Digital BW, The Print

Had a breakthrough today!  Just wanted to report my experience in case
it can help someone else in the future.

I didn't mention this earlier, but although I can boot into Windows XP
as well, I'm an avid Linux user.  All of my previous printing efforts
had been done in Windows, as I was trying to initially re-create Paul's
settings as closely as possible.

On a lark, I tried printing from GIMP after booting into Linux and, once
I tweaked a few settings, was getting very, very nice prints, FAR better
than what I had been able to achieve before.  The black "splotches" were
gone, as were the "pizza cutter" marks in dark areas, and even stranger,
the prints were now MUCH more neutral (previously they had been VERY
cool).  Keep in mind, this was with the exact same batch of Kirkland
glossy paper.  I can't explain it, but now I am quite happy with the
results.

Just in case there are any Linux users out there who want to use the EZ
inkset with a C88+, here are the details:

Printer:  Epson Stylus C88+
Inkset: MIS EZN with Photo Black
Paper: Kirkland Premium Glossy

Application:  GIMP (I have an older version, 2.2.8), with Gutenprint
driver plugin 5.0.0 - 22.  I had to install Gutenprint driver from
source but if you have a newer Linux distribution it may be included.

Gutenprint driver settings are as follows:

Printer Settings tab:
Printer model: Epson Stylus C88
Print quality: Best
Media Type: Matte Paper Heavyweight (based on Paul's recommendation for
increasing dmax)
Ink Set: EPSON Standard Inks
Resolution: 2880 x 1440 DPI (Gutenprint driver won't support full
2880x2880)
Printing Direction: Automatic
Interleave Method: Standard
Ink Type: Standard
Adjust dot size as necessary: OFF

Output tab:
Output type: Color
After clicking on Adjust Output:
Image Type: Photograph
Brightness: 0.900
Contrast: 1.200
Saturation: 1.000 (don't know effect of this yet with B&W inkset, 1.000
is default)
Color Correction: Default
Dither Algorithm: Default

These are just starting values, I'm sure they can be improved on quite a
bit.  Next I'm going to work on using some curve adjustments to increase
dmax.

Thanks for everyone's comments & help.

Ty