom margin
        is larger.

        Examined PCL guide book and found some settings we should
        try in addition to the escape codes already used:

        \^[&l\#F                where \# is the desired number of lines
                        per page (pg 2-18 of Optra Tech Reference)

        \^[&l\#P                Page length (physical paper size)

        \^[E            Reset printer to all default values

To increase the size of the printable area of a page on the 3112:

        1 Select menus
        2 select more
        3 select network menu 1
        4 select printer setup menu
        5 select more
        6 select printable area
        7 select expanded (as opposed to normal)
        8 if desired, continue with additional menu selections
        9 save the network menu 1 settings (see page 7-1)

        If you skip 9, the settings are lost when you power off 
        the printer.

        We can recreate this problem on a 3112 or 3116 printer.
        We have been able to get around the problem using the 
        following steps:

        1) Set the desired number of lines per page using the
           printer's front panel (defaults to 60)

        2) Use splp to set page length to the desired number
           (Only important if you are using cat to print)

        These two alone are generally enough though the text is
        some-what squashed.  You may wish to use a smaller pitch
        in order to fit the text more nearly on the page.




Support Line: IBM 3112 printer leaves large bottom margin ITEM: BA0821L

Dated: October 1995 Category: N/A

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