Digital BW, The Print

Ten years ago I spent quite a bit of effort trying to print acceptable black and white prints on an Epson 1280 with MIS inks and Paul Roark's guidance.  I gave up when my third set of print heads clogged and I could not get a Dmax above 1.6 with Epson Archival Mat paper.

After seeing the progress that has been made I want to try to again.  I have two questions:

Is the Epson 1430 output equivalent to the 1400 when both use the 1400 workflow and the MIS Eboni 6 ink set + Arches un-coated watercolor paper?

What work flow / software are you using to convert your camera files to B&W for post processing?

Thanks for your help