Digital BW, The Print

Roy, you wrote:

> Looks like you guys are moving right along.
> Keep us posted.   There may be various nuances that
> come up with Linux I'm less familiar with.

I have to ask Gert-Jan what he has done in total as the speed he
types commands and checks where the compiling strands is
unbelievable. He is not even a Linux expert, 90 % of what he does
is Windows developments (and some RiscOs + Psion dev in his spare
time).

What would be a nice undertaking is to make a special
photographers Linux distribution on a CD-ROM. Not the inflated
distributions like SuSE pro but a very lean Debian or Mandrake
with the Gimp, Sane for scanning, CUPS + Gimp-print + QTR for
printing, the demo of Vuescan and if it ever happens a Linux port
of Qimage (Demo). Possibly Samba for print serving. A webbrowser
to load the latest upgrades in graphic software from a dedicated
site. Main thing missing now is ICM control for colour printing
etc but on the other hand if it is just an in- and output system
in the workflow then a P2P in PS on the images to be printed
would be enough. I think GIMP has a ICM plugin meanwhile so it
could even be done in the same system. The distribution could be
called something like "Photix". Must be much easier to install
that way. No invitation for someone to do the job but more that
I'm convinced that Linux is really at a stage that it can deliver
all the goods needed and for an unbeatable price.

I'll try to get a summary of what has been done here and what
still has to be done.

Ernst