Archive for July, 2007
Moku Hanga and Serendipity
July 30th, 2007
This week has been a bit of a struggle. I finished carving my blocks for lonely dog, but I was quite disappointed in the results of my test print. I think the main problem was that the image was too small for the detail that I was trying to achieve. I also had registration problems and had to recarve the kento for the key block.
Luckily serendipity came to my rescue in the form of woodcut artist who happened to be showing at the . His booth was filled with gorgeous prints and although I was only able to afford one small print, I spent some time with him talking about his technique. At the time I was most interested in the fact that he used a brayer to spread on the blocks as he wasn't strickly working in a Japanese style. When I was about to leave, he quickly mentioned that the print I bought was a reduction print - i.e. a print that is made from only one block of wood with the lightest color printed first and each successive block carved and printed from the remaining block.
When I went back to my studio, I tried using a brayer with little sucess perhaps because I use watercolors rather than Akua Kolor. So I gave up on this idea. As I studied the print I had bought from Nick, however, I became inspired to recarve my lonely dog using the reduction technique. At this point I also decided to use a larger block and increase the size of the image. I'm very exicted by these results although a bit fearful to make carve into the first block since I liked the way the test print looks.
Installing a HP LaserJet 1012 on Ubuntu Feisty
July 30th, 2007
The LaserJed 1012 is supported by HP so it is a very easy printer to install.
Download the HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (HPLIP) from .
Move the file from the download location to your home folder. If you downloaded the file to a directory other than your desktop change the following command accordingly:
mv /home/username/Desktop/hplip.2.7.6.run /home/username (where "username" is your usernam)
Run the Self-Extracting Installer:
sh hplip-2.7.6.run
When prompted choose the automatic installation mode.
At the end of the install you are instructed to restart your computer and run
sudo hp-setup
This didn't work for me, hp-setup never started so I just used the Ubuntu "Add a Printer"
System >> Administration >> Printing >> New Printer
Follow the steps, choosing the "HP LaserJet 1012" driver.
Your printer should now work!
Installing an Epson Stylus Photo RX500 on Ubuntu Feisty.
July 30th, 2007
If you already have GIMP-Print then this printer requires no additional installation! Just plug it in and use the Ubuntu Add a Printer Wizard.
System >> Administration >> Printing >> New Printer
Follow the instructions and be sure to select the driver for the Epson Stylus Photo RX500.
I use XSane for scanning:
Applications >> Graphics >> XSane Image Scanner
If you don't have GIMP-Print already, it is easy to install.
sudo apt-get install gimp-print
Now go back and follow the instructions at the beginning of this post and you will have a working Epson Stylus Photo RX500 Printer/Scanner!
Print to Netgear PS110 from Mac OSX
July 30th, 2007
Problem:
At home we have an HP OfficeJet D135 connected to the 2nd parallel port of a Netgear PS110 printserver. I want to print to that printer from my mac which is connected to our wireless router.
Fix:
Open up the CUPS administration window in Firefox by typing on the Mac. Then go to the Administration->Add new printer. Just give it any name (i used "OfficeJetD135, I'm not sure if you can have any type of special characters, it might complain with spaces, etc...) On the next screen choose "LPD/LPR Host or Printer" for the device type. Then set the device URI to: "lpd://192.168.1.2/P2". Choose the make and model and your done.
Is there SecondLife in the Printing World…….
July 27th, 2007
Is there SecondLife in the Printing World? Part 1 -Commentary by Steve Aranoff & Robert FitzPatrick, The EAGLE As you all know, The EAGLE has been writing about topics of interest to our readers, many times before others take notice. Because one of us was located in Silicon Valley, we became early proponents of the use of the internet in the printing marketplace. In our consulting business and our writing, we were among the first to recognize how important the nascent internet was going to become. An early White Paper of ours published by Nagasa in 1996 gently began to suggest that print market companies should begin to develop web sites, and to put their web address on all of their correspondence. Looking back, you wouldn't think this was necessary. After all, today, who in this industry doesn't have a web site? For many of us, our web strategy, whether it's to show customers what we have, to provide data to outside sales personnel, to converse with our customers, or to provide worldwide support information, in a prominent part of our marketing mix. There is no longer any question about the importance of a good web site to growth and customer satisfaction.
Flash forward another decade to 2007. Universal Print Systems Ltd, Chennai, is about to make the same point, this time with respect to something less tangible, but potentially just as explosive. Many of you may not know what we're introducing. It is called SecondLife! Don't go away thinking that this doesn't have a business connotation. It is important to note from the start, that some well known large businesses, banks, and governments have already begun to buy into this concept. Specifically with respect to the printing community, you should recognize some of these companies:
So, what is SecondLife?
Some think it is similar to Web 2.0 and social networking. In reality, Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world which is just coming to international attention via the mainstream news media. You can learn more about it at: secondlife.com. It was developed by Linden Lab, and works through a downloadable client program that enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other. Members work through motional "avatars," in a make believe world that provides an advanced level of a social networking combined with what can only be described as a meta universe, a universe parallel to the real one. In this Universe, residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and can trade both virtual and real items and services with one another. While SecondLife is sometimes considered a "game," this description is really inaccurate. It does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or any of the other game like characteristics. It is a semi-structured virtual environment where characters undertake activities supposedly for the purpose of enjoyment. Some people take this opportunity to shed their worldly life for a better one where they essentially "live" their real life by participating in a second life. The astounding thing is that more than six million accounts have already been registered. While some are inactive, and others multiple accounts, growth has been rapid, almost viral, and far quicker than might have been expected. SecondLife.com also has competitors; however, it is the most dominant site.
This is not kid stuff. Not beginning to consider how this new phenomena might impact your business is at your own peril. As indicated, there is already some significant seriousness to SecondLife. For example:1. IBM has opened a virtual business center that is staffed by IBM Sales Representatives from around the world. Member Clients, who want to buy hardware, software or services, or get help solving a business problem, can meet with a real IBM employed sales rep in this new IBM Business Center. 3. News agency Reuters has a one-man press office covering developments there. 5. In the banking world, Denmark's Saxo Bank plans to offer SecondLife residents the ability to manage their real-life financial portfolios from within the virtual world, and says that it may eventually create a branded market to trade the Linden dollar against real-world currencies. They've already been beaten into the meta universe by Dutch bank ABN AMRO NV who has actually opened up a branch inside the virtual world. ABN says it will create a complete virtual bank resembling their real-life bricks and mortar outlets, and even begin offering financial advice. They have both been already beaten into the market by smaller entrepreneurs that convert currency by accepting Linden Dollars in trade for real U.S. currency. In the 2nd part of this article, we will discuss how SecondLife can have a real impact on the printing community. |
durtbagz: oh biker!
July 27th, 2007
i have to say, i'm somewhat surprised. since notifying everyone of their choices for signs/bags yesterday, the biker sign is flying off the shelves (and over his handlebars. yes, HIS).
mullet crosswalk is definitely a close second, which is not surprising at all. if someone made a shirt that just said, 'mullets' it would sell. i'm sure someone already does that. and if not, i will.
the biker going over the handlebars is a great sign, don't get me wrong. it is funny, particularly if you've done it before. which i have. multiple times. but i really didn't think it would whoop pedestrian tripping, which makes me laugh every single time i see it. tripping = funny in my book and i only have a couple of takers on that one so far. also, i really thought that the chase sign would be a wee bit more popular. see, i have also been chased by someone in a motorized wheelchair. fyi: those go way faster than you think...you cannot out run them. i'm serious. (you know who you are). granted, no flames came out the back, like the sign depicts, but they might as well have been. like a jet engine...
i'm actually thinking of changing it to our 'evil kinevil' sign. this is a sign, warning people of a person in a wheelchair going off of a ramp, jumping over a car that is on fire. i envision this sign being in our 'best of...' competition at the end of the year.
i think i need to keep in mind that i've only 'booked' about 15 bags of the 35 or so that get to pick their own so the tides certainly have time to change.
i'm off to sign my life away on these ridiculous things i hope to see everywhere one day.
happy tuesday. crap, it's wednesday.
Print recruitment, we need a flow
July 27th, 2007
There is a tremendous amount of buzz (as there needs to be) about the talent issue the Print industry is facing. There are many passionate people out there trying to create ways to address this. The general concensous is that it needs to be an industry wide effort and I agree with that logic.
I recently left the below post in response to this post found on the . The specific blog post was titled .
At Semper International we are always encounting the effects of the lack of talent. While it is heartening to know that it is not just the print industry, we still need to focus resources and energy on getting our fair share of the talent supply.
My response.
I disagree in some ways with this post. While I agree that the industry needs solid, strong work ethic and bright people, it is rather arrogant to suggest that the attractiuon process be scoffed at in any creative form. The object is to create a buzz and gain excitemnt to create a pool of interested people.
Once you have a pool you can then thin it out based on skill requirments, work ethic and other primary needs of the industry. The object is not to create a situation where you scare most young people away before the industry is able to explain it self to them and dare I say RECRUIT the good ones. We need to make sure we have a healthy amount of talented young people in print related college courses and taking advantage of the scholarships that are out there.
The other issue that you did not address is the parents. It amazes me that printing people drive their own children away from the industry. I am proud of my print back ground and the values it has given me. I would not change it for anything. If anyone needs to be recruited to help its the parents. Your print executive many not be cool to the younger people, but they will sure resonate with the parents. Lets not forget them in this issue or its solutions. This issue not just about the young people coming in, but a multi-tiered approach.
Brian Regan
President
Semper International
Printing Jobs
Print to Netgear PS110 using CUPS from Ubuntu manually
July 27th, 2007
Problem:
I have an HP OfficeJet D135 plugged into the second parallel port of my Netgear PS110 Printserver (192.168.1.2). I'm using CUPS to print to this printer from Ubuntu. I couldn't use the "printers" gui frontend to add a cups printer. I had to make sure that the device URI was exactly as below. The /P2 tells cups to use the second parallel port on the printserver.
Fix:
1. Open /etc/cups/printers.conf as root by typing "sudo gedit /etc/cups/printers.conf"
2. Add the following lines:
Info OfficeJet-D135
DeviceURI lpd://192.168.1.2/P2
State Idle
Accepting Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
3. Save the file and close it.
4. Restart cups by typing "sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart"
5. Print a test page to see if it works. (if it doesn't, give up and use windows :)
Web Typography Sucks. What Can We Do About It?
July 25th, 2007
Web typography sucks. It's a fact. It sucks primarily because web pages are of dubious typographic value, whether you print them or just read them. The inability to use your own fonts & proper formatting is infuriating, and almost led me to close down this blog in despair. But I have a solution.
The solution is nothing short of a new type of XML language for the presentation, as well as a different kind of browser that makes viewing text easier. No support for b/s like Flash, Java, SLL, and all that nonsense – if you want mediocrity, you can get it from Firefox, IE or opera. What I'm talking about is a simple mark-up language.
What's typography? First, fonts. These have to be downloadable and I don't care how it's done, but people should be able to use the fonts they bought, even if it means that the fonts end up in the hands of people who didn't pay for them. Font piracy is rampant already as it is, so I doubt anything would change. Second, the rendering of text on the screen must have complete OpenType support, with no exceptions. This is somewhat harder than just writing a browser using WPF and hoping that the Microsoft API understands OT properly. It most likely won't. In fact, having dabbled with OT features in WPF, I know for a fact that it's pretty weak.
The only problem with what I outline is the uptake: how to convince people that PDFs are not the only way to deliver printable content? Or perhaps that's the whole point – maybe PDFs are precisely the solution? Hmm, we'll have to wait and see.▪
Installing a Canon Pixma MP460 on Ubuntu Feisty
July 25th, 2007
Here is how I got the Canon Pixma MP460 Printer/Scanner to work on Ubuntu Feisty.
Canon does not have any Linux drivers for the MP460 so we will use the drivers for the MP160 instead.
First, download the following files from :
For the Printer:
cnijfilter-common-2.80-1.i386.rpm
cnifjilter-mp160-2.70-1.i386.rpm
For the Scanner:
scangearmp-common-1.00-1.i386.rpm
scangearmp-mp160-1.00-1.i386.rpm
Now make sure that you have alien installed (sudo apt-get install alien)
Now use alien to create .dep packages from the .rpm files you just downloaded. I tried to convert and install all in one step using
sudo alien -i --scripts file1.rpm file2.rpm file3.rpm file4.rpm
but this did not work so I had to convert and install them one at a time.
Make sure that you are in the same directory as the file. (Example cd /home/username/Desktop
To convert:
Note: The long dash before "scripts" is actually two small dashes
sudo alien cnijfilter-common-2.80-1.i386.rpm --scripts
sudo alien cnifjilter-mp160-2.70-1.i386.rpm --scripts
sudo alien scangearmp-common-1.00-1.i386.rpm --scripts
sudo alien scangearmp-mp160-1.00-1.i386.rpm --scripts
To install:
sudo dpkg -i cnijfilter-common-2.80-1.i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i cnifjilter-mp160-2.70-1.i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i sudo alien scangearmp-common-1.00-1.i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i scangearmp-mp160-1.00-1.i386.deb
Now install libpng3:
sudo apt-get install libpng3
Next install libtiff3:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libtiff.so.4 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3
Restart cups daemon:
sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
Install the printer:
cd /usr/share/cups/model/
sudo lpadmin -p MP160 canonmp160.ppd -v cnij_usb:/dev/usblp0 -E
Install libxml1:
sudo apt-get install libxml1
At this point the printer should be working! Next is to get the scanner to work. I am using XSane Image Scanner. To get this to work we must install the scanner back-end.
First, download the latest version from .
Uncompress the file with:
tar -xvjf mp150-0.13.1.tar.bz2
Install:
make
sudo make install
If this does not work there is more information in the Installation section of the README.html file included in the download.
Both the printer and scanner on your Canon Pixma MP460 should now work!