Digital BW, The Print

I installed the 2200 drivers, and BO now works as it should.  This is
using EXACTLY the same settings as I was using in the 2100 driver, but
which gave really light results. My sanity is safe for the moment. 

It looks like people using the 2100 driver are getting different
results to 2200 users and perhaps to each other, leading me to wonder
whether there are multiple versions of the 5.30 2100 driver.  

In messages 48661 and 48665 Steve Kale observed some quirks in the
2100 driver relation to the selecting of 2880 dpi with matte paper /
ink.  I can certainly make this selection, but it seems some others
can't.  

In 48927 Steve says that the UK 2100 driver will do BO on matt paper
no problems ie no colour ink is used, but I assume that he is using
the OS-X driver.  

In my 5.30 version of the XP 2100 driver, I remain convinced that in
BO moded my version of the driver is taking the grayscale image, doing
a CYMK separation, and only printing the black channel.  It definitely
is printing only black ink, the print is a very close match to the
black channel if I do my own separation, and anything I do to try to
darken the print along the lines of Clayton's suggestions does nothing
to the light-toned areas, where the black channel does very little of
the work.

People using different driver versions may have trouble believing the
cause of my light prints, but I just can't get around it.  And in any
case, the 2200 driver with the same settings does proper BO!  If there
was a problem with my workflow, profiles or curves, this would not be
the case.

I was using the driver version that came with the printer (purchased
in Paris) - 5.30.  As part of the testing I downloaded the latest
5.30a version from the UK site, although the "a" doesn't show up when
when you install it and check the driver version. I thought I detected
some cosmetic changes in the driver dialogue boxes after the update,
but nothing changed in relation to BO printing.  Only the 2200 drivers
do this properly for me.

The above is all with the Matte Balck cart installed.  I haven't
bothered to try this on semi-gloss with the PK cart.  There's only so
much ink and paper ...........

Again, thanks to all who took the time and trouble to read my long
posts, think about it, and reply.  Much appreciated.

I'd still be interested in corresponding with other 2100 users to
understand better the differences in the various versions of the 2100
driver.

F_P