[LWN Logo]
[LWN.net]
From:	 Robert L Krawitz <rlk@alum.mit.edu>
To:	 gimp-print-devel@sourceforge.net, gimp-print-announce@sourceforge.net,
	 gimp-developer@lists.xcf.berkeley.edu, epson-inkjet@leben.com,
	 inkjet-list@linuxprinting.org, lwn@lwn.net
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Gimp-Print 4.1.99-rc1 release
Date:	 Sun, 11 Nov 2001 20:56:36 -0500

Please visit http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net for full information
and download instructions.

This is gimp-print version 4.1.99rc1, the first release candidate
leading up to the 4.2 stable release.  This release is not 4.2.

This software includes the Print plug-in for the Gimp, and GhostScript
and CUPS drivers.  The support for printers in GhostScript and CUPS is
identical to the support for these printers in the Print plugin --
they use the identical code base.  Please read src/ghost/README and
src/cups/README for more information on this.

These release notes primarily describe changes visible to the end
user.  Detailed descriptions of changes may be found in the ChangeLog.

Gimp-Print 4.1.99rc1 contains the following changes over 4.1.99b4:

1) Building with VPATH is fixed (this broke in 4.1.99b4).

2) The CUPS PPD files should all be translated on more systems
   (eliminating the problem of having many English PPD files for each
   printer).  However, this does not work everywhere; please see below
   for details.

3) There is now a translation for the Polish language.

4) Minor fixes for some old Epson Stylus printers, enabling 360 DPI
   microweave to print correctly.

5) The package should now build correctly on BSD-based systems.

6) Preliminary support for Lexmark Z42.

7) escputil uses readline on most systems on which it is available.

8) Further improved print quality on the Epson Stylus C70 and C80 in
   all print modes, including addition of 1440x1440 and 2880x1440
   modes.

9) The Postscript driver generates correct headers (for single-page
   files).

10) Repeated invocations of 'make clean' work correctly.

11) The CUPS PPD files now define PostScript level 2 rather than level
   3 by default.  The version of GhostScript used internally by CUPS
   does not support all level 3 PostScript constructs; this will cause
   certain jobs to fail (in particular, Corel Draw 9 is known to
   generate some PostScript that fails).  Very few applications
   currently generate PostScript level 3.  It is possible to define
   level 3 PostScript; please see the README for more information.

12) Minor quality improvements at 2880x720 on Epson printers.

Known limitations of this release:

1) The CUPS PPD files are not translated on all systems.  BSD systems
   in particular are known to fail to translate these files.

   On some systems, using --with-included-gettext may work.  It is
   known not to work on at least certain BSD systems.  If it does not
   work (or you simply prefer not to build these files), you may use
   --without-translated-ppds to suppress the translated versions of
   these files.

   The README covers this in more detail.

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.  This bug will not be
   fixed.

10) The Epson Stylus Color 500 prints incorrectly in certain modes.

List of bugs fixed in this release:

 480356 Gimp plugin misbuild w/latest GTK
 478955 make clean fails
 478954 $(RM) fails on BSD
 476583 escputil fails on OpenBSD
 476714 doc/Makefile.in uses "make" not $(MAKE)
 475268 VPATH build broken in docs
 475830 Stylus Color 360 DPI micro regression
 475848 Libtool version for BSD
 480624 CUPS not PS L3 compliant
 480368 Use cups-config if available
 480368 PS driver generates bad comments
 480357 Makefiles include GIMP_CFLAGS spuriously
 478502 Stylus Pros don't need packet mode

-- 
Robert Krawitz <rlk@alum.mit.edu>      http://www.tiac.net/users/rlk/

Tall Clubs International  --  http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2
Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf@uunet.uu.net
Project lead for Gimp Print/stp --  http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net

"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton