Digital BW, The Print

Walker Blackwell wrote:

> Its time for some brilliant mechanical/robotic engineers to step up  
> and build the starting blocks of such a system. If we did this, the  
> printing world would change for the better and forever. Open source  
> modularized hardware is were we must head. We have been stalled at the  
> margins technically for years (in this country) in a controlled  
> upgrade pattern while big companies with lots of patents suck our  
> wallets dry.
> 
> It started in the 80s with refrigerators and now it's everywhere. All  
> epson has to do each year is add a channel and some nozzles, flip  
> their magenta ink from more-magenta to more-red and back, mess with  
> their cartridge pressure, and call it "technically improved." We all  
> just sprint to get the new printer because our old ones have crappy  
> issues that epson surely new about (3800 rollers, 9600 inkline  
> pressure, o-rings, CF motor errors, vacuum clogs, etc) but decided to  
> only fix one upgrade at a time in order to maximize profit and  
> oversell the public.

There's no objection to open source solutions here but if the change 
will happen as fast as Linux, BSD, changed the world of OS systems then 
I prefer what some healthy competition in the wide format printer's 
world did since the summer of 2006.

If we sketch what open source software development did for photo 
printing in the last 15 years then it isn't a rosy picture. It must be 
possible now (1-2 years) to print from Gimp with the CM extension, 
running on Ubuntu, with Gutenprint (16 bits) as the driver on an Epson 
9800, 9880, 11880. The 9900 not supported yet. Open source here 
following the dominant wide format supplier.  Epson had CM on the 3000, 
12 years ago.  No recent wide formats from the competition are 
supported. Similar support structure for desktops. For open source 
profile creation there are LCMS and Argyll, the last possibly with the 
best color engine available on this planet but hardly in a shape that 
makes it usable for the average print shop owner. It became available in 
bits and parts in the last two years,.

QTR is a godsend (not playing down Roy's role here :-) for B&W printing 
so may have distorted the perspective on "open" source software for this 
list.


-- 
Met vriendelijke groeten,   Ernst


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