[SOLVED] Printer issue is frustrating

[Qqmike]

Boy, this printer stuff, sometimes seems to never end. I spent all afternoon and a lot of time yesterday on this.

Printer: HP DeskJet 2742e
Kubuntu: 22.04
History: It used to be that HPLIP was the answer for me. Past few printers, NOPE!, doesn't work well.

Background:
Using my previous ISP DSL router that had a WPS button on it, and pressing the WiFi button on the printer, and the WPS configured it nicely and quickly.
New T-Mobile 5G Gateway modem/router doesn't have the WPS button or a virtual WPS capability in its T-Life app.
I saw a 'proposed' workaround, but it looked very involved.

Result so far:
AI & I have tried half a dozen things. The simple solution of using Settings > Printers > Add, or using CUPS, both work to get the printer printing.

However: No matter how well I make the Letter size 8.5x11" stick in Settings > Printers or in CUPS, when I go to actually print a page,
the Show Preview option shows 8x10! The result is a page with margins/text cut off.

Temporary "solution":
Just make the margins wide, like 1" or 1.25"! Then it will look halfway normal when printed.

Question: Any ideas?

[boospy33]

I had almost the same problem, it was absolutely annoying!! I have an “HP OfficeJet Pro 8210” here. My solution was to try out different drivers. It finally worked on the 5th try. Unfortunately, the automatic selection very often picks a driver that doesn’t work quite right.

I know this isn’t much, but maybe it helps to try a few driver-numbers up or down from the current one? Maybe even download the ppd driverfile file from HP (if there is one)?

[Qqmike]

Yes, thanks. Something to look at, for sure.

[Qqmike]

I got something that is working.
I'm including this post as it may encourage other people having problems to continue trying.

Anecdotal/silly things to think about:

While messing, I did have the experience of stumbling onto a configuration that worked ... but ... in my excitement, I failed to write it down, and lost it.
It's too difficult to retrace my steps, as all of you who have been there with printer issues know very well.
BUT ... that told me that my printer is physically possible of printing correctly = inspiration.

Lower-tier HP printers (including notoriously the 2700 series, i.e., cheap printers) may have these issues.
The way the 2742e is built, it can't physically print too close to the bottom margin; in fact, the limit it 0.59 inches, preferably set it at 0.60 inches.

My connection (for now, see above OP) is USB (not WiFi), so ... unplug the USB and then plug it back in.
(maybe can also consider doing that with the printer, but I didn't this time)

You could use the CUPS website: put this in your browser, and go: localhost:631.
In CUPS website, if you do administrative stuff and need a name & PW, I used the name I set up (mike) when I installed Kubuntu and the admin PW I chose at that time.

My solution, summarized:

I simply used Kubuntu's Settings > Printers > Add printer.
I saw a category called "Discovered Network Printers" -> and a driverless choice.
I selected it and set it as the Default printer.
(you might also look for "IPP everywhere" in the driver list, along with "driverless")

Kind / Driver: HP Deskjet 2700 Series, driverless, cups-filters 1.28.15

I configured Connection this way: ipp://localhost:60000/ipp/print
(See in Kubuntu: Settings > Printers > Configure)
(When you use driverless via USB, the ipp-usb service converts your USB connection into a local network address. That's the generic format for that connection.)

The scanner worked, too.
Couple notes:
Opened Xsane. Choose eSCL (the universal protocol name for modern scanning, eScanner Control Language, originally created by HP but now used by almost everyone). It allows driverless scanning.

Conclusion

Don't know why I had such a problem/challenge doing this.
Maybe unplugging/plugging the USB connection helped.
Maybe I missed seeing the category in the driver list, the: "Discovered Network Printers" (maybe, at first, it wasn't even present?)
Who TH knows!