Long term HP printer problem solved (duh!)

[Steven Rogers]

I've had problem with printing on my HP1220C ever since moving to OS X 
(like 2 years now). Basically, everything I print where alignment of 
text on the page is critical (labels out of photoshop, InDesign flyers, 
etc.) I notice that everything is displaced on the page about 1/4 inch.

I called Apple, I tried all the help forums, exchanged mail with other 
people having the same problem, etc. and I finally gave up and just 
displaced all these kinds of documents in the application to make them 
print correctly - but even that didn't work well because the printable 
area wasn't right, and if I wanted to print any of the docs on any 
other printer, they come out wrong.

A few days ago I FINALLY figured it out. Inside the setup for the HP 
printer, there is a paper size called "letter" and another one called 
"Letter Banner".  The one called "Letter" is basically just hosed - it 
sets up an asymmetrical print area that displaces your print on the 
page, while the obscure "Letter Banner" does what you would expect.

I'm glad I found it - now I have 2 years of legacy documents that can 
go back to "normal" - but at the same time I wish I could find the 
stupid person at HP who had this great idea and make *them* fix it. I 
have the same problem with Tabloid paper - hope there's a "tabloid 
banner" in there that fixes it. I haven't had a chance to experiment 
with those paper sizes yet.

I have talked to other people who had the same problem, so I just 
wanted to toss this out there, in case someone else might benefit from 
it.

Steve