Digital BW, The Print

thanks John, that was as I thought... 
My question(s) of the past week on several of the BW+Print+digitalPhoto+etc lists have been to gain insight over the build-or-not question I have. 
The answers indicate that I will have to build the system, even if it means duplicating some of what others have already done...

>>are you looking to print a pattern periodically to keep the nozzles clear?
-- No, not a nozzle  clean, but that is certainly a nice addition :)

/Richard L.


On 30 Apr 2009, at 10:19 AM, ric_kb wrote:

> is there a set of CL options that can be issued to qrip? specific  
> search is for one that would exercise the nozzles of the printer  
> through a step wedge of tones...

[I only know about the Mac version, so that's what I'm talking about  
here.]

Not as far as I know of.  QTR does have a set of command-line tools,  
but they are strictly for generating profiles.  All interaction with a  
printer is through sending an image through the print system, along  
with parameters specifying any settings (as found in the usual Print  
dialog box).

I suppose you could create a command-line tool that would generate an  
image file with a series of tones for each ink, and send it through  
the print system in Calibration mode.  (If you want the details on how  
you'd create that file, specifically the RGB values to get particular  
values of particular inks, let me know.)

There also might be a way to communicate directly with the underlying  
CUPS printing system, but you'd probably be re-doing a lot of the work  
that Roy's done, so that might not be efficient.

I'm curious: Why do you want to use a command-line tool?  Are you  
looking to print a pattern periodically to keep the nozzles clear?

--John