Printing options

[Till Kamppeter]

James Richard Tyrer wrote:
> Michael Goffioul wrote:
> 
>>> I would guess that the problem is that the Qt PostScript driver is 
>>> embedding the image in a PS file and leaving the job of scaling it to 
>>> the printer resolution to the printer.  Actually, this is the correct 
>>> way to do it in some cases.  But, the processor in you printer takes 
>>> a long time to scale the image.
>>>
>>> By converting it to the resolution of the printer using: "ps2ps" with 
>>> the faster processor on your system, it is much faster.
>>>
>>> So, this *is* a KDE Print issue.  Should KPrinter be aware of the 
>>> resolution of the printer and use the Qt PostScript driver to make a 
>>> PS file with that resolution.
>>
>>
>>
>> In the end, the resolution used in the PS file is determined by the
>> application itself (look into QPrinter/KPrinter constructor). KDEPrint
>> provides since a few months a mechanism to propagate the resolution
>> extracted from the driver up to the application, but to my knowledge,
>> no application uses that feature.
> 
> 
>> OTOH, this feature only works with Foomatic drivers, and some *fully*
>> Adobe-compliant PPD files (and there aren't that much out there). Here
>> you enter the wonderful world of printer-manufacturers-provided PPD
>> files, where every manufacturer uses its own "standard" and it's
>> often impossible to know the printer resolution (for example if the
>> PPD file uses keyword like "Draft/Normal/Photo").
> 
> 
> Yes there is a problem with PPD files. :-(  Fortunately, I don't have 
> that problem. :-)
> 
> I am using GhostScript with OpenOffice (I use it when I must deal with 
> M$ Office files) so I am using either their 'generic' PPD file which I 
> have edited to conform to my printer to print or the Adobe distiller PPD 
> file to produce a PS for conversion to PDF.
> 
>> So basically, what you describe already exists in KDEPrint, but the
>> application has to use it.
> 
> 
> It is easier for OpenOffice to implement this since it is a stand alone 
> application, but it would be better if KPrint was able to use a PPD file 
> directly to determine the printer characteristics or have a choice to 
> ignore them when "printing" to a generic PS file.
> 
> The VALinux/HP/GNULpr (now inactive) project provides the ability to use 
> PPD files with LPR.

If you want to use PPDs with LPD or LPRng, use Foomatic from 
linuxprinting.org. See

http://www.linuxprinting.org/lpd-doc.html

This works with native PostScript printer PPDs and with the PPDs from 
linuxprinting.org.

    Till