The blog of Steve Root

  • Automatic Letterheads from a printer

    Some time ago I made our printer print letterheads on demand, and wrote the instructions here: https://www.steveroot.co.uk/2019/11/19/magic-letterhead-tray-making-preprinted-stationary-automatically-on-plain-white-paper/

    We’ve just replaced our printer with a new model, a Kyocera P7240cdn and that means I need to update cups with a new print queue that generates letterheads on demand for anything sent to that queue.

    Typically, it didn’t work first time. Checking the logs, and error file was created that said

    Error: /undefined in !R!RGBL0,0;RGBL1,0;RGBL2,0;HUE0,0;HUE1,0;HUE2,0;HUE3,0;HUE4,0;HUE5,0;HUE6,0;LGHT0,0;LGHT1,0;SATU0;EXIT;
Operand stack:

Execution stack:
   %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   1990   1   3   %oparray_pop   1989   1   3   %oparray_pop   1977   1   3   %oparray_pop   1833   1   3   %oparray_pop   --nostringval--   %errorexec_pop   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--
Dictionary stack:
   --dict:731/1123(ro)(G)--   --dict:0/20(G)--   --dict:75/200(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
Current file position is 261
GPL Ghostscript 9.50: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1

    From that I worked out that the new PPD file contained settings not seen in the old printer (P6035) starting with the section

    *JCLOpenUI *JCLRedLevel/RGB Level (Red): PickOne
*DefaultJCLRedLevel: None
*OrderDependency: 8 JCLSetup *JCLRedLevel
*JCLRedLevel None/Normal: "!R!RGBL0,0;"
*JCLRedLevel Minus10/-10: "!R!RGBL0,-10;"
*JCLRedLevel Minus9/-9: "!R!RGBL0,-9;"
*JCLRedLevel Minus8/-8: "!R!RGBL0,-8;"

    So I first removed the “!R!” thinking that caused the error, then the whole JCLRedLevel section, then finally removed about 300 lines of the PPD file from the JCLRedLevel section to the SATU0 section.

    With those lines gone, the script succesfully merged the PDF letterhead overlay onto the print file and everything worked.

    Update next day!
    Not so fast steve, It started printing slightly smaller first pages, like 30% smaller scale. I traced it back to the original PostScript print file first page being smaller than A4 but all subsequent ones being A4. Eventually, I worked out that the fix was to add the printer to cups in a particular way.

    Add Printer > IPP > Name of Printer (mars-P… as before), DO NOT add description or location text.
    Make = Generic
    Model = CupsPDF printer (no options)
    Add Printer
    Set defaults (Page Size: a4, 600DPI)

  • Setting up Google Workspace for a small business – part 9

    Migrating Google Sites to the new domain

    We use Google Sites for our intranet. It’s a place we keep policies and procedures for quick reference and easy updating. Access is restricted to anyone with a “roots.uk” email address. I struggled to work out how to migrate this service to our new domain until I found this guide, and then it was obvious!

    Our intranet won’t win any graphic design awards, but it does make it easier to do our best work.

    Step 1: In the old domain, add an editors email address from your new domain (“share with others” near the top right).

    In the new domain, go the site that was shared with you, choose the menu item “Make a copy”

    Now you have a copy of the site in your new domain. For us, I use the ‘share with others’, link and change the link options to suit, so Anyone in “roots.uk” can access our intranet” but it’s not a public site.

  • Printers, running costs and life expectancy

    Our main A4 colour printer just reached the end of it’s life and is not worth repairing so I turned to my spreadsheet of printer costs to work out what to replace it with. We buy the printers and don’t lease them as this has always been a lot cheaper in the long term. This is our main daily use printer, we also have an A3 printer/scanner which gets less use. I like having 2 printers for when one goes wrong or I forgot to order toner, we can use the other until I get around to fixing it.

    Interesting observations from looking back at my workings:

    • I started the spreadsheet when buying a printer in 2010 and bought a new printer in 2014,2018 and now 2022. So that’s 4 years per printer
    • I assume we only use original toner cartridges even though they are more expensive
    • I work out the total cost of ownership for a printer and all consumables assuming it lasts us for 50,000 pages
    • The current printer has made it to 80,000 pages, the previous one I think around 75,000 pages, so I might have to increase my assumed working life total page prints when comparing TCOs
    YearModelPrinter costTotal Cost of Ownership 50,000 pages Total Cost of Ownership 75,000 pages
    2018P6035CDN£362£2,702£3,510
    2014FS-C5350DN£442£2,442£3,000
    2010FS-C5300DN£766£2956£3,285

    So although inflation has been increasing through that time, our printing costs have remained similar. Also of interest is the hardware cost of the printer has been decreasing. Before 2010 I also remember having to buy more trays for a printer but now we print letterheads on demand for free using ubuntu as a print server and a PDF template document

    We have always bought Kyocera printers because they always seem to have the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Many other printers cost less to buy but have much more expensive toner or maintenance needs. From my workings in 2018 you can see from models I compared;
    the £362 Kyocera printer forecast a cost of £2,702 but
    the £185 Xerox C400N forecast £4,872
    so the up front machine cost is not a good indicator of the total cost of using a printer. Likewise you can also see that at 25,000 pages for a working life, the Lexmark CS727 had a lower TCO than the SC827. Summary: Knowing how many things you’re likely to print is important to optimise the total cost of printing.

    Here’s an extract from spreadsheet from 2018 I used to choose a printer. Assumptions that may not apply to you:
    We print lots of kitchen and bathroom photos at Roots, so I’ve assumed our average page has 15% coverage of ink (3 x each colour at 5%).
    My prices were all excluding VAT
    I suspect the prices I get for HP are high compared to what larger businesses can get, we’re small so I generally get prices online with no volume or scale discounts.

    PrinterMachine costColour Toner single colour costpages coverage at 5%cost per page @ 5% using 3 coloursColour cost per 1000 pages (1 month)TCO 25KTCO 50K
    ECOSYS P6035cdn£362£15610000£0.0468£47£1,532£2,702
    Lexmark CS827de A4 Colour Laser Printer£405£23915000£0.0478£48£1,600£2,795
    CS727de Lexmark£185£18010000£0.0540£54£1,535£2,885
    ECOSYS P6130cdn£242£1005000£0.0600£60£1,742£3,242
    Xerox versalink C600NW£730£19810100£0.0588£59£2,200£3,671
    Xerox Phaser 6600DN£330£1456000£0.0725£73£2,143£3,955
    Xerox ColorQube 8580DN£350£1124400£0.0764£76£2,259£4,168
    ECOSYS P5026cdn£195£803000£0.0800£80£2,195£4,195
    ECOSYS M5521cdn£163£802600£0.0923£92£2,471£4,778
    Xerox Versalink C400N£185£1504800£0.0938£94£2,529£4,873
    HP LaserJet Pro 500 color M570dn A4 Colour £516£1936000£0.0965£97£2,929£5,341

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