Did you really try all the three alternatives for the DeskJet 500, the
"HP DeskJet, Foomatic + deskjet" and the "HP DeskJet Series, CUPS v1.1"?
Especially the "GIMP-Print" drivers are of a very high quality. You also
should check the options of the drivers, often a low resolution is set
as
I've been running my HP Deskjet Portable on several distros from four
different companies. It's always worked well with the HP Deskjet
Portable, or HP Deskjet 500 drivers.
It won't work with any of the CUPS HP 500 series drivers and I've tried
most of their other HP drivers, also with notable
