README.txt - 11/21/2001 - CUPS Drivers based on Gimp-Print
----------------------------------------------------------

This file describes the CUPS drivers based on the Gimp-Print project.

Note: to use these drivers you must have CUPS 1.1.9 or higher.  We
recommend use of CUPS 1.1.12 or higher.

All code is Copyright 1997-2001 by Easy Software Products and/or the
Gimp-Print project and is provided under the terms of the GNU General
Public License.  The licensing details are provided in the file
"LICENSE.txt".


INTRODUCTION

The CUPS drivers contain all of the files needed to support
photo-quality printing on any printer supported by the Gimp-Print
project. You can find out more about the Common UNIX Printing System
("CUPS"), an IPP-based printing system for UNIX/Linux, at:

    http://www.cups.org


WHY DRIVERS FOR CUPS?

CUPS is designed from the ground up to support printing to modern
printers.  In order to support as many applications as possible, CUPS
provides a PostScript RIP (currently based on GNU GhostScript 5.50) as
well as an image file RIP and many file filters that handle conversion
of files to a format usable by a printer driver.  The filter interface
is extensible to support new types of files that can be printed
(e.g. a GNOME metafile, etc.)  All of this filtering happens "behind
the scenes" so is transparent to the user.

In addition, CUPS uses PostScript Printer Description ("PPD") files to
describe printers, allowing applications to see the available printer
features and capabilities easily.  The CUPS PPD files add a few
additional attributes to the standard PPD specification to support
printing to non-PS printers.


WHAT TOOLS ARE INCLUDED?

We provide two tools for making CUPS drivers.

The first is called "cups-calibrate" which allows you to do
super-simple color calibration of your printer drivers.  It is an
interactive program that prints several calibration images through
your driver until a final profile is produced.

The second is called "genppd" which generates PPD files.  These PPD
files are created in several languages.  The program reads printer
driver information from the Gimp-Print driver database and produces a
PPD file for each driver.  Normally, users do not have to use this
tool directly; it is run automatically in the build process.


WHAT DRIVERS ARE INCLUDED?

We support all of the Gimp-Print drivers supported by the project. The
Canon and EPSON drivers also support simple printer commands to do head
cleaning, test prints, and alignment, as well as an EPSON-specific
backend that provides ink level information to the user.

The printer drivers in this distribution are so-called "raster"
printer drivers.  This means that they receive a stream of images, one
per page, that contain all of the colors, etc. for the printer.  The
printer driver then only needs to convert this to the appropriate
printer commands and raster data to get a printed page.

We also have a new experimental interface for printer commands using
CUPS printer command files - ASCII text files with printer commands in
them.  This allows you to do a head cleaning, align the print heads,
etc.


WHAT SOFTWARE DO I NEED?

Currently, CUPS 1.1.9 or higher is required, as is an ANSI C compliant
compiler like GCC.  The code has been tested on a number of vendor
compilers and should be quite portable.


HOW DO I START USING THESE DRIVERS?

Please read the README file at top level.


WHO DO I CONTACT TO GET HELP?

For support issues, you should contact
gimp-print-devel@sourceforge.net, the developer mailing list for the
Gimp-Print project in general.

The primary author of this driver is Michael Sweet of Easy Software
Products (mike@easysw.com).  Mike is also the main developer for CUPS.
Please don't expect an instant response (or even a response within a
week) as Mike often accumulates a backlog of 100 or more messages each
day.


COMMERCIAL SUPPORT

Easy Software Products provides commercial support for all of
its printing products.  Please see our web site for more
information:

    http://www.easysw.com


LEGAL STUFF

CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System, and the CUPS logo are the
trademark property of Easy Software Products.  Please see the
CUPS software license for the terms of its use.
