[mdlug] Printing a lousy #$%^&* envelope.

[Peter Bart]

On Wed, 2009-03-25 at 23:17 -0700, Michael S. Mikowski wrote:
> Ran into this today with my wife, who was getting frustrated.
> 
> She was trying to create an envelope use the 'insert envelope' option in 
> writer.  This proved buggy.  This on an hp6310, which has excellent support in 
> Linux (which is why I bought it!)

	I'm not so sure it's the fault of the printer. I have a Brother HL404cn
and it took me a few minutes using OO 3.0.1. It's never been easy.


> 
> Here is what worked for OOo 2.4.  YMMV:
> 0. Skip 'insert envelope'.  Simply create a new document.
> 
> 1. Pick format->page->page tab and under Format pick Env. #10, choose 
> Landscape orientation.
> 
> 2. Fill in your envelope
> 
> 3. Print envelope.  In the printing dialog, click on 'Properties', and:
> x paper size should show Env. #10
> x leave orientation as protrait
> x leave duplex as off
> ! On Paper Tray, pick envelope feeder.
> 

	Interesting, if I do that then the text goes the wrong way on the
envelope.


> On Tuesday 24 March 2009 18:55:33 Jim Broughton wrote:
> > l failure. I am quite angry.
> >  My printing system consists of a Brother 5150D postscript laser
> > printer accessed over the network via a netgear printserver.
> >  The printer has 1 tray for 8.5x11-14 paper and a fold out manual feed tray
> > for envelopes and the like. It never fails to print 8.5x11 documents some
> > even quite complex and duplexed as well.
> >   Try as I might I cannot get this system to print a lousy #10 commercial
> > envelope. I have used Openoffice 2.4, 3.0, Koffice writer, Adobe PDF reader
> > (after sending the output to a pdf from OOO or Koffice writer).  I have
> > tried
> > printing it stright up with the selection for the printer set to #10
> > envelope,
> > I have tried setting margins, rotating 360deg in 90deg incriments. Nothing.
> > The closest it came was Adobe PDF reader put something on the envelope but
> > whoever programmed the PDF converter for KDE and OOO did not force
> > embeded/outlined fonts so it just prints boxes where the letters should be.
> > This sucks. It should be a no brainer. Anyone else have problems with
> > printing envelopes under Linux?
> >

	I do so feel your pain. It's just one of those things. Here's what I
did. Bear in mind I'm also using a Brother with a fold out paper tray,
when the guides are adjusted the envelope sits in the middle. The side
to be printed is up and the flap is to the left. <Insert> <Envelope>,
under the format tab Addressee position from left set to 4.28" and from
top 2.08". Sender position from left set to 0.39" and from top 0.39".
Size format is Env. 10 which should be 9.50" x 4.13". Under the printer
tab, envelope orientation it shows me several different pictograms. I
use the one showing the envelope feeding with the short edge, and to the
far right of the ?tray?. Yes I know mine feeds in the middle. I select
print from bottom and shift right 1.50" and shift down 2.00". All those
settings appear to be saved so you shouldn't have to enter them again.
Just click insert envelope; fill in sender and recipient; and you're
there.

<soapbox warning>
	Do I feel that I should be able to select a No 10 envelope, how I feed
my envelope and be done. Certainly! But I don't know what has to go on
behind the scenes for that to happen. I just had the pleasure of setting
up; hopefully correctly; a dual boot XP/Linux notebook. XP did not
recognize anything, including the sata hard drive and the Realtek
ethernet adapter. I'd much rather spend my time formatting an envelope
than loading drivers! 

Best Regards,
-- 
Peter Bart <peter at petertheplumber.net>
Peter The Plumber