Oi,
this is Foomatic 3.0.0beta1, a new release in the 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 support for unprintable margins and for
"foomatic-configiure" CUPS-compatible URIs, support for the new USB URIs
of CUPS and for MTink.
Unprintable margins are already defined for HPIJS (foomatic-db-hpijs
1.3-3) and GIMP-Print (version 4.2.5). You need Foomatic 3.0.0beta1 to
generate PPD files with correctly defined unprintable margins
("*imageableArea" lines). There is no special version of "foomatic-rip"
required, but due to the composite options of Foomatic 2.9.1 you should
use at least the "foomatic-rip" of foomatic-filters 2.9.1.
See details and how to proceed below.
Happy printing!
Till
New features
------------
- Non-printable margins: Both printer and driver XML database entries
should get a new section for unprintable margins, so that the
"*ImageableArea" entries in the PPD files can be correctly set.
Entries should be possible for printers (printer XML file), for
drivers (main part of driver XML file), for printer/driver combos
(in printer list of driver XML file), and they can contain general
margins (valid for all paper sizes) and paper-size-specific margins.
If for one "*ImageableArea" entry in a PPD file more than one of the
above mentioned possible margin entries applies, the "worst case"
(individually determined for each page border) is inserted. If the
unprintable margins of a printer depend on options settings, the
"worst case" is chosen, too.
- URIs (Unified Resource Identifiers, the descriptions for the
printer connection type used with the "-c" option of
foomatic-configure) are exactly the same as under CUPS now. The
only difference was that before for local printers always URIs
beginning with "file:" were used, now "parallel:", "usb:", or
"serial:" is used. The old form with "file:" is still accepted
for compatibility.
- For USB printers CUPS 1.1.17 and newer supports URIs which refer to
manufacturer, model, and serial number and not to the device file
(/dev/usb/lp*) any more. This way the queues still work when the
printers are plugged in or turned on in another order in a later
session (the printers can get different device files
then). Foomatic now automatically converts the conventional USB
URIs to the new ones when an appropriate versions of CUPS is used.
When copying a queue to another spooler the URI is converted back
in the copied queue.
- Support for the MTink daemon from the MTink package
(http://xwtools.automatix.de/). MTink allows monitoring the ink
levels of Epson inkjets also while printing.
Packages
--------
The release consists of four packages, to be installed in the given order:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-filters-3.0.0beta1.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-current.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-hpijs-1.3-3.tar.gz
http://www.linuxprinting.org/download/foomatic/foomatic-db-engine-3.0.0beta1.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 3.0.0beta1 packages and for
anonymous download of the CVS.
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