Lost Printer Features Pane for HP LaserJet 4050 and Color LaserJet 4550

Question

Hello,
I am trying to restore the Printer Features Pane for 2 different Hewlett-Packard printers we have connected to our LAN.
The Printers Features Pane is available on several of our older iMacs but NOT several of the newest iMacs just recently installed.
After doing some reading in the discussion forum I thought this was due to an erroneous PPD file and replaced both PPD files on the new iMac (with the absent Printer Feature Pane) with the PPD files copied from the old iMac (with the correctly functioning Printer Feature Pane) . I actually copied the PPD files into both of the following locations:
• /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj
• /System/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj
Unfortunately this did not work even when i deleted the old printer, replaced the old PPD files with the new ones (actually replaced the new ones with the older ones from the previous iMacs on which the Printer Features Pane was working as anticipated), restarted the machine and then added the printer selecting the correct PPD file. All machines are running X.4.10
I am sure this is a simple fix that i am just overlooking but really need to get back the option of printing to the "Letterhead" tray of our printers.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks
Mike

Answer 1

Paul,
Below is the best I can do to portray the visual appearance of the print dialog boxes for
Computers that DON'T provide the Printer Features option:
...............................Print
Printer: HP LaserJet 4050 Series
Presets: Standard
Menu Options: Copies & Pages
........................Layout
........................Scheduler
........................Paper Handling
........................ColorSync
........................Cover Page
........................Error Handling
........................Paper Feed
........................Summary
and for
Computers that do provide the Printer Features Option:
...............................Print
Printer: HP LaserJet 4050 Series
Presets: Standard
Menu Options: Copies & Pages
........................Layout
........................Scheduler
........................Paper Handling
........................ColorSync
........................Cover Page
........................Error Handling
........................Paper Feed
........................Finishing
........................Image Quality
........................Printer Features
........................Summary
and for
Computers that do provide the Printer Features Option
After selecting Printer Features from the pull down menu:
...............................Print
Printer: HP LaserJet 4050 Series
Presets: Standard
...............................Printer Features
Media Type: None
....................Plain
....................Preprinted
....................Letterhead
....................Transparency
....................Prepunched
....................Labels
....................Bond
....................Recycled
....................Color
....................Rough
....................Card_Stock
I wish I could attach some screen shots as they are usually my best way to convey the visual appearance of the interface. But hopefully the information above will suffice.
The following is an extract from the PPD for the LaserJet 4050 (same file on both machines that display and don't display a printer features option) that appears to be the salient area of the file for dealing with this functionality. :
*%==========================================
*% Media Type
*%=========================================
*OpenUI *MediaType/Media Type: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 20 AnySetup *MediaType
*DefaultMediaType: None
*MediaType None/None: "
<</MediaType null>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Plain/Plain: "
<</MediaType (Plain)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Preprinted/Preprinted: "
<</MediaType (Preprinted)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Letterhead/Letterhead: "
<</MediaType (Letterhead)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Transparency/Transparency: "
<</MediaType (Transparency)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Prepunched/Prepunched: "
<</MediaType (Prepunched)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Labels/Labels: "
<</MediaType (Labels)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Bond/Bond: "
<</MediaType (Bond)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Recycled/Recycled: "
<</MediaType (Recycled)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Color/Color: "
<</MediaType (Color)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType Rough/Rough: "
<</MediaType (Rough)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*MediaType CardStock/CardStock: "
<</MediaType (Card Stock)>> setpagedevice"
*End
*?MediaType: "
save
currentpagedevice /InputAttributes get dup
/Priority get
0 get get
/MediaType get
(Card Stock) anchorsearch
{pop pop (Card_Stock)} if
= flush
restore
*End
*CloseUI: *MediaType
I don't know if it helps you to know that the Printer Features option did work on my current G5 tower, but following an erase and install that functionality has been lost.
Thanks for your ongoing assistance with this problem.
Mike