Oi,
this is Foomatic 2.9.1, a new release in the 2.9.x development line
approaching Foomatic 3.0.
Please test this version and report bugs/give your comments on the
Foomatic Development List/Newsgroup on linuxprinting.org.
New features are composite options (selectable pre-configurations) and
option groups.
The composite option "Printout Mode" is currently available for the
drivers "hpijs", "pxlmono", and "drv_z42". GIMP-Print 4.2.5, which will
be released soon, also has the "Printout Mode" option. You will need
Foomatic 2.9.1 for that option to work. If you download PPDs with the
"Printout Mode" option from our web site, you need also to download the
current version of "foomatic-rip". Update also "foomatoc-gswrapper", I
have fixed a bug in it. There are also many (but not yet all) options
already assigned to groups. So the order of the options in GUIs can be
different for every driver now.
For more about the new features see the new sections "Composite Options"
and "Option Grouping" and also the section about the option XML files
("source/opt/2.xml" directly in the beginning of the chapter "Data") in
the README file of "foomatic-db-engine". Especially read this if you
want to contribute "Printout Mode" (and other composite) options to the
database.
See details and how to proceed below.
Merry Christmas and happy printing!
Till
New features
------------
- Option groups: Options can be put into groups and subgroups in the
PPD files, so that GUIs can present them in a structured way (in
tabs or in a tree structure). It is nearly completely functional,
the only thing missing is translation support ("long names" for the
groups, as "Adjustments and Corrections" for "Adjustment", or
translations to other languages). Now the PPD generator makes
trivial translations ("ThisIsAGroup" -> "This Is A Group")
automatically.
- Composite options: This is a new option type to make it easier for
users to choose the best settings for a certain printing task,
especially if the driver has very many options. The idea is to have
an enumerated choice option which does not directly modify
something in the driver's command line but sets several of the
other options.
We will have a "Printout Mode" option for all printers with the
following choices:
Draft
Normal
High Quality
Very High Quality
Photo
For an Epson Stylus Color 680 with GIMP-Print 4.2.5 it sets the
options resolution, ditherering, and image type as follows:
Choice Resolution Dither ImageType
------------------------------------------------------------------
Draft 180x180 dpi Very Fast LineArt
Normal 360x360 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
High Quality 720x720 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
Very High Qual. 1440x720 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
Photo 2880x720 dpi Even Tone Photographs
The mentioned settings set all the color mode to "Color", there
are also choices with a ".Gray" modifier (ex: "Normal.Gray" which
set the color mode to "Grayscale", but the other mentioned options
as the standard variants ("Normal").
The member options of the composite option all get one choice
called "FromPrintoutMode"/"Controlled by 'Printout Mode'" added,
which gets their default setting. If this choice is selected, the
option is set by the composite option according to the table. If
the user wants to modify one of the individual member options, he
simply chooses a value other than "FromPrintoutMode" for this
particular option. In addition the member options will be put into
a group (named "Printout Mode"). and the composite option goes into
the same group as "PageSize", "InputSlot", ... So the user sees the
composite option on the "Front page" of the GUI and can quickly set
up print jobs without getting confused. The user with more special
demands goes to the tab with the member options and makes detailed
choices.
Packages
--------
The release consists of four packages, to be installed in the given order:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-filters-2.9.1.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-current.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-hpijs-1.3-2.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-engine-2.9.1.tar.gz
Please read the USAGE files to know how to install and use these
packages. You do not necessarily need to install foomatic-db-hpijs, you
only need it when you want to use a printer with the HPIJS driver.
Uninstall any old version of Foomatic before you install these packages.
To set up print queues for any supported spooler (CUPS, LPRng, LPD,
GNUlpr, PPR, PDQ, no spooler) use "foomatic-configure" as described in
the USAGE file of foomatic-db-engine. You can set up printer queues
based on the Foomatic database, with PPD files for PostScript printers,
or raw queues. This is possible for all spoolers. You can also print a
wide range of file types with every spooler (when you use LPRng, LPD,
GNUlpr, PGQ, or no spooler you need "a2ps" on your machine).
If you want to know how all this works, see the README files of both the
foomatic-db-engine and foomatic-filters packages.
Web site
--------
Alternatively you can download all what you need for setting up a print
queue from the web, as it was (and is) possible all the time with
Foomatic 2.0.x. Go to our test site:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/foomatic2.9/
This site you should bookmark, it will show always the state of the art
of our web site development.
All documentation on the test web site is updated. So you can simply
follow the step-by-step instructions on the documentation page for your
spooler The main Foomatic page gives you download links and
instructions for installing the Foomatic 2.9.1 packages and for
anonymous download of the CVS.
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