Homebrew PCBs

There is where what seems right may not be.

Inkjet printers specifically randomize placement (it is called
"dithering") of the ink dots a bit to hide the fact that it is
printing in rigid, straight lines.

The higher the DPI you print with, the more leeway it has to randomize
the dots. So it may in fact give you better results to use something
like 720dpi, rather than 2880 or some other ultra super photo
smoothing. Rather than set it at super ultra photo printing, find a
setting that says it is for business graphics or DTP. Those should be
optimized for sharp edges of vector graphics.

What you really need is a RIP, software that gives you much more
control over the printer. I didn't get printer drivers for my Amiga
and had to buy a 3rd party package of drivers, but the upside was that
I had ultimate control over everything. I could use ordered dithering
or noise (randomized) dithering to make better photos, or use other
settings to optimize sharp edges on vector graphics.

There were two such printer driver packages, Turboprint and Studio
Print Pro II. Studio Print Pro II is long gone, but the gentleman who
wrote Turboprint has ported it to Linux.

http://www.turboprint.de/english.html

There is a demo, I think it prints half the image.

What you need is to be able to shut "dithering" off.

Steve Greenfield

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, DJ Delorie <dj@...> wrote:
>
> 
> I have a stylus photo R280 I've been experimenting with, but even at
> "ultimate photo quality" the dots don't line up as well as with my
> laser printer.  I haven't tried a pcb in the dvd tray yet, though.
> I'm not sure how I'd cut it into a circle either ;-)
>