i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

Yes, it's that bad.

Well, okay, I am not the brightest lightbulb in the pack. I get tunnel vision. I can't see the forest for the trees. More cliches here.

...

But, in any event. When we last left our interpid hero, he was trying to print out a 48 page pdf file, scattered over 10 files and 20mb.

Now, things would not have gotten derailed. But, printing 10 copies of 10 files and keeping all the pages straight was a nightmare. So, I decided to paste them all together. That way, I could tell a program, "print 10 copies duplex, two pages per side". And after a lapse of time during which all my robotic equipment happily mowed down the forest, all my documents would be printed and ready to mail out.

Which would not have been a problem had I done so in the Proprietary Program. Which, btw, works just fine in Virtualbox. But, it takes time to start up Virtualbox, etc., so I wanted a more linux-y solution. I got pigheaded (and it cost me).

Gscan2pdf would glue the files together and works really great at this -- for image only files. It does not process pdf form/text files, since it is in essence, a scanning program. So, as we will recall from prior episodes, I converted my gaggle of pdf files to djvu with pdf2djvu. That was easy. Gscan2pdf merged them. That was easy. So far so good.

And now, on to the "totally derailed" part of the story. None of the programs I have installed is very adept at printing djvu files. Don't ask me what happens. Everything melts down. There's no reason for this, because here's the thing: I print 50 page pdf files via kpdf all the time, with no problems. In case I'm not listening, let me repeat that: I print 50 page pdf files from kpdf all the time.

But, since I now had a 48 page djvu file, I also developed serious tunnel vision. Which is to say, I kept trying to find an avenue to print the djvu, 10 copies, duplex, two on a side. Because, that is where things become very efficient. Push "go" -- walk away.

NO way. I finally determined that Evince would (in fact) queue the file the way I wanted it. The only thing is -- and I don't know what happens -- but Evince creates really unmanageable files this way. Printing to the MFC8840DN was hopeless. It just doesn't have enough brains. Which, btw, does not make sense, since I print documents in precisely the same manner from kpdf all the time. (Am I listening yet?)

Printing on the MFC9840CDW was functional -- but only if two or less copies were queued. Queue 10? Forget it. Everything melts down. The computer locks up, the printer locks up, the other printer locks up.

Dang.

And the lockup on the MFC8840DN is a doozy. Which naturally, I recreated several times to see if I could understand what causes the lock-up. Since it takes um, several HOURS to clear, this was stupid. In fact, as I write this, I am waiting (hoping) that the lock-up will clear again.

What happens is, the printer prints two sheets -- that is, eight pages, and goes into perpetual "job in process" mode. It does not matter that the job is canceled and nowhere to be found in CUPS. Even worse, the computer and the printer have entered into a secret conspiratorial pact. I can shut both down, reboot -- and tada! The same (non-existent) job prints two sheets and locks up the printer again.

And, as an added bonus, on one particular re-boot, all of my printers disappeared out of CUPS.

Only by accident after a four-hour wait or something like that, did I discover the printer will at some point give up and re-set itself. And, while there may be a key sequence to manually trigger the re-set, I do not know what it is.

In the meantime, I had to run out and buy more toner for the 9840, cause (as mentioned) it more-or-less ran out. Well, it didn't run out yet, it is just griping about being "toner low."

Finally, after the Lakers beat the Celtics by one point in overtime, I was able to engage in rational thought.

I mean, the bottom line is -- I print large pdf files to the 8840 all the time. WTF?

WHAT WAS I THINKING??? It's all well and good to store the document in djvu for smaller size and easier handling. BUT THE PRINTING SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK. Now, class, what does that tell us?

Er, convert document from djvu to pdf?

Correctomundo, grasshopper. DJVIEW4 will very easily convert the document to pdf. And what do we know about pdf files? Oh ... WE REGULARLY PRINT THEM WITH KPDF WITH NO PROBLEM.

Was that so difficult?

YYYESSS!!!

Well, no, it didn't need to be. So, let's see:

1 - pdf2djvu will create djvu files from my pdf ones.
2 - gscan2pdf will then merge them together and save as one large file.
3 - djview4 will view AND easily convert back to a single, large, pdf file.
4 - kpdf will print out the new, large, pdf file just fine.
5 - can't print multiple copies because kpdf won't collate.

[However, right here I have to do some more tests. Because, my recollection seems to be that if I try to print multiple copies, kpdf won't collate them. Evince was doing fine in THIS dept. More to worry about. Can't do test till printer unlocks itself.]

Problem (somewhat) solved. Human still partially sane.

Thank you for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.

_____________________

printing tests, pdf file (instead of djvu):

Evince -- has similar problems printing the pdf file as djvu, and in addition, doesn't center pages correctly.
Okular -- prints only one copy, prints "A4" even though paper set to letter.
kpdf -- won't collate multiple copies
foxit for linux -- no longer runs in my kde4 install (segmentation fault)
adobe reader -- pages don't print correctly

MFC8840DN quite slow.

on Virtualbox and MFC9840CDW:
Acrobat -- attempted to collate, but second copy defective
Foxit 3.0 -- second side of duplex defective (on MFC8840DN, document ill-formatted and printer ejects massive numbers of pages of gibberish.