Manual Duplex printing

Question

I have a printer (Samsung M2022W) which doesn't support duplex printing.

However, I would like to manually print on both sides (that is to say, print even pages, then insert these pages again on the printer and launch the odd pages). The problem is that I don't have a "manual duplex" option on my Debian system. And there is not even a "odd/even pages only" option.

How can I simply print manually on both sides on *unix?

Solution 1

I know it's a little late for an answer for the OP, but anyone finding this might want to check out my duplexpr project on sourceforge. It not only emulates duplex printing for non-duplex printers, but also allows you to print more than one print job at a time in a batch so that you only have to remove and reinsert the pages once for the whole batch.

Duplexpr supports both command line and gui interfaces. It's is written in bash with a number of reusable functions so it's relatively easy to modify. I've been using it daily for over a decade with several different printers and am continuing to develop it.

If you just want to print duplex once in awhile or need to access all the fancy features which your printer supports, then also check out xpp. It will do almost anything your printer can do, but you have to tell it what you want each time which can get a little old if you use it a lot.

Solution 2

Try

$ lp -o page-set=odd filename
# ... manually flip pages ...
$ lp -o page-set=even filename

from the docs here.

Solution 3

There's a package called gnome-manual-duplex. It works for many printers out of the box. For others it may require manual setting.

Solution 4

If you are using HP-Lazerjet 1020, you can use these commands:

lp -o page-set=odd filename

after printer print the odd numbered pages, pull the papers and place them to tray exactly how it is (without turning or rotating). Then run the second command to print the even numbered pages:

lp -o page-set=even -o orientation-requested=6 -o outputorder=reverse filename

Now printing should be finished

Note: -o orientation-requested=6 turns the pages 180 degrees and -o outputorder=reverse prints pages by reverse order tested on HP-Lazerjet 1020

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Comments

[ppr]

Thanks. But I was more looking for a graphical solution (adding a option "manual duplex").

[vonbrand]

Make the command "lpr ..." and it work here (Fedora 24).

[ptetteh227]

Worked well for me lubuntu 18.04 with deskjet 2130. But it took some printing to get used to it.