Gutenprint FAQ for Mac OS X and Darwin

What is Gimp-Print for Jaguar and Darwin? Why would I want to install it?

Gimp-Print is a package of high quality printer drivers for Mac OS X Jaguar, Darwin, Linux, BSD, Solaris, IRIX, and other UNIX-alike operating systems. In many cases, these drivers rival or exceed the OEM drivers in quality and functionality. Our goal is to produce the highest possible output quality from all supported printers. 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.
How can I find out more information about Gimp-Print? Where can I get the newest version?

For the latest information or the newest version of Gimp-Print be sure to check the Gimp-Print web page.
I've read this entire document but I'm still having problems. How can I contact the developers?

If you're having problems it's a good bet that you are not the only one. If you can't find a solution to your problem in this FAQ or in How to Print with Gimp-Print, located on the installer disk, your next stop should be the Gimp-Print project forums. If you have looked through the forums and you still cannot find a reference to your problem then you may simply be the first person to encouter it. It is helpful to the developers and users of Gimp-Print if you post a description of the problem you are facing in the Gimp-Print project help forums. When you post in the forums, developers can respond to your post and everyone browsing the forums can benefit from the exchange. Please browse the forums before posting as your question may already be answered.
I am trying to print from (Quark, Phtoshop, etc...) using Gimp-Print on Mac OS X Panther (10.3.x) but whenever I include EPS files I get really low quality output. This did not happen on Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.x). Did the the printing behavior change between Mac OS 10.2 and Mac OS 10.3? How can I get the high quality output in Panther?

Yes, printing behavior changed between 10.2 and 10.3, and more so for a certain class of applications that use the so-called 'deprecated printing path,' which means that Apple has discouraged application developers from creating programs that print in this manner. Within this class, the quality and type of printed output generated by the application is dependent on whether the system describes the printer as a raster device or a PostScript device. Your application seems to be a member of this class.
In Mac OS 10.2, the system always describes any printer driven by Gimp-Print as a PostScript device. Technically, this behavior is a 'bug' and it requires that a PostScript interpreter (such as ESP Ghostscript) be available to CUPS (the underlying print spooler) to enable the Gimp-Print driver (or any CUPS raster driver) to print from this class of application.
In Mac OS 10.3, by default the system always describes any printer driven by Gimp-Print as a raster device, which is technically correct. The reason why your printed EPS files look 'jaggedy' in 10.3 has to do with the quality of raster generated by your application (it turns out that the 'bug' in Jaguar was actually a 'feature' for most end users!). You can force Panther to emulate the 'buggy' behavior of Jaguar by setting a specific 'system default'. Here is the procedure to do that:
1. Quit your application, if it is running
2. open the Terminal application found in /Applications/Utilities/
3. copy the following command in its entirety and paste it into the Terminal window, then press the return key:
```
defaults write -g com.apple.print.apple.pictwpstopdf YES
```
This setting is permanent, and it affects all applications on your system. If you later decide that you prefer the default behavior then issue this command instead:
```
defaults write -g com.apple.print.apple.pictwpstopdf NO
```
Note: Although you may set the default in Panther to force certain applications to produce PostScript rather than raster, you will never need to install ESP Ghostscript in Panther for use with Gimp-Print because the operating system includes software that performs PostScript to raster conversion. Other printer drivers may still require ESP Ghostscript, but installing it in Panther will have no effect on Gimp-Print.
I am trying to install Gimp-Print on Mac OS X Panther (10.3.x) but when I get to the installer screen where I select the destination volume, there is a large red exclamation mark and I cannot install it.

There is an apparent bug in the Panther Installer that prevents the installer from running over "newer" releases. So if you are trying to install 4.2.6 and you have ever installed 4.3.x or 5.0alpha then this bug may bite you. This bug is not present in Jaguar; the workaround in Panther is to run the Gimp-Print uninstaller and remove any other versions of Gimp-Print.

Please note that when you run the uninstaller you will most likely want to click Customize and skip the Gimp-Print printer remover option, which you accomplish by removing the check from the box. If you skip this option your current Gimp-Print printers will be preserved, which is likely what you want. Otherwise, your printers will be removed and you may need to go through the secret option-click-elbow process again to recreate them.
With Gimp-Print 4.2.6 (or later), when I go to set up a printer via the CUPS web interface I get to the point where I need to choose a driver, but the Gimp-Print drivers (PPDs) are not listed there. They use to be there in Gimp-Print 4.2.5 so where did they go?

Starting with version 4.2.6-pre2 of the Mac OS X installer package the Gimp-Print PPDs are installed into the "standard" location recommended by Apple,
```
/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj
```
rather than in the CUPS-standard location of
```
/usr/share/cups/model/C
```
which is different from all previous releases. This change was implemented primarily for performance reasons, but it also provides a means for normal users to find a PPD if need be (the previous PPD path is hidden from users in the Mac OS X Finder). As a consequence of this change, the Gimp-Print PPDs will no longer be available for printer setup when using the CUPS web admin; the Apple provided Print Center application is not affected by this change. If you want or need to use the CUPS web admin to create a printer (if you need to create a serial printer, for example) you can still use the CUPS web admin to create the printer, but you will need to select one of the available models and then open Print Center/Printer Setup Utility and change the driver to the correct Gimp-Print model (select the printer in the list, choose "Show info..." and select the correct model).
I do not see the "Advanced" option in Print Center. How can I find it?

Make sure you are holding down the option key (on the keyboard) when you click the Add Printer button.
Printing does not work from "Carbon" applications (Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, Appleworks, etc...), but I can print from "Cocoa" applications (Preview, TextEdit, etc...) just fine. How can I fix this ?

The Gimp-Print drivers for OS X are CUPS plugin filters. In Mac OS 10.2 and 10.2.1 when users print with CUPS-based drivers from a "Carbon" application the application generates PostScript output instead of the OS X native PDF (this is not the case with vendor-supplied printer drivers). If ESP Ghostscript is not installed the print job simply fails without indication (other than the lack of a print!). If you haven't installed ESP Ghostscript just download the Mac OS X installer and run it.
I want to know more about the new printing system in Mac OS X Jaguar. How do the various components like CUPS, Gimp-Print, Ghostscript, etc... interact?

The best place to start is with the CUPS documentation. In particular, the CUPS overview will help you understand how the filters are chained together. You'll find more filter information here.
When printing, CUPS tries to string together a series of tools in order to convert the submitted file to the format needed by a printer. In OS X the files submitted are generally either PDF or PICT files with embedded PostScript. When printing to a gimp-print driver, if the input file format is PDF then the OS X PDF to raster filter is run and the raster data handed to the gimp-print driver. If instead the input file format is PICT with PostScript, then the OS X PICT to PostScript filter is run. In order to get from PostScript to raster, the ESP GhostScript filter is run next in the chain and then the raster data is handed to the gimp-printer.
So you have the following two chains:
```
 PDF file -> cgpdftoraster filter -> rastertoprinter filter -> printer

 PICTwPS -> pictwpstops filter -> pstoraster (GhostScript) filter ->
 rastertoprinter filter -> printer
 
```
The application determines which of these two paths are invoked. Most OS X applications submit a PDF for printing. Certain PostScript centric programs such as Adobe applications cause the second filter chain to run.
I'm trying to set up TCP/IP printing for my Epson 1520 (900N, etc...) with type-B ethernet card. HELP!!!

The Epson type-B ethernet card is a curious thing. Typically you can generate a page describing the printer's network interface settings if you press and release the small black button on the back of the printer's network card; you need to use a Mac OS 9 (or Windows) application to configure the card's TCP/IP settings. Epson shipped multiple models of this card and the particular configuration application that you need will depend upon which model of card you own. You can use the configuration applications to set the printer's IP address, default gateway (router), and subnet mask. If you are on a managed network (such as in an office or school) then you need to get the proper settings from the network administrator. If it's just your Mac, your printer, and you then you can follow these guidelines: for simple networks (non-routed) the network interfaces for the printer and computer need unique addresses on the same network (subnet). You can achieve this by using TCP/IP settings for your printer that are very similar to those of your Mac. System Preferences/Network will show you your Mac's settings. Here's an example:
```
  Mac network settings                    Printer network settings
       IP Address: 192.168.0.100                   IP Address: 192.168.0.95
      Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0                  Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
           Router: 192.168.0.1                Default gateway: 192.168.0.1
 
```
It would be prudent to open /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility and Ping the new address before you assign it to your printer, just to make sure that the address is not already in use. Start the ping and wait; after a brief delay you should get
```
ping: sendto: Host is down
```
which indicates that the address is probably available. Set the Epson with the new TCP/IP settings and run Ping again to the same address. This time you should get an almost immediate response:
```
PING 192.168.0.95 (192.168.0.95): 56 data bytes 
 64 bytes from 192.168.0.95: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=3.304 ms 
 
```
If you don't get a response from Ping you won't be able to print; go back and try a different IP Address. As soon as you can ping the printer from your Mac go to page 3 of How to Print with Gimp-Print (or the set up section in this FAQ) and follow the instructions for TCP/IP setup.
How can I print using FireWire (IEEE 1394)?

In a nutshell, you can't. Not yet. CUPS uses "backends" to transfer the driver code to the printer. On Mac OS X Gimp-Print uses CUPS and since there is not yet a FireWire backend available for Mac OS X you can't print with Gimp-Print over Firewire. You can print to a printer that has a FireWire port, you simply need to use a different port, such as the USB port, an ethernet port, or the parallel port via a converter.
How can I print using AppleTalk?

To set up Appletalk (PAP) printing you first need to open the terminal and type "atlookup" at the command line. After a delay you should get a (possibly long) list of appletalk devices on your network. You want to find the entry for your printer and use that info to form a PAP URI that you will enter in Print Center when you set up the printer.
When you type "atlookup" it should look something like this:
```
	macosx% atlookup 
	Found 2 entries in zone *
	ff00.2f.80      Stylus PHOTO EX:EPSONLQ2
	ff5f.39.80      imac:Darwin
```
For this example, here is the corresponding pap URI that you would enter in "Device URI" for device (pap) using the Print Center "Advanced" setup:
```
	pap://*/Stylus%20PHOTO%20EX/EPSONLQ2
```
Note that the colon is replaced with a forward slash and any spaces in any names must be replaced with "%20" in the URI. Here it is more generically:
```
	pap://zone/Appletalk_Device_Name/protocol
```
I am having trouble printing with a certain brand of USB-to-parallel converter cable. Which cable brands are supported on Mac OS X?

While the Gimp-Print drivers are not partial about any particular brand or model of USB-to-parallel converter cable, when used with Mac OS X certain brands of cable appear to work better than others. Some cables which work fine in Mac OS 9 (such as the Keyspan USB-to-parallel cable) reportedly do not work at all in Mac OS X. If you are researching the purchase of a USB-to-parallel converter, or if you are experiencing printing problems while using a USB-to-parallel cable with an otherwise-supported printer please check with the cable manufacturer to confirm that the cable is supported on Mac OS X. Additionally, there is a user feedback forum dedicated to this subject where many Gimp-Print OS X users have entered compatibility reports for a wide variety of cable brands and models. If you have experience using a particular brand and model of cable please consider helping out your fellow users by adding your report to the list.
How can I print correctly from Adobe InDesign using Gimp-Print?

The InDesign application uses a somewhat non-standard printing procedure. The following workaround procedure may help you achieve the desired printer output:

Select Print... from the File menu, or press command-P.
Within the InDesign print dialog, click the Printer... button (*not* the blue flashing Print button!)
Dismiss any warning dialog by clicking OK
Set any Gimp-Print driver features under the Printer Features popup item.
Click Print in the system print dialog (you will return to the InDesign print dialog).
Click Print in the InDesign dialog.

This procedure may be necessary for each document you wish to print. On subsequent prints of the same document the regular "Print" button should work as expected.
My multi-function HP Device is not printing over the USB port. What's wrong?

Several users have reported USB compatibility issues with certain HP multi-function devices. While the driver generates the correct device code to produce printing, the USB connection (the Mac OS X CUPS usb "backend") may not be capable of communicating properly with the device.
If your device fails to print and you are reasonably sure that you set it up correctly then you may be experienceing this problem. As a workaround you may be able to print to your device by using an alternate connection interface (but this method is not well tested). For devices with a parallel port you can try a compatible USB-to-parallel cable, or a parallel-port print server. Devices that lack a parallel port may possibly function with a compatible USB print server.
I can not print to my Epson Stylus Pro 7600, but it's supposed to be supported.

That driver has been fixed since the the 4.2.3 release. You will likely get much better quality output if you use 4.2.5-pre1 or later, as this printer was not tuned before the 4.2.5 release. If you still cannot print and you are trying to print on roll-feed paper make sure that you have selected the "Roll Feed" option in the "Paper Feed" print dialog (the "Auto Select" option is currently non-functional).
What files are installed by the Gimp-Print installer for Jaguar and Darwin? Where are they installed? I want to remove them; how do I do it?

"The Gimp-Print drivers for CUPS, and the required PPD files." That's the short answer to the first question. The long answer is that a lot of files are installed into the (typically) hidden BSD unix layer of Jaguar. You shouldn't need to remove Gimp-Print in order to restore your previous printing capability. Just delete any Gimp-Print printers that are set up in Print Center. That said, if you are really fired up about saving the 8.2MB of disk space you can use a tip provided by Wil Shipley to get rid of those pesky files.
To remove Gimp-Print 4.2.3 open a Terminal window and type the following command
```
lsbom -f -l -s /Library/Receipts/Gimp-Print-4.2.3.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom | (cd /; sudo xargs rm)
```
To remove version 4.2.4 of Gimp-Print use this command:
```
lsbom -f -l -s /Library/Receipts/Gimp-Print-4.2.4.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom | (cd /; sudo xargs rm)
```
To remove version 4.2.5 (and all later versions) of Gimp-Print use this command:
```
lsbom -f -l -s /Library/Receipts/Gimp-Print.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom | (cd /; sudo xargs rm)
```
You will need to enter an admin password (yours if you're the only user on your system) to use sudo.
The Gimp-Print installer for Jaguar is very nice, thanks for providing it. But, why haven't you provided me with an easy way to remove the Gimp-Print files from my system?

An unistaller is under development. Again, if you delete all of the Gimp-Print Printers from your Print Center "Printer List" the software will be completely disabled. If you simply must remove the files then see the answer to the preceding question.
The list of supported printers says that PostScript Level 1 printing is supported, but I can't use Gimp-Print to print to my Level 1 printer (Laserwriter plus, Laserwriter IINT, etc...). What's wrong?

Currently, printing to level 1 printers is not supported on Jaguar. Generating the necessary level 1 compatible output requires a postscript generator, like ESP Ghostscript and some special printing "filters". A solution to this problem may become available in the future.
Which versions of Mac OS are compatible with Gimp-Print?

Gimp-Print is compatible with Mac OS X version 10.2.x (Jaguar) or later. It does not work with version 10.1.x or 10.0.x or any version of Mac OS 9.
I have never heard of version "10.1.x" but I have 10.1.5, does Gimp-Print work with that?

"10.1.x" means "any" minor version of 10.1 such as 10.1.1, 10.1.2, ...,10.1.5. So, if you want to use Gimp-Print you should upgrade to at least 10.2.
Is my printer supported by Gimp-Print?

There is a comprehensive list of supported printers at the Gimp-Print website. If your printer is listed as "Fully Operational" then you should expect excellent output when using Gimp-Print. Printers listed as something other than "Fully Operational" may still work, but not all the features of the printer will be available. For printers that are not listed as supported you may still be able to print by trying the driver for a printer that is similar to yours, but the results may disappoint you.
OK, I just installed Gimp-Print on Mac OS 10.2 (or later) and I tried to print but I can't figure out how to set up my printer in print center.

The Gimp-Print 4.2.2 installer package (and all later versions) contains an illustrated set-up guide called How to Print with Gimp-Print located at the root level of the installer disk image. This guide will walk you through the printer set-up process for USB and TCP/IP printers. If you don't have access to this set-up guide the following instructions should help:

Setting up printers using the Gimp-Print driver can be slightly different than setting up other drivers depending on how you are connecting to your printer.
- Make sure your printer is supported by Gimp-Print
  
  see question on supported printers.
  
  USB connection
  If your printer is supported by Gimp-Print and it is connected directly to your Mac with a USB cable then you should follow these steps to set it up:
  1. Make sure the USB cable is properly connected to both your printer and your Mac.
  2. Turn on your printer.
  3. Restart your Mac (if you know what you're doing and you know that you do not have any print jobs in progress you can do sudo killall -HUP cupsd instead of restarting)
  4. Open the Print Center utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/).
  5. Hold down the option key on your keyboard and either click on the "Add" button in the Print Center toolbar or select "Add printer..." from the "Printers" menu. A new sheet will open.
  6. In the sheet click on the top popup menu and select "Advanced" from the very bottom of the list.
  7. Next, click on the "Device:" popup menu and select your printer's name from the very bottom of the list (if you see only "USB Printer (usb)" and not your printer's name you need to restart your mac with your printer turned on and connected).
  8. Finally, click on the "Printer Model" popup menu and select the manufacturer for your printer, and in the small window at the bottom of the sheet select the PPD file for your printer model. It's important that you select the correct PPD file, and the names are not overly descriptive, but if you match your printer model number with the number in the PPD file name you should be OK.
  9. Click "Add".
  10. Print a test page.
  Network connection
  If your printer is supported by Gimp-Print and it is available over TCP/IP via a built-in network card (such as the Epson 10/100 ethernet type-b card available for certain printers) or an inexpensive network print server (parallel to ethernet converter) then you can set it up for IP printing:
  1. First you need to get the IP address and the print queue name for your printer from your network administrator. If you are the administrator for your network consult the documentation that came with your network device to learn how to determine this information (if you don't understand the ins and outs of TCP/IP networking you should find a friend who does). If you can't determine the Queue Name for your print server try using the default queue first. If that fails try a common queue name like lp (lower case LP). If you have the correct IP Address but you don't use the correct queue name you won't print.
  2. Open the Print Center utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/).
  3. Click on the "Add" button in the Print Center toolbar or select "Add printer..." from the "Printers" menu. A new sheet will open.
  4. In the sheet click on the top popup menu and select "IP Printing".
  5. Fill in the IP address of the printer and the queue name in the appropriate boxes.
  6. Next, click on the "Printer Model" popup menu and select the manufacturer for your printer, and in the small window at the bottom of the sheet select the PPD file for your printer model. It's important that you select the correct PPD file, and the names are not too descriptive, but if you match your printer model number with the number in the PPD file name you should be OK.
  7. Click "Add".
  8. Print a test page.
  Windows printer via SAMBA
  If you want to print to a shared printer connected to a Windows XP computer try these instructions (this procedure has not been thoroughly tested):
  1. Open the Print Center utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/).
  2. Hold down the option key on your keyboard and either click on the Add button in the Print Center toolbar or select Add printer... from the Printers menu. A new sheet will open.
  3. In the sheet click on the top popup menu and select Advanced from the very bottom of the list.
  4. Next, click on the Device: popup menu and select Windows Printer via SAMBA.
  5. In the Device Name: field enter a descriptive name for this printer.
  6. In the Device URI: field enter the device URI in the following form:
    smb://winuser:password@workgroup/server/printer
    
    winuser
    XP login name
    password
    XP login password
    workgroup
    XP workgroup name
    server
    Computer name of the XP machine
    printer
    Share name of the shared XP printer
  7. Finally, click on the Printer Model popup menu and select the manufacturer for your printer, and in the small window at the bottom of the sheet select the PPD file for your printer model. It's important that you select the correct PPD file, and the names are not overly descriptive, but if you match your printer model number with the number in the PPD file name you should be OK.
  8. Click Add.
  9. Print a test page.
OK, my printer is printing now, but how do I change the print settings like paper type and resolution?

You can access the settings for the Gimp-Print driver whenever a print sheet is open. Just click on the popup menu that says "Copies & Pages" and choose "Printer Features".
Ok, I found all the settings, but what do they do?

Please see the Gimp-Print General FAQ for answers to these questions.

Gimp-Print General FAQ

Is it only for Gimp?

No, it can be used for many printing needs. Gimp-Print started out as a driver for The Gimp, the well known image manipulation program. Early in development versions for Ghostscript and later CUPS were added. The emphasis is still on quality color printing, though performance gets a lot of attention these days.
I cannot install it, it complains about missing Gimp files
- If you have the Gimp installed on your system, you probably have the user package, but not the development package, installed. You will need to install the latter from your installation media; it's usually named gimp-devel.
- If you do have the Gimp installed, and you've installed the gimp-devel package, you may also need to install the gtk-devel and glib-devel packages.
- If you've installed the Gimp from source, you may need to run ldconfig as root. The installation procedure for the Gimp doesn't run ldconfig, which is needed on many systems to tell the system about the shared libraries that are installed. If you don't understand this, don't worry; just do it. If you're nervous about doing that, reboot.
- If you don't have the Gimp installed on your system, and just want to compile Gimp-Print for CUPS (for example), you need to pass configure the option --with-gimp=no, so it won't try to look for the Gimp and fail.
What is the difference between B/W, Line art, solid color and Photo mode (or ImageType in Ghostscript)?

Photo mode does a lot of work to make colors as similar to screen presentation as possible. This takes time. Line art is faster, but colors may be off. Solid Colors is somewhere in between. B/W mode does not use color ink when printing, and is much faster.
I selected my printer and it doesn't work at all!

Please check your printing system (lpd, CUPS, LPRng, etc.) configuration. You may also have a problem with your parallel port or USB connection, so take a look at /var/log/messages (or wherever your system logs are kept).
I selected my printer and it simply feeds paper without printing

Many Epson printers (in particular) do this if they encounter an error in the command stream. This usually indicates a bug in Gimp-Print; please report it to Gimp-Print-devel@ sourceforge.net or via the bug tracking system at http:// Gimp-Print.sourceforge.net. Make sure you report the printer you have and all of the settings that you used. But first, triple check that you're using the right printer model!
I selected my printer, and it prints the image badly distorted, or at completely the wrong place on the page

This usually indicates a bug in the package. Please report it as described above. Also as described above, make sure you've set the right printer.
I selected the right printer, but garbage, or only part of the page, gets printed

Printers for which support just has been added may not have been tested, as the developers do not have access to the printer. It is worth trying different settings. For example, change the resolution to a mainstream value as used on that printer. Also photo mode is better tested than the optimized versions. When you find out what works and what doesn't, file a bug report.

One common cause of this is not using "raw" mode when printing from the Gimp plugin. Depending upon your printing system, you will need to use either -l (traditional BSD lpd), -oraw (CUPS lpr), or -d (most versions of System V lp, including CUPS). Otherwise the printing system attempts to interpret the output as something else, and tries to apply a filter to it to convert it to something else (usually PostScript).

Another less common cause of this (it usually causes other symptoms, like printing only part of a page) is lack of space somewhere. This is most commonly an issue when using the Gimp Print plugin. The plugin creates a huge temporary file that gets sent to the printing system. The size of the file varies; it's proportional to the page size and the resolution setting chosen. Full-page, high resolution photographs can result in 100 MB of output. The system may need to have 2 or 3 copies of this file for short periods of time. If your /tmp, /var, or wherever your spooler keeps its temporary files is too small, you'll have problems.

Finally, problems with your parallel or USB port may be the cause of problems here. Certain Epson printers in particular are known to be very sensitive to the quality of connecting cables, and may have trouble with long or low quality cables, or USB hubs. If nothing else works, and you're certain you've tried everything else, try a better cable or a direct USB connection.
What's up with the HP Deskjet 1200?

HP had sold two printers with the 1200 model designation. The old version is 300 DPI and has a heating element to dry the ink. It was manufactured around 1990. The new version is of 2000 vintage and has higher resolution. The one supported by this package is the new one???
I selected the right printer and the quality is lousy

Try selecting a different resolution or quality setting. Especially lower resolutions have a problem putting enough ink on paper. Also, use Photo mode. If you find settings that do not work at all (you get garbage or no output, but other settings work), report these as bugs. High resolutions should produce a similar (but smoother) result than medium resolutions. Resolutions under a certain printer dependent figure are seen as draft-only - for example lower than 360 DPI on Epsons with standard paper or lower than 300 DPI on HP.

Also make sure that you have the right kind of paper selected. Selecting plain paper when you're printing on high quality photo paper is certain to result in a light, grainy image. Selecting photo paper when you're printing on plain paper will result in a dark, muddy image that bleeds through the paper. There are differences between different kinds of paper; you may need to tweak the density and color settings slightly.

In addition, certain printers don't work well on certain kinds of paper. Epson printers work well on Epson papers, but don't work well on many third party papers (particularly the high quality photo papers made by other vendors). This isn't a conspiracy to lock you into their paper, it's because they've formulated the paper and ink to work well together.

If you use Ghostscript, make sure the Ghostscript resolution is not set higher than the driver resolution. If it is higher, the driver has to throw away part of the pixels, leading to uneven strokes in text and slanted lines with interruptions.
How do I start setting options for Ghostscript?

Please see src/ghost/README for more information.

`escputil -i` or `escputil -d` fails as follows:

 % escputil -r /dev/lp0 -i
 
 [ ... license info omitted ... ]
 
 Cannot read from /dev/lp0: Invalid argument

You need to rebuild your kernel with CONFIG_PRINTER_READBACK enabled.

I tried to test my Epson printer by 'cat .cshrc > /dev/lp0' and nothing prints!!!???

The classic test of printer connectivity -- sending an ASCII file to it -- doesn't work on many Epson printers out of the box (or after printing from Windows or Macintosh). Epson printers from the Stylus Color 740 and newer use a special "packet mode" in which they do not recognize standard commands or ASCII text. They must be sent a special sequence that takes them out of packet mode. The command
```
escputil -u -s -r /dev/lp0
```
will take the printer out of packet mode and enable you to print to it. Of course, as soon as you've read back status from the printer, you know it's working (although if you're unable to read status out of the printer, you might have a different problem; see above).

Printing to your printer from Gimp-Print, whether you use the Print plugin, the CUPS driver, or the Ghostscript driver, will also take the printer out of packet mode. But then again, if you successfully print to your printer, you know it's working, so why worry? If you're trying to test your spooler, though, the escputil trick above will do it. Just make sure that /dev/lp0 is the right device; if it isn't, substitute whatever is.

Note: this does not apply to printers prior to the 740 (such as the Stylus Photo EX, Stylus Color 850, or anything even older). Those printers are always capable of printing ASCII text, and don't have packet mode. You can read status from them, but you must leave off the '-u' option.
My USB-connected Epson Stylus printer won't work with {Free,Net,Open}BSD!

By default, the BSD device driver for the USB printer device (usually ulpt0) does a prime, or USB bus reset, when the device is opened. This causes the printer to reset itself (one can hear the print head moving back and forth when this happens) and lose sync. After this the printer won't go into graphics mode and instead spews characters all over you expensive photo paper. This has been observed on the Stylus Photo 870; it likely exists with other USB-connected Epson Stylus printers.

The fix is to use the "unlpt0" device instead of "ulpt0". The driver doesn't perform the USB prime when unlpt is opened. If this device doesn't exist on your system you can create it with
```
mknod unlpt0 c 113 64 root wheel
```
in the /dev directory.
I try to print with StarOffice and it doesn't print correctly!

If you use CUPS, and your prints from StarOffice come out incorrectly (particularly at low resolution), try the following. This assumes a network installation of StarOffice 5.2.
1. Ensure that root does not have a .Xpdefaults file (if it does, the procedure below will edit root's version rather than the system-wide version in .../office52/share/xp3/Xpdefaults).
2. As root, start .../office52/program/spadmin. This is the StarOffice printer administration program.
3. Click on Install New Driver. For the Driver directory, select your CUPS PPD directory. This is usually /etc/cups/ppd. This should list the names of all of the drivers you have installed.
4. If there are no drivers visible, you may need to give the .ppd files names ending in .PS. The following script will accomplish this:
```
 # cd /etc/cups/ppd
 # for f in * ; do
 > ln -s $f `echo $f | sed 's/ppd$/PS/'`
 > done
 
```
  Following this, restart spadmin and click on Install New Driver. When you select your CUPS PPD directory, you will find the necessary drivers listed.
5. Select the drivers you want StarOffice to know about and click OK.
6. If you have been using the generic Postscript printer, remove all of your old queues.
7. Select the appropriate new driver(s) and click Add New Printer.
8. Select the appropriate printer queue and click Connect to connect it to the printer queue of your choice.
You can now set up appropriate options for this printer. Note that you can create multiple queues with different settings, for example one for draft mode and one for high quality.
I'm printing through Samba, and my printer prints garbage!

There are a number of Samba configuration issues that cause problems; a common problem is translation from UNIX newlines (\n) to Windows newlines (\r\n). It's important to ensure that sending raw data, with no translation, to the printer.

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Canon is a trademark of Canon USA. Epson and (probably) ESCP are trademarks of Epson Seiko Ltd. HP and (probably) PCL are trademarks of Hewlett-Packard, Inc. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Gutenprint FAQ for Mac OS X Jaguar and Darwin

Gimp-Print General FAQ

What is Gimp-Print for Jaguar and Darwin? Why would I want to install it?

How can I find out more information about Gimp-Print? Where can I get the newest version?

I've read this entire document but I'm still having problems. How can I contact the developers?

I am trying to install Gimp-Print on Mac OS X Panther (10.3.x) but when I get to the installer screen where I select the destination volume, there is a large red exclamation mark and I cannot install it.

With Gimp-Print 4.2.6 (or later), when I go to set up a printer via the CUPS web interface I get to the point where I need to choose a driver, but the Gimp-Print drivers (PPDs) are not listed there. They use to be there in Gimp-Print 4.2.5 so where did they go?

I do not see the "Advanced" option in Print Center. How can I find it?

Printing does not work from "Carbon" applications (Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, Appleworks, etc...), but I can print from "Cocoa" applications (Preview, TextEdit, etc...) just fine. How can I fix this ?

I want to know more about the new printing system in Mac OS X Jaguar. How do the various components like CUPS, Gimp-Print, Ghostscript, etc... interact?

I'm trying to set up TCP/IP printing for my Epson 1520 (900N, etc...) with type-B ethernet card. HELP!!!

How can I print using FireWire (IEEE 1394)?

How can I print using AppleTalk?

I am having trouble printing with a certain brand of USB-to-parallel converter cable. Which cable brands are supported on Mac OS X?

How can I print correctly from Adobe InDesign using Gimp-Print?

My multi-function HP Device is not printing over the USB port. What's wrong?

I can not print to my Epson Stylus Pro 7600, but it's supposed to be supported.

What files are installed by the Gimp-Print installer for Jaguar and Darwin? Where are they installed? I want to remove them; how do I do it?

The Gimp-Print installer for Jaguar is very nice, thanks for providing it. But, why haven't you provided me with an easy way to remove the Gimp-Print files from my system?

The list of supported printers says that PostScript Level 1 printing is supported, but I can't use Gimp-Print to print to my Level 1 printer (Laserwriter plus, Laserwriter IINT, etc...). What's wrong?

Which versions of Mac OS are compatible with Gimp-Print?

I have never heard of version "10.1.x" but I have 10.1.5, does Gimp-Print work with that?

Is my printer supported by Gimp-Print?

OK, I just installed Gimp-Print on Mac OS 10.2 (or later) and I tried to print but I can't figure out how to set up my printer in print center.

Make sure your printer is supported by Gimp-Print

USB connection

Network connection

Windows printer via SAMBA

OK, my printer is printing now, but how do I change the print settings like paper type and resolution?

Ok, I found all the settings, but what do they do?

Gimp-Print General FAQ

Is it only for Gimp?

I cannot install it, it complains about missing Gimp files

What is the difference between B/W, Line art, solid color and Photo mode (or ImageType in Ghostscript)?

I selected my printer and it doesn't work at all!

I selected my printer and it simply feeds paper without printing

I selected my printer, and it prints the image badly distorted, or at completely the wrong place on the page

I selected the right printer, but garbage, or only part of the page, gets printed

What's up with the HP Deskjet 1200?

I selected the right printer and the quality is lousy

How do I start setting options for Ghostscript?

escputil -i or escputil -d fails as follows:

I tried to test my Epson printer by 'cat .cshrc > /dev/lp0' and nothing prints!!!???

My USB-connected Epson Stylus printer won't work with {Free,Net,Open}BSD!

I try to print with StarOffice and it doesn't print correctly!

I'm printing through Samba, and my printer prints garbage!

`escputil -i` or `escputil -d` fails as follows: