-*- Mode: Text -*-
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre5, released March 30, 2002, is a pre-release of
Gimp-Print 4.2.1. This prerelease offers a number of fixes and
improvements over 4.2.0
This software includes the Print plug-in for the Gimp, and GhostScript
and CUPS drivers, including Foomatic data.
The Gimp Print plugin requires the Gimp 1.2.
The CUPS driver requires CUPS 1.1.9 or higher. 1.1.14 or above is
highly recommended, as certain translation-related bugs are fixed and
it is possible to print true CMYK.
The Ghostscript driver requires GNU Ghostscript 5.10, 5.50, 6.51, or any
later GNU Ghostscript release based on 6.51 (e. g. 6.52).
The IJS GhostScript plugin driver requires GNU GhostScript 6.53 or later
or APFL GhostScript 7.04 or later.
Please read the README file for full instructions on building and
installing this package.
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre5 contains the following major changes and fixes
over Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre4:
1) A number of bug fixes to the IJS driver (please see below for
details).
2) Under some circumstances, the PCL driver could overflow an
internal buffer, potentially causing a crash.
3) The user's manual has been updated, and a section on escputil
added.
The following bugs are fixed in 4.2.1-pre5:
539013 IJS driver mispositions image on page
538500 PCL driver crash
538497 IJS driver sets incorrect paper size
537293 IJS/foomatic driver crashes printing grayscale
The following critical bug has been reported against all 4.2 releases
to date and is unresolved in this release. The symptoms are that
prints to Windows-hosted printers are incomplete: the bottom of the
last page will not be printed. Some people have reported success when
the host is an NT-based system rather than a Windows 95/98/ME-based
system. The only definitive workaround is to physically host the
printer on a UNIX/Linux system. It is not known at this time if the
underlying problem is in Gimp-print or in other software.
510185 Incomplete print to Windows-hosted printers
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre4 contains the following major changes and fixes
over Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre3:
1) The CUPS drivers will now output the complete page when the job
completes rather than waiting for the next job under some
circumstances.
2) Page logging works correctly in CUPS.
3) The CUPS driver now offers both interrupt-driven and polled
parallel ports for BSD; under some circumstances, the polled port
is faster.
4) A Dutch translation has been added.
5) Quality improvements for pigment-based Epson Stylus Pro printers
(5500, 7500, and 9500).
6) Very fast dithering now works correctly.
7) Epson Stylus Pro printers now print correctly positioned on roll
feed paper, and will not attempt to print to the edge of the
page.
8) Additional Epson, Canon, Okidata, and Kyocera laser printers have
been tested.
9) Foomatic data for the IJS interface of GIMP-Print is generated now.
The following bugs are fixed in 4.2.1-pre4:
533400 Very fast dithering works incorrectly
525779 Buffering bug in epson cups backend
528922 rastertoprinter doesn't log pages
537248 IJS driver mis-handles -r option
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre3 contains the following major changes and fixes
over Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre2:
1) Canon printers should now print with correct scaling at all
supported resolutions. This is the first stage in fixing the
Canon driver.
The following bug is fixed in 4.2.1-pre3:
493838 canon print scaling broken
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre2 contains the following major changes and fixes
over Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre1:
1) The CUPS driver will now build properly, as in 4.2.0.
2) The Lexmark Z53 has been verified to work with the Z52 driver,
and is now supported.
3) The align command in escputil has been simplified.
Gimp-Print 4.2.1-pre1 contains the following major changes and fixes
over Gimp-Print 4.2.0:
1) The escputil command is now translated properly.
2) The Ghostscript documentation lists resolutions for Canon
printers correctly.
3) Miscellaneous problems printing to various late model Epson
Stylus Photo printers have been fixed.
4) It is now possible to print at all resolutions on large format
PCL printers.
5) A new IJS-based Ghostscript driver is provided, for Ghostscript
6.53 and above, and 7.04 and above. This driver may be used with
both GNU and AFPL Ghostscript.
6) New Slovak and Greek translations are provided.
7) Stylus Pro printers can now print to letter size (and smaller)
paper. In 4.2.0 the driver did not allow printing smaller than
tabloid size.
8) A bug in the Ghostscript driver caused slightly poor print
quality at high resolutions on Epson printers. The same bug may
have had other side effects on other printers.
9) The margins and printable areas have been adjusted on some Epson
printers.
10) Miscellaneous fixes for the Lexmark Z42.
11) Certain paper types and other issues on late model Stylus Photo
printers (780, 810/820, and 1280/1290) have been fixed.
The following bugs are fixed in 4.2.1-pre1:
485156 Debian build broken in 4.2.0
488865 escputil isn't translated
493772 360dpi is not a valid resolution
496813 Z42 issues
499200 ESP 1280/1290 need special deinit code
499203 ESP 780/820 have different paper codes
499299 z42 border
502713 Restricted resolution on DesignJet
507767 Parameters not set in CUPS driver
507770 Unset parameters in Ghostscript driver
507773 Old-style GS build broken
516268 Erroneous comparison
518224 makeinfo fails during build
Gimp-Print 4.2 contains the following major changes over Gimp-Print
4.0:
* Major Bugs Fixed from 4.0:
1) A problem with fine black data printing incorrectly in 4.0 has
been fixed.
2) Very small images print correctly in the Gimp plugin.
3) A number of minor bugs in scaling and positioning in the Gimp
plugin are fixed.
4) Printing pure black and white (monochrome) to black and white
printers now works properly, rather than silently being converted
to grayscale.
5) The package prints correctly in grayscale when the source
resolution is higher than the output resolution.
* General User-Visible Changes:
1) Many additional printers are supported, including several Lexmark
printers for the first time. The list of supported printers is
at the bottom of this release memo.
2) Default printing resolutions are 300x300 or 360x360 DPI for all
printers, rather than the lowest available resolution. On Epson
printers, the default 360x360 printing modes are in most cases
higher quality than the default 360x360 mode in 4.0.
3) The same defaults for all driver and printer characteristics
apply to all front ends (the Gimp plugin, the CUPS driver, and
the Ghostscript driver).
4) A user's manual (for the CUPS driver and GIMP plugin) is now
supplied with the package.
5) A developer's manual is now supplied with the package. This
describes how to use the library interface, how to tune printers,
and other topics.
6) The package is now internationalized. Full translations are
available for Swedish and British English; partial translations
are currently available for French, Norwegian, Danish, and
Polish.
* Quality Improvements:
1) Color accuracy in Photograph and Solid Colors mode is greatly
improved over 4.0. This is most noticeable on red, green, blue,
and violet colors. Generally, prints should need little if any
tuning.
2) Printed images are much smoother (more even) in texture. This is
particularly true on 6-color (photo) and variable drop size
printers. The transition between light and dark inks in 6-color
printers should be invisible to the unaided eye at all but the
lowest resolutions.
3) In color mode, fine black detail prints much more accurately than
previously. Previously, fine black detail typically did not
print solidly; this was particularly noticeable when printing
groups of lines at high resolution.
4) Epson printers support a greater range of resolutions and quality
settings, from very low resolution draft mode up to 2880x1440 for
the newest Epson printers. This offers a full range of
speed/quality tradeoffs for any printing application. The
emulated resolutions in 4.0 have been dropped, as they do not
yield any improvement in quality under any circumstances that we
have identified.
5) Epson printers produce much better quality on plain paper than
previously.
6) All of the dithering algorithms, except for Hybrid
Floyd-Steinberg (which is not recommended for most purposes) have
been improved. Ordered dithering is now on a par with Adaptive
Hybrid dithering for most image types other than line art, and
Fast and Very Fast are viable choices for test prints on even
high quality printers. The Adaptive Random and Random
Floyd-Steinberg algorithms have been dropped, as they offer no
advantage over the faster Adaptive Hybrid and Hybrid
Floyd-Steinberg algorithms.
7) PCL printers will print typical sparse text pages much more
efficiently.
8) The package as a whole will use significantly less memory,
particularly when printing at high resolutions.
* Changes to the Gimp Print plugin:
1) The plugin now provides tooltips for all controls (a
much-requested feature!).
2) The plugin now provides many new options for positioning the
image on the page. These options are described in the tooltip
help for the preview window.
3) The GUI has been considerably rearranged, and we hope it is more
logical.
4) Printing in black and white is now accomplished in the Output
Type radio button group rather than the Image Type group.
5) It is now possible to define a logical printer queue (essentially
a group of settings saved under a name).
6) The preview window is much more responsive than before. The
preview both moves more quickly and does not flash to as great a
degree as before.
7) The plugin will no longer allow settings that are inappropriate
for the current printer or output mode.
* Changes to the CUPS Driver:
1) The CUPS driver now offers color adjustment choices (currently in
the form of choice menus).
2) The CUPS driver now supports printing CMYK output, as well as
RGB, grayscale, and black and white.
3) The CUPS driver no longer allows attempts to print in color to
black and white printers.
4) The CUPS PPD files are now translated into several languages
(currently British English, Swedish, French, Norwegian, Polish,
and Danish).
5) The CUPS driver will now terminate a job cleanly if the job is
removed from the queue while it was printing. The existing data
will be flushed to the printer, following which the driver will
cleanly terminate the print job. Previously, the printer was
left in an indeterminate state.
6) The CUPS driver will build correctly on BSD-based systems. This
requires CUPS 1.1.11 or above.
* Changes to the Ghostscript Driver:
1) A new, simplified build procedure is provided for use with
Ghostscript 5.50 and 6.51. This requires copying only one file
into the Ghostscript source directory, and links dynamically
against the driver library. This permits upgrades to the 4.2
driver library (e. g. to support new printers) without
recompiling Ghostscript. The old method is still available, but
we recommend using the new procedure.
2) Printing black and white only images is now accomplished with
-dColor=2 rather than -dImageType=3.
* Miscellaneous changes:
1) Escputil (a utility for managing Epson printers) is more robust
than in 4.0, and uses the readline package where available for
better interaction.
2) Roll feed printing is supported for Epson printers with the
capability, such as the Stylus Photo 870.
3) The package supports custom page sizes for printers allowing
this. It also imposes minimum paper size limits for printers
that require a minimum paper size.
4) The Debian package build procedure is now compliant with
Standards-Version 3.5.6.0 and is lintian-clean. It will build on
`woody' and later distributions.
5) The compilation phase of the build emits more warnings than under
4.0, particularly in the Gimp plugin. These extra warnings are
due to greater compiler checking of the code.
* Incompatibilities between 4.0 and 4.2:
1) The options for the Ghostscript driver have changed incompatibly
between 4.0 and 4.2. Please read src/ghost/README for more
information.
2) The PPD files for the 4.2 CUPS driver are incompatible with the
4.0 driver, and vice versa. You must reinstall all of your print
queues to use the new driver.
3) The Foomatic data in the 4.2 distribution is generated during the
build of the package, rather than being distributed statically.
It requires the latest version of the Foomatic driver, and is
incompatible with the Foomatic data in 4.0. The 4.2 driver is
named "Gimp-print" in Foomatic, as opposed to "stp" in 4.0.
4) Printing pure black and white (not grayscale) images is
different. The exact procedure is described in the release notes
for each front end.
* Known Limitations:
1) The CUPS PPD files are not translated on all systems. BSD
systems in particular are known to fail to translate these files.
This is discussed in detail in the README.
2) The Epson Stylus C40UX (and very likely other printers in the C20
and C40 lines) do not identify themselves. Therefore,
escputil -u -d
will not return anything useful, and when performing print head
alignment, the printer model must be specified, as autodetection
will not work.
3) The "align color" (-o) command to escputil does not currently
work on the printers that should support it (Epson Stylus Color
480 and 580, and C20SX, C20UX, C40SX, and C40UX). We do not know
if this is a bug in the software or a limitation of the printers.
4) Changing ink cartridges on the Epson Stylus Color 480/580 is not
supported.
5) The drivers for the Epson Stylus Pro printers (5000, 5500, 7000,
7500, 9000, 9500, and 10000) are only partially tested and tuned.
They are known not to work correctly in many modes.
6) The Epson Stylus Photo 2000P is not properly tuned and likely
produces lower output quality than other Epson printers.
7) The Canon BJC-8200 and S800 do not produce optimum quality.
8) Many Epson printers (including the Stylus Photo 870/875, 1270,
780/785/895, 890, 1280/1290, and 810/820) do not produce optimum
quality on Premium Glossy Photo Paper. In particular, color
quality may not be at quite as high a standard as it is on the
older Photo Paper. The difference is subtle; for most purposes
the output quality will be superb. Tuning the color output may
or may not improve the quality.
9) The Postscript driver (ps and ps2) does not generate multi-page
output correctly. This should not be a major problem, as there
is little reason to use it outside of the GIMP. There are no
plans at present to fix this bug.
* Internal changes:
1) The interface between the core drivers and the front ends has
been completely reimplemented. There is now a core driver
library (libgimpprint) with the front ends linking against it.
The interface has been redesigned to some degree, allowing for
better separation between driver and front-end concerns.
The package takes full advantage of the autoconf machinery.
Other front ends may be written against the driver; a test
pattern generator is provided in src/testpattern that can be used
to generate test patterns, or used as the basis for other
applications.
A gimpprint-config script, similar to gtk-config and gimp-config,
is provided.
2) The core driver package now operates in CMY space rather than RGB
space. The change has very little immediate effect, but it will
enable significant improvements in future releases.
3) Two new input modes (8 and 16 bit CMYK) are provided. The 8-bit
CMYK interface is gamma and density corrected; the 16 bit CMYK is
a raw input, with no correction performed. This is useful for
applications desiring the greatest possible control over the
output while taking advantage of the dithering and device driving
capabilities of the package.
4) The "unprint" program supplied in the test directory is much more
functional and accurate than previously.
Supported Printers:
Many variations on these printers are also supported. Generally, the
Epson printers are fully supported, although not fully tuned in all
cases; the Canon, HP, and Lexmark printers vary. Many printers
previously supported have greatly improved support.
PostScript level 1
PostScript level 2
CANON BJC 30 (NEW)
CANON BJC 50 (NEW)
CANON BJC 55 (NEW)
CANON BJC 80 (NEW)
CANON BJC 85 (NEW)
CANON BJC 210 (NEW)
CANON BJC 240 (NEW)
CANON BJC 250 (NEW)
CANON BJC 1000
CANON BJC 2000
CANON BJC 3000
CANON BJC 4300
CANON BJC 4400 photo
CANON BJC 6000
CANON BJC 6100
CANON BJC 7000
CANON BJC 7100
CANON BJC 8200
CANON S400 (NEW)
CANON S450 (NEW)
CANON S800 (NEW)
CANON S4500 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C20SX (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C20UX (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C40SX (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C40UX (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C60 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C70 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus C80 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color
EPSON Stylus Color Pro
EPSON Stylus Color Pro XL
EPSON Stylus Color 400
EPSON Stylus Color 440
EPSON Stylus Color 460
EPSON Stylus Color 480 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 500
EPSON Stylus Color 580 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 600
EPSON Stylus Color 640
EPSON Stylus Color 660
EPSON Stylus Color 670
EPSON Stylus Color 680/777 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 740
EPSON Stylus Color 760
EPSON Stylus Color 800
EPSON Stylus Color 850
EPSON Stylus Color 860
EPSON Stylus Color 880 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 83 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 900
EPSON Stylus Color 980 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Color 1160
EPSON Stylus Color 1500
EPSON Stylus Color 1520
EPSON Stylus Color 3000
EPSON Stylus Photo
EPSON Stylus Photo 700
EPSON Stylus Photo EX
EPSON Stylus Photo 720
EPSON Stylus Photo 750
EPSON Stylus Photo 780/785/790 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Photo 810/820 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Photo 870/875
EPSON Stylus Photo 890/895 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Photo 1200
EPSON Stylus Photo 1270
EPSON Stylus Photo 1280/1290 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Photo 2000P
EPSON Stylus Pro 5000 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 5500 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 7000 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 7500 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 9000 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 9500 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Pro 10000 (NEW, partially functional)
EPSON Stylus Scan 2000 (NEW)
EPSON Stylus Scan 2500 (NEW)
HP DeskJet 340
HP DeskJet 400
HP DeskJet 500
HP DeskJet 500C
HP DeskJet 520
HP DeskJet 540C
HP DeskJet 550C
HP DeskJet 560C
HP DeskJet 600/600C (Single Cartridge)
HP DeskJet 600 series (2 Cartridge)
HP DeskJet 690 series (Photo-Ink capable)
HP DesignJet 750 (NEW)
HP DeskJet 810C
HP DeskJet 812C
HP DeskJet 840C
HP DeskJet 842C
HP DeskJet 845C
HP DeskJet 850C
HP DeskJet 855C
HP DeskJet 870C
HP DeskJet 890C
HP DeskJet 895C
HP DeskJet 900 series
HP PhotoSmart P1000
HP DeskJet 1100C
HP PhotoSmart P1100
HP DeskJet 1120C
HP DeskJet 1200C
HP DeskJet 1220C
HP DeskJet 1600C
HP DeskJet 2000 series
HP DeskJet 2500 series
HP LaserJet II series
HP LaserJet III series
HP LaserJet 4 series
HP LaserJet 4V, 4Si
HP LaserJet 5 series
HP LaserJet 5Si
HP LaserJet 6 series
Lexmark 4076
Lexmark Z42 (NEW)
Lexmark Z43 (NEW)
Lexmark Z52 (NEW)
Lexmark Z53 (NEW)
