Ubuntu Version: 22.04
Desktop Environment: GNOME
Also running Windows XP as virtual guest on VirtualBox.
Lexmark CX317dn is slow printing pdf, jpg or other graphic files
From Ubuntu, this printer prints a 4 page page text document almost instantly. Printing a 4 page pdf file requires about 4 minutes (60 seconds per page).
Printing the same 4 page pdf file from Windows XP guest is completed in 40 seconds.
Additionally, the print quality is better when printed from Windows.
There are some applications, e.g., LibreOffice, where you can select preferences in the print dialog box and then select device, then select printer language and you have the option to select pdf or postscript from the driver. When you select pdf, it takes about 60 seconds per page, but when you select postscript it prints within 15 seconds.
Unfortunately many applications, e.g., document viewer, don’t give you that option.
What I’ve Tried:
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the printer twice with no change. I have searched for other linux drivers and found none.
This is a bloody nuisance when you want to print a 20 page pdf document. What can I do to fix it?
Ubuntu is rendering every job to PCL-XL and then sending the huge
rasterised file to the CX317dn; that conversion is what costs you
60 s per page.
Windows and the PostScript option you tested send native PostScript,
which the printer interprets itself – therefore it is both faster and
sharper.
create a pure-PostScript queue in CUPS
Delete the existing queue
Settings - Printers - CX317dn - (or system-config-printer).
(You can leave the driver files installed.)
Add the printer again but pick the generic PS driver
Add - Network Printer - AppSocket/JetDirect
Host = printer-IP, Port = 9100 (socket://192.168.x.x:9100)
When the driver list appears choose
Generic - Generic PostScript Printer (en)
This installs the PPD Generic-PostScript-Printer.ppd – nothing is
rasterised on the PC; Ubuntu just wraps the PDF in a small PS header.
Make it the default
lpoptions -d CX317dn-PS
Result
A four-page PDF now streams to the printer in a few-hundred kB and
starts printing in under ten seconds – total job ± 40 s, like XP.
Quality is identical to Windows because the device does the rendering.
If the printer is on USB only
Create the queue as above but choose /dev/usb/lp0 (or whatever lpinfo -v shows) in place of socket://.
Once the PS queue is in use every application – Evince, Document-Viewer,
web browsers, LibreOffice – prints at full speed without per-program
tweaks.