Gimp-Print 4.2.5, released January 24, 2003, is a stable release in the Gimp-Print 4.2 series.

Gimp-Print is a suite of printer drivers that may be used with most common UNIX print spooling systems, including CUPS, lpr, LPRng, or others. These drivers provide high quality printing for UNIX (including Macintosh OS X 10.2 and newer) and Linux systems in many cases equal to or better than proprietary vendor-supplied drivers, and can be used for many of the most demanding printing tasks.

This software includes the Print plug-in for the Gimp, and GhostScript and CUPS drivers, including Foomatic data.

The Print plug-in for the GIMP 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). It may also be used with GNU Ghostscript 7.05, or with ESP Ghostscript 7.05.

The IJS GhostScript plugin driver requires GNU Ghostscript 6.53 or later, ESP Ghostscript 7.05 or later, or APFL GhostScript 7.04 or later.

Users of Macintosh OS X 10.2 and above can use this package, as the printing system is based on CUPS, which is supported by Gimp-print. Note that Macintosh OS X 10.0 and 10.1 (including 10.1.5) cannot use this package. We recommend that Macintosh OS X users download the precompiled installer package from
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3 rather than attempt to build this package from source, as using the installer is much simpler. We further recommend that Macintosh OS X users install ESP GhostScript, to permit printing from Carbon applications (such as most Adobe applications) that generate PostScript rather than PDF output. Directions for that are also available at http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3.

Please read the README file for full instructions on installing this package from source code.

Gimp-Print 4.2.5 contains the following major changes over Gimp-Print 4.2.4:

* Major bugs fixed:

1) (bug 625780) The Epson Stylus Pro 5000 now prints.

2) (bug 645895) The Epson Stylus Color 640 now prints properly at all resolutions in color, grayscale, and monochrome.

3) (bug 639356) The version of libtool used in building the release package has been upgraded to 1.4.3, which fixes compile problems on a few platforms (this is primarily of interest to packagers).

4) (bug 659543) escputil now reports the ink levels correctly on the Stylus Photo 950/960 and 2100/2200.

5) (bug 672692) A buffer overflow in escputil, which permitted a local privilege escalation if it is installed setuid, has been fixed. Note that Gimp-print does not install escputil setuid, and we do not recommend explicitly setting the setuid bit.

6) (bug 672846) A problem compiling rastertoprinter on Solaris with the gcc compiler has been fixed.

7) (bug 672850) The Epson back end in CUPS will no longer hang attempting to read back ink levels under some circumstances, and it will also compute the ink levels correctly.

8) (bug 646158) DESTDIR now works correctly with make install (this is primarily of interest to packagers).

* New Functionality:

1) If Foomatic 2.9.x is installed, the Foomatic data will be generated with additional features: Once the options are put into groups ("General", "PrintoutMode", "Adjustment") and a new "PrintoutMode" option will be added, which lets the user choose pre-configurations for common printing tasks, but still adjust the individual options. If an older version of Foomatic is installed, the Foomatic data will stay as before.

2) (bug 596538) The automatic paper cutter is now functional on the Epson Stylus Photo 925, 950/960, and 2100/2200.

* Quality Improvements:

1) The Epson Stylus Photo 950/960/PM-950C and 2100/2200 are now tuned. The 950 and 960 are fully tuned, while the 2100 and 2200 are fully tuned with Photographic Black ink. Matte Black ink on the 2100/2200, and dark yellow ink on the PM-950C, are not tuned at this point.

2) The Epson Stylus Photo 950/960/PM-950C and 2100/2200 now support double speed printing at 360 DPI in Four Color Standard mode (in color, grayscale, and monochrome). For this reason, we recommend use of Four Color Standard for printing text and low-resolution graphics on plain paper with these printers.

3) Translations for Danish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, and UK English have been updated.

* Exceptions and Workarounds:

1) There have been a number of reports that printing to a Windows-hosted printer from Macintosh OS X results in only the first page of the job being printed (see bugs 668342 and 672692). In at least some cases, connecting the printer directly to the Macintosh results in correct prints. There is no known workaround short of connecting the printer directly to the Macintosh. Investigation is continuing on this problem.

2) There are longstanding reports of problems printing with certain USB-parallel adapters on Macintosh OS X. In particular, many users have reported problems with the Keyspan adapter; we recommend that users having problems try different brands of adapters, and avoid using USB hubs. Please check our web site (http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3) for a link to a user feedback forum regarding these cables.

3) Mac OS X users who use the Epson Printer Utility (provided by Epson with their standard driver set) to check ink levels and perform maintenance tasks, such as head cleaning or head alignment, may encounter print job failures when attempting to print with the Gimp-Print driver after using the Epson utility. The cause for this failure is currently unknown, but the workaround is to completely power-cycle the printer, after which the Gimp-Print driver should again print normally. Another option is to disable the Epson Printer Utility.

4) The Mac OS X print dialog may offer an "Autoselect" option as the default media source (input slot) on some printers. This option may not be valid and can result in nothing being printed. The workaround is to choose a different setting (explicitly select the input slot you wish to use).

5) The new HP DesignJets have not been fully tuned. In particular, there are reports that they print too light. This can be corrected with the Density adjustment (try 1.5~1.7 or thereabouts).

6) The list of compatible and potentially compatible Hewlett-Packard printers has been updated with the latest available information. If a particular printer does not work with the recommended driver, we recommend that you try other similar drivers, check the Feature Requests at
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=101537&group_id=1537&func=browse, and if the printer is not listed please file a feature request (via the Submit New button).

7) Borderless (full-bleed) printing is not quite correct on the Epson Stylus Photo printers that support it (see bug 621668). Typically, the left or right margin is off by 1 mm or less, resulting in a very fine white strip on that edge. This will not be fixed in 4.2; it is expected to be fixed in 4.3 and beyond. There is no workaround other than trimming the page.

8) Many Canon printers do not print correctly at 720x360 DPI. The workaround is to use 360 or 720 DPI.

The following bugs have been fixed in Gimp-Print 4.2.5:

596538 Epson Stylus Photo 925 etc. paper cutter is not functional 599029 Epson: Maximum speed printing not supported on 950, 960 625780 Epson Stylus Pro 5000 does not print 639356 Build system: libtool 1.4.2 does not work on all platforms 641628 QUALITY: Epson Stylus 2200 print quality is low in 7-color 645895 Epson stc640 does not print at 720dpi and above 646158 Build:DESTDIR broken in make install in print plugin 649253 QUALITY - Epson 950/960 problems in all resolutions 659543 escputil Epson Photo 950 Ink level wrong 672845 Buffer overflow in escputil
672846 rastertoprinter does not compile on Solaris with gcc 672850 Epson back end in CUPS driver can lock up

The following bugs are currently open:

409612 Epson: Minor positioning problem on 4x6 glossy 470049 CUPS PPD files not translated on all systems 538097 QUALITY-Canon S400 dark and yellow cast 549677 Canon BJC-1000 functions incorrectly at 720x360 DPI 557868 QUALITY-HP DeskJet 560 is washed out 581168 Canon BJC 250 just spits out pages 601767 Mac OS X: Canon BJC 2100 does not print multiple pages 602933 QUALITY-Canon S800 dark and grainy 613054 Mac OS X: Printing from InDesign 2.0 on OS 10.2.1 614882 QUALITY - Canon BJC-55 is too pale and desaturated 621668 Epson Stylus full bleed prints have slight margin 627266 Mac OS X: Autoselect option incorrectly offered 627978 QUALITY: Canon BJC-6500 has magenta cast. 631937 HP DesignJet Sheet Cutter Problem 641981 QUALITY: HP DesignJet 455 too light 645116 QUALITY: HP DeskJet regression from 4.1.7 647035 QUALITY: Colors don't match OEM drivers 662988 HP DeskJet 970Cxi page horizontally squeezed 668342 Canon S-450 prints only one page of a job 672692 Epson photo 700 single page of multi page job