Subject: papd and APS Filter -- good news
From: Sean Page (spage@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
Date: Mon May 08 2000 - 13:13:16 EDT
Greetings, all,
Just thought I would share a good experience with networking an Epson Color
Stylus 800 via Netatalk (netatalk-1.4b2+asun2.1.3).
After compiling up the APS Filter package from the ports collection in
FreeBSD (v4.0), which uses Ghost Script (6.01) along with numerous other
translation utilities to perform an awesome array of PostScript rendering
functions, I had transformed the Epson into a fully networked PostScript
printer with a simple parallel connection to the Netatalk server.
The APS Filter setup program interviews you regarding printer type, etc. and
automagicly tweaks the /etc/printcap file to work with the printer,
providing both an intelligent version that detects file format and handles
it appropriately (the default) and a raw version which simply pipes the
queued job straight to the printer without translation. A simple entry into
the papd.conf file had the Macs printing no problem using the LaserWriter
driver and the Epson PPD file that comes with Epson's own software
PostScript package. Total time (not including compile time, APS Filter is a
HUGE package) was about 15-20 minutes from nothing to all systems go. I was
quite impressed.
There are a couple of caveats, though. You will want a FAST machine with
lots of memory, as I discovered (not surprisingly), that software PostScript
ripping takes LOTS of horsepower. My P233 with 128 MB RAM couldn't quite
keep up to the task, but, was still quite usable. I also found that although
b/w printing worked flawlessly, when printing in color, the output was
rarely true to the expected results. Colors were off, and at times artifacts
introduced. I tried different resolutions and color handling settings with
little luck.
I realize that software postscript rendering can be an inexact art at best,
but perhaps someone out there with more experience in this matter can
provide a couple of pointers?
or...
Would it be possible in some way to use the AppleTalk version of the Epson
driver to print directly to the raw device (bypassing PostScript
altogether)? When I tried it (using a second entry in the papd.conf file
pointing to the raw printer) the Epson driver was unable to see any
available printers. I am assuming that the driver expects to be able to talk
directly to the printer... Anyone?
Just for kicks, here's what the /etc/printcap and papd.conf look like:
/etc/printcap
lp|aps1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default|Printer1 stc800p.upp letter auto
default:\
:lp=/dev/lpt0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default:\
:lf=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default/log:\
:af=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default/acct:\
:if=/usr/local/apsfilter/filter/aps1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default:\
:mx#0:\
:sh:
raw|aps2-stc800p.upp-letter-raw|Printer1 stc800p.upp letter raw:\
:lp=/dev/lpt0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw:\
:lf=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw/log:\
:af=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw/acct:\
:if=/usr/local/apsfilter/filter/aps2-stc800p.upp-letter-raw:\
:mx#0:\
:sh:
papd.conf
Epson 800 PS:\
:pr=lp:pd=/usr/local/atalk/ppd/EpsonStylusCOLOR800.ppd:op=sean:
So, there you have it.
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Sean.
Sean Page
Network Analyst
Information Technology Services
Edmonton Public School Board
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Wed Jan 17 2001 - 14:30:40 EST