Duplex Printing on HP DeskJet 970Cxi - Update and Solution

Even before the proverbial ink had dried on my last entry, I seem to have found a potential solution to the problem of printing in full duplex mode on an HP DeskJet 970Cxi under Snow Leopard.

I stumbled across a piece of software called PrintFab 2 which is, according to the maker's blurb, a

"printer driver suite with RIP functionality. PrintFab's innovative “dynamic” color profiles ensure full control over color mixture and ink consumption combined with perfect print quality."

Installing PrintFab 2 sets up a "new" printer according to the configuration info you supply and loads the PrintFab driver as it's default. It's a simple enough process, and it restores duplex functionality to my DeskJet 970Cxi. It does an awful lot of other stuff by the looks of things but I'll investigate that during the next 30 days of my free trial.

PrintFab 2 may be an overkill solution, and it isn't cheap, running in at about £45.00 for a single user license for the simplest home version. But for peace of mind, saving trees, and saving the time I waste looking for alternative solutions, I think I may have finally found my Holy Grail, and I don't mind paying a small price for that.

Duplex Printing on HP Deskjet 970Cxi - Hopes Raised and Dashed

Ever since installing Snow Leopard I've been moaning about the downgraded printing service I now receive, specifically the lack of full duplex support for my trusty old HP DeskJet 970Cxi. Being the external optimist that I am, I regularly do a search for news of any potential fixes.

Earlier today I performed my weekly Google for my personal Holy Grail (what lofty ambitions I have!), and got quite excited when I found Gutenprint 5.2.4. The Gutenprint drivers installed with Snow Leopard are from the 5.2.3 version. I was a little surprised that the release date for the latest version was July 29th 2009 because it predated Snow Leopard's release but decided to go ahead anyway.

There were no specific details in the release notes pertaining to either Snow Leopard or my DeskJet, but I downloaded and installed the package. As I was in Firefox I decided to run a test print of the Gutenprint download page to see if I could detect any difference. I ran a check on the printer installation a sure enough, the driver for the HP DeskJet 970Cxi was now "HP DeskJet 970C - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.4", a definite improvement.

I went into the Print option in Firefox and my pulse started racing as the dialog box came up and had a tick against the "Two-Sided" print CheckBox, and the "Two-Sided" printing Listbox gave me a default option of "Long-Edge binding". The Gutenprint 5.2.3 driver had all references to double sided printed greyed out, and rendered useless.

The excitement was short lived as the printer started churning out separate sheets for each page in the same way as its predecessor. I guess there is still some hope. The possibility of double sided printing has been restored and single sided printing does still work with the new driver.

So near and yet so far...