QTR-Quadtone RIP

Spotted a couple of bugs in Windows 8-64.  Both may be related to the GUI interface in 2.7.2 (Shows as 2.7.0.0).

1. "QTRgui: I/O error 32" when exiting program at times.

2. In "Curve Creator" pressing "Show Curve" button only turns the spinning blue Windows 8 timer (The hourglass in older Windows versions.) and no curve or anything pops up.  Remains running on main gui window when "Curve Creator" closed via red X too.  Pressing the red X in the Main window to shut the program and get rid of the blue spinning timer results in the Error I/O 32 above too.

When I ran in Dubug mode, A DOS window popped up in "Curve Creator" > "Show Curve" saying "Terminating on signal SIGHUP(1)" whatever that means.  When I closed that window, the Curve/Graph window pops up???
The spinning blue timer also went away and program seemed to work normally.

Also, the manual needs to be updated for the newer "i1 Photo Pro 2" Profiler as well as ColorPort 2.0.5 as it is a bit different in operation.


Mack (New user still trying to figure this thing out.)

I experienced the same problem today with the show curve function in the Curve Creator. I was wondering if Steve has taken a look at the I/O error 32 issue and Win 8?

Thanks Roy for the update on the Windows 8 issue with QuadTone RIP.  I suspected as much as the GUI interface seemed "Windows 98 Retro."


Fwiw, I think I needed to run x-rite's ColorMunki Photo in Windows 7 compatibility mode where that software won't Save a profile reliably otherwise and might crash.  Supposedly, x-rite is going to update it soon - hopefully. I haven't tried that compatibility avenue yet with QT RIP, but if it has to go back to Windows XP to run well, it might become an issue.


I also noted that when it runs and hangs in Windows 8, there may be several other versions of it left running in the background once it closes or crashes.  I see a lot of Quadtone.exe and another associated program running that takes a hard "Exit Program" in Task Manager to shut them all down and clear.  Don't know if that's part of the I/O: 32 error or not.  I've seen as many as a dozen instances of Quadtone.exe hanging on in Task Manager > Details.


I also have noticed the images out of QuadTone RIP are a bit soft for some reason.  Almost like seeing a soft RAW file prior to post-processing & sharpening, but this was a TIFF image.  I made a print from QT and one later using Qimage Ultimate and the print sharpness was remarkable out of Qimage.  I can see individual strands of hair and even thread seams out of Qimage, and not so in QT RIP for some reason on the same image.  Much different sharpening algorithm between the two programs.  I managed to find a way to linearize a 21-step tonal range in Qimage, but it is a bit of a pain to do as it is manually done and using linear regression spreadsheets by Jon Cone, the i1 Photo Pro 2 head, and x-rite Colorport. Then you have to read and apply to the Qimage curves individually as a filter (that can be saved) to alter them.


Hope you find a person to get it up to Windows 8 speed soon.  I liked the ability to set up the inks individually and for density with QT RIP.  It's really slow my current way, but doable.


Best,


Mack




--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, Roy Harrington <roy@...> wrote:

>
> Unfortunately this is a real problem.
>
> As most of you know Stephen Billard is the one who wrote the QTRgui front
> end for
> QTR on Windows.  It was written back in the Windows XP days and the
> development
> system he used does not even run on Windows 7 -- (fortunately the QTRgui
> program does.)
> This is the reason for the old version number 2.7.0.0 -- that's the last
> one done on XP.
> I have updated QTR printing code to 2.7.2.0 but have no capability of
> debugging or modifying
> any of the old QTRgui code.  If this doesn't run on Windows 8 I don't have
> an easy solution.
>
> Is there are Windows 7 or even XP compatibility mode that you could run QTR
> on?
>
> Roy
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 28, 2013 at 9:30 PM, <rmacint@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I experienced the same problem today with the show curve function in the
> > Curve Creator. I was wondering if Steve has taken a look at the I/O error
> > 32 issue and Win 8?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, <quadtonerip@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> >
> > Spotted a couple of bugs in Windows 8-64. Both may be related to the GUI
> > interface in 2.7.2 (Shows as 2.7.0.0).
> >
> > 1. "QTRgui: I/O error 32" when exiting program at times.
> >
> > 2. In "Curve Creator" pressing "Show Curve" button only turns the spinning
> > blue Windows 8 timer (The hourglass in older Windows versions.) and no
> > curve or anything pops up. Remains running on main gui window when "Curve
> > Creator" closed via red X too. Pressing the red X in the Main window to

> > shut the program and get rid of the blue spinning timer results in the

> > Error I/O 32 above too.
> >
> > When I ran in Dubug mode, A DOS window popped up in "Curve Creator" >
> > "Show Curve" saying "Terminating on signal SIGHUP(1)" whatever that means.
> > When I closed that window, the Curve/Graph window pops up???
> > The spinning blue timer also went away and program seemed to work normally.
> >
> > Also, the manual needs to be updated for the newer "i1 Photo Pro 2"
> > Profiler as well as ColorPort 2.0.5 as it is a bit different in operation.
> >
> >
> > Mack (New user still trying to figure this thing out.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Roy Harrington
> roy@...
> www.harrington.com
>

On 09/29/2013 11:45 PM, c-s-p@... wrote:

>
> I also have noticed the images out of QuadTone RIP are a bit soft for
> some reason. Almost like seeing a soft RAW file prior to post-processing
> & sharpening, but this was a TIFF image. I made a print from QT and one
> later using Qimage Ultimate and the print sharpness was remarkable out
> of Qimage. I can see individual strands of hair and even thread seams
> out of Qimage, and not so in QT RIP for some reason on the same image.
> Much different sharpening algorithm between the two programs. I managed
> to find a way to linearize a 21-step tonal range in Qimage, but it is a
> bit of a pain to do as it is manually done and using linear regression
> spreadsheets by Jon Cone, the i1 Photo Pro 2 head, and x-rite Colorport.
> Then you have to read and apply to the Qimage curves individually as a
> filter (that can be saved) to alter them.
>
> Hope you find a person to get it up to Windows 8 speed soon. I liked the
> ability to set up the inks individually and for density with QT RIP.
> It's really slow my current way, but doable.
>
> Best,
>
> Mack

There is an old request by me to make a QTR version in the shape of a 
normal Windows printer driver. I have used QTR in combination with 
Qimage's Print to File (using the Printer setting choices and profiling) 
that delivers a print page to a hot folder of QTRgui and the printing 
starting immediately. Combining the features of Qimage and QTR in one 
workflow. I still think a true Windows printer driver version would be 
much nicer and could be used with Qimage Ultimate, Lightroom and more 
programs. Qimage Ultimate then could pick up the driver settings as it 
can with many other Windows drivers and apply the algorithms of 
extrapolation, sharpening, anti-aliasing for the best image quality. The 
color management of Qimage Ultimate can handle the QTR B&W profiles (RGB 
version) and for target printing Qimage allows a CM-off path that really 
works.


-- 
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012: 500+ inkjet media paper white spectral plots.

Running under compatibility mode (XP or 7) does not solve the problem.

Is there any chance Stephen might release his code in whatever he used to develop the GUI so the Quadtone community might begin porting it to Java or something else that is more contemporary?

Hummm... then maybe COBOL? ;)

Walter

If I recall correctly, its not just a front end interface that was 
required, but also a printer driver at the backend.
The earliest implementation of QTR on a PC involved booting into Linux - 
the core printing functionality was built on the gutenprint driver 
(Linux and MacOS) and was (and still is?) incompatible with the Windows 
printer driver. Qtrgui at the back end interfaced with a (possibly 
modified) gutenprint driver that largely bypassed the Windows print 
driver interfaces. It may well be that the problems are more in the 
backend than the front-end.

Personally, I've removed Java based tools (primarily 
OpenOffice/LibreOffice) from my PC after the somewhat slow response to 
security exploits from Oracle.

I still have a PC that runs XP ...

On 04/10/2013 17:52, kenlee333@... wrote:
>
> I'm a Java developer.
>
> Am I correct that the front-end calls a separate application or DLL, 
> which will only run on Windows, since it calls native Windows APIs ?
>
> If so, then there's no need for cross-platform development tools. I'm 
> happy to take this discussion offline if you like.
>
>
>
>
> ---In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, <quadtonerip@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> God no, anything BUT Java !
>
> Paul
>
> ________________________________________________
>
> *Paul OZZELLO*
> Fine art photography
> www.paulozzello.com <http://www.paulozzello.com/>
> Tel:    +1.514.451.8399
> Email: paul.ozzello@... <mailto:paul.ozzello@...>
> 

-- 
mike finley photography
http://www.mikefinley.co.uk
http://words.mikefinley.co.uk
http://www.roguegenegallery.com/Mike_Finley-gallery.html

the whole point of the virtualstore is that you don't need admin permissions to save files in it, whereas you do if you save qidf and quad files in the 'Program Files' hierarchy alongside the files that ship with QTR.

So the spinning wheel in W10 is a bug rather than a permissions problem. One that can't be fixed without the original author, who was not Roy.

There are two workarounds - restart as John discovered, and 'save as' the file elsewhere and then move it into one of the locations described in the link above.