Digital BW, The Print

Back in March, there was a post on the Epson Wide Format List asking if it is possible to 
add Media Types to the Epson driver.  Many people replied that it is not.  Then Stephen 
Best replied with the following.  No one ever replied to his post.  I am surprised that it just 
died.  This seems to me like an incredibly useful discovery.  Am I wrong?  Any software 
engineers out there that can discern if it is possible to control ink limits with these files?

Best.

Josh

Here is Stephen's post to EpsonWideFormat:


I've done this on my Mac for the 7800 ... the structure is likely the same for
all Epson drivers, probably on Windows as well. On my machine there's two xml files:

    com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800.mp
    com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800_1.mp

The first is for PK, the second for MK. These reference data files inIJ_MediaFolder. As a 
test, I duplicated SPro 7800 USFA_1.rsrc, changed the paper name(s) internally and created 
a new entry in com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800_1.mp referencing the new media file and, lo 
and behold, this is now selectable from the driver. I spent some time looking at the 
internals of the media file and it appears everything specific to the paper is contained here 
... though I've only been able to change the name and paper thickness so far.  I'm pretty 
sure ColorBase updates this file. I don't know however whether it contains ink limits or 
simply references a media lookup in the printer itself. If the ink limits *are* included, all it 
needs is for someone to write a utility to linearize third-party papers, build the resource 
file and add it to the xml above ... third-party papers would then be selectable by name 
and you wouldn't need a RIP to get the absolute best from them. You could also go further 
and add/reference ICC profiles so the driver could do the colour space conversion.

I may play around with this some more but it's not a priority at the moment. I was just
curious.

Stephen Best
Macquarie Editions

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "joshhackney"
<joshhackney@...> wrote:
>
> 
> Back in March, there was a post on the Epson Wide Format List asking
if it is possible to 
> add Media Types to the Epson driver.  Many people replied that it is
not.  Then Stephen 
> Best replied with the following.  No one ever replied to his post. 
I am surprised that it just 
> died.  This seems to me like an incredibly useful discovery.  Am I
wrong?  Any software 
> engineers out there that can discern if it is possible to control
ink limits with these files?
> 


Nothing like it for the older printers in Windows. I think they hide
most of that stuff in the dll files. I can say that I have never tried
to "decompile" the Epson dll files, or any of the exe files. It's in
there somewhere...

Greg wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "joshhackney"
> <joshhackney@...> wrote:
>>
>> Back in March, there was a post on the Epson Wide Format List asking
> if it is possible to 
>> add Media Types to the Epson driver.  Many people replied that it is
> not.  Then Stephen 
>> Best replied with the following.  No one ever replied to his post. 
> I am surprised that it just 
>> died.  This seems to me like an incredibly useful discovery.  Am I
> wrong?  Any software 
>> engineers out there that can discern if it is possible to control
> ink limits with these files?
> 
> 
> Nothing like it for the older printers in Windows. I think they hide
> most of that stuff in the dll files. I can say that I have never tried
> to "decompile" the Epson dll files, or any of the exe files. It's in
> there somewhere...

Yes I looked in some Windows driver directories 4800 - 10000 
and I couldn't find any readable files with that information. 
I also wonder whether the original writer may have found some 
Gimp-Print files on his Mac instead of Epson driver files. I 
have no Mac so this is just speculation.

Ernst

-- 

                    --
           Ernst Dinkla


www.pigment-print.com
(         unvollendet         )

On Windows, info like this will probably be in a language-specific
resource dll. As usual, there is some printer-specific (but
language-independent) info in the Registry. 

Regardless of where the names are held, I don't think you can just add
another media type: even if you could edit a dll to add a new name,
the actual driver code makes use of media-specific look-up tables for
the ink curves etc. and you can't just create a new one without access
to the actual code.

If you want to tweak the (existing) ink curves of an Epson K3 driver
the only way I know is to use the Epson ColorBase utility.

Regards,

Alan

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "joshhackney"
<joshhackney@...> wrote:
>
> 
> Back in March, there was a post on the Epson Wide Format List asking
if it is possible to 
> add Media Types to the Epson driver.  Many people replied that it is
not.  Then Stephen 
> Best replied with the following.  No one ever replied to his post. 
I am surprised that it just 
> died.  This seems to me like an incredibly useful discovery.  Am I
wrong?  Any software 
> engineers out there that can discern if it is possible to control
ink limits with these files?
> 
> Best.
> 
> Josh
> 
> Here is Stephen's post to EpsonWideFormat:
> 
> 
> I've done this on my Mac for the 7800 ... the structure is likely
the same for
> all Epson drivers, probably on Windows as well. On my machine
there's two xml files:
> 
>     com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800.mp
>     com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800_1.mp
> 
> The first is for PK, the second for MK. These reference data files
inIJ_MediaFolder. As a 
> test, I duplicated SPro 7800 USFA_1.rsrc, changed the paper name(s)
internally and created 
> a new entry in com.epson.ijprinter.SPro7800_1.mp referencing the new
media file and, lo 
> and behold, this is now selectable from the driver. I spent some
time looking at the 
> internals of the media file and it appears everything specific to
the paper is contained here 
> ... though I've only been able to change the name and paper
thickness so far.  I'm pretty 
> sure ColorBase updates this file. I don't know however whether it
contains ink limits or 
> simply references a media lookup in the printer itself. If the ink
limits *are* included, all it 
> needs is for someone to write a utility to linearize third-party
papers, build the resource 
> file and add it to the xml above ... third-party papers would then
be selectable by name 
> and you wouldn't need a RIP to get the absolute best from them. You
could also go further 
> and add/reference ICC profiles so the driver could do the colour
space conversion.
> 
> I may play around with this some more but it's not a priority at the
moment. I was just

> curious.
> 
> Stephen Best
> Macquarie Editions
>

No, those Mac files exist and are apparently editable if you can figure them out.

Ed

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Ernst Dinkla <E.Dinkla@...> 
wrote:

> I also wonder whether the original writer may have found some 
> Gimp-Print files on his Mac instead of Epson driver files. I 
> have no Mac so this is just speculation.
> 
> Ernst
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "edrudolpho" 
<erudolph@...> wrote:
>
> No, those Mac files exist and are apparently editable if you can 
figure them out.
> 
> Ed
> 


If they are plain text, could you send them to me offlist? I bet Ernst 
might want to to take a look too. I can't suggest that I'll devote a 
lot of time to it right away, but I always love hacking things apart, 
especially when the gains could be great. If it can be made to work for 
OSX, then it might be worth tracking down a dll editor for Windows and 
giving those files a crack.

Greg, I emailed you a file from an epson 900 printer.  I actually don't have such a printer, 
but the driver is installed on the computer I'm using here at work.  Let me know if this is 
of any use to you.  I can also, once I get home, get you a file for a 2200 or 2400 or 
900printer.

Ed

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Greg" <dfaprinting@...> wrote:

>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "edrudolpho" 
> <erudolph@> wrote:
> >
> > No, those Mac files exist and are apparently editable if you can 
> figure them out.
> > 
> > Ed
> > 
> 
> 
> If they are plain text, could you send them to me offlist? I bet Ernst 
> might want to to take a look too. I can't suggest that I'll devote a 
> lot of time to it right away, but I always love hacking things apart, 
> especially when the gains could be great. If it can be made to work for 
> OSX, then it might be worth tracking down a dll editor for Windows and 
> giving those files a crack.
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "edrudolpho"
<erudolph@...> wrote:
>
> Greg, I emailed you a file from an epson 900 printer.  I actually
don't have such a printer, 
> but the driver is installed on the computer I'm using here at work.
 Let me know if this is 
> of any use to you.  I can also, once I get home, get you a file for
a 2200 or 2400 or 
> 900printer.
> 
> Ed
> 


Thanks, got it. For those that might be interested... It's an XML file
that outlines a linked .rsrc file for each paper type, and also links
to the "default" profile for each paper type. So you could at least
link to your custom profiles by altering this file.

This might be worth pursuing, if only for the Mac users.

Greg,

I emailed you off list the files from my 7800.  Let me know if you don't recieve them.

Best.

Josh



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Greg" <dfaprinting@...> wrote:

>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "edrudolpho" 
> <erudolph@> wrote:
> >
> > No, those Mac files exist and are apparently editable if you can 
> figure them out.
> > 
> > Ed
> > 
> 
> 
> If they are plain text, could you send them to me offlist? I bet Ernst 
> might want to to take a look too. I can't suggest that I'll devote a 
> lot of time to it right away, but I always love hacking things apart, 
> especially when the gains could be great. If it can be made to work for 
> OSX, then it might be worth tracking down a dll editor for Windows and 
> giving those files a crack.
>