Printing options

[James Richard Tyrer]

Till Kamppeter wrote:
> 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.
> 
Yes, but will that make the Qt PostScript driver see the resolution and use 
it to generate the PS file with that resolution.

What the original poster needs is to be able to set the resolution in the 
KDE Print dialog in the widget that come up when you click the: 
"Properties" button like you can in OpenOffice.

--
JRT