Digital Prints

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Mastering Digital Printing
Gimp-Print
Gimp-Print started off back in 1999 as a plug-in for The Gimp, the open-source imageediting
program mentioned in Chapter 3. This explains the name, but Gimp-Print has
now evolved into an independent printing package; installing The Gimp is not required.
Continuously upgraded by a group of like-minded volunteers and software tinkerers,
Gimp-Print is a package of high-quality printer drivers for Linux, BSD, Solaris, IRIX, and
other UNIX-like operating systems (and now Mac OS X, which ships with Gimp-Print).
“Our goal is to produce the highest possible output quality from all supported printers,”
says the Gimp-Print team. “To that end, we have done extensive work on screening algorithms,
color generation, and printer feature utilization. We are continuing our work in
all of these areas to produce ever-higher-quality results, particularly on the ubiquitous,
inexpensive inkjet printers that are nonetheless capable of nearly photographic output
quality. Additionally, Gimp-Print provides excellent drivers for many printers that are
otherwise unsupported on Mac OS X.”
Gimp-Print printer drivers can be used with all common UNIX print spooling systems,
by means of either CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) or Ghostscript (an opensource
PostScript interpreter). Gimp-Print is supplied in source-code form under the GPL
(GNU General Public License).
The Gimp-Print website (www.gimp-print.sourceforge.net) has a long list of the printers
(500+) that are supported with separate drivers, and they can be especially useful with old
printers that technology (and driver support) have passed by. As UK photographer Keith
Cooper puts it, “I use Gimp-Print for handling several old or PC-only printers that sit on
my network. It’s nice not to have to consign printers to the scrap heap just because the
manufacturers have moved on.”
Keith Cooper uses Gimp-Print to keep
older printers running. Here, he’s
working with Gimp-Print 5.0 (beta2)
for Mac OS X 10.3.5 to print to an
Epson Stylus Color 3000.
Courtesy of Keith Cooper
www.northlight-images.co.uk