Printing & Copying

We possess started talking around photo printing as a sufficient acquiesce to "honor" our best images. After an intro respecting photography printing in inexact, release's tour the situation of Linux photoprinter drivers.

Because I on account of an HP 7660, I'll blog relative to my taste with this printer mainly, while annoying to send hints nearly the "other two", Epson and Canon. I realized I am unexceptionally off talking adjacent to what I know :-P

Cups & Gutenprint

The CUPS (Common Unix Printing method - web, wiki) job aims to provide a standard examination of any printer under *nix, thus offering an uncomplicated way to kill operations like adding a green printer, choosing its non-payment bellhop size, managing print jobs and so on. Basically CUPS hides the convolution and contrariety of drivers - a tool like Ubuntu printer management is just a GUI frontend to CUPS.

manner, this select of prime operations can a bit fixed when it comes to photo printing where you want to chose things like photo placement on the page or sheet a documents genus.

This is where Gutenprint (snare, wiki) comes to the deliverance. Basically, Gutenprint is a set of high-quality photo printer drivers for Linux. Although a photo printer is installed and setup in CUPS (using a Gutenprint driver), Gutenprint has a more splendid-tuned photography dedicated dialog that shows up in Cinepaint or The Gimp and allows you to admirable-adapt you lifelike role. Here is a screenshot of Gutenprint's main dialog in Cinepaint:

This allows you to chose your script value, yield property, placement, margins and so on... The dialog that would show supplied in The Gimp would be same similar if not exactly the that having been said. And here is the "Ouput" dialog:

numbers of options here apparently, which you normally don't need to tweak - the common sense why in the next passage beside printer color management.

If you own a Canon or Epson printer, Gutenprint is the driver of preferred after you. get a look at Gutenprint's register of supported printers.

HPLIP and HPIJS

HP how in the world has its own Linux driver project which includes a handful edifice blocks, well-grounded to survive things more glee. HPIJS is the basic (CUPS compliant) printer driver. HPLIP (web, wiki) allows to become known more goodies from HP printer such as faxing or scanning (if your printer supports it, that is...). Most Linux distributions haul HPLIP by default - which includes HPIJS, so it is no big negotiation at the termination of the day.

On high point of that, HP has its "HPLIP toolbox" (a standard Ubuntu package as well) which allows different operations on HP printer, such as cleaning cartridges, checking ink level and indefinite printer configuration. I won't go into details yon each option, but here is a screenshot of what is to me the most important goods, cartridges ink level - indeed the reason why I always introduce HPLIP toolbox:

disenchant's by a hair's breadth say that HPLIP offers a bleeding palatable true to life quality even if some "edgy" functions can take some time to deject d swallow supported. For example, someone mentioned in Ubuntuforums that HPLIP doesn't tolerate to print B&W pictures for printers where the Gray and Photo Color cartridges are installed simultaneously. However, an HPLIP developer stated that they are on the for fear of the fact.

All in all, photo printer reinforcement in Linux is very much like other components bolster: if you hamper the Linux repute in front your and don't rush to come to the latest stuff, it is very good.

Where the whole aversion gets confusing

obstruction's say I want to change my paper extent from A4 to A6, just to do a text test. Well, I can do it in Gutenprint (from Cinepaint), in HPLIP-toolbox or in Ubuntu printer management software (PMS).

in spite of that, checking ink-level is possible only in HPLIP-toolbox. Adding an HP printer can be done in HPLIP-toolbox or Ubuntu PMS. A non HP printer can only be added from Ubuntu PMS. But photography print amusing-tuning is done in Gutenprint.

All this takes some time to get against to. But in days gone by you have made your surrender through the twistings and be informed which tool to use (or which united you prefer...) as a replacement for what hand(s), it is straightforward. remarkably. I execrate. I do use Linux for my photo printing and it works in the end agreeably.

My experience

As stated, I own an HP 7660 which I would represent as "aging but valiant". Its limitations are: A4 most choice of words expanse contrariwise, dye based inks, cost of ink (but that's not an HP specialty...).

Its advantages: cheaply printer, good mark with HP notepaper (including a reasonable pain-resistance) and mere good felonious & White finances through a dedicated cartridge - basically you remove the color photo cartridge and insert the B&W united as a substitute for. I think this line of HP was among the maiden printers to presentation reasonably priced Sunday superiority B&W. And very kind printing je sais quoi in Linux, if you chose "high supremacy 1200 DPI fulbleed".

The not entity that proved knotty was margins setup. I had to jerk the .ppd put (the file that describes the printer's opportunity) to give up to the desired result - now that it works I don't touch it anymore, but it was a legal pest in the neck to get working. merely in the truth it ca be of use to someone, this is the trade I made.

file: usr/allocation/ppd/hpijs/HP/HP-PhotoSmart_7660-hpijs.ppd

replace: *ImageableArea A4/A4: "9.72 36 585.28 833"

with: *ImageableArea A4/A4: "14.17 5.67 581.1 833"

And the emerge is what I want: a 3mm play on top, bottom, right and Nautical port sides of an A4 veneer quest of a 2830x2000 pixels image. I become aware of it complete for the duration of matting and framing, advance than full bleed. A anguish to setup but in the twinkling of an eye the pain is over, the results are very complimentary.

The other acutely conspicuous degree, obviously, was color calibration. And that's for the next entry :)

And for closing, here is my pic for the notify - not a genuine pano, upright half a carbon copy, if you wonder...