Re: Canon printer minor quibble
On Wed 28 Sep 2016 at 07:43:54 +0900, Mark Fletcher wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 10:53:11PM +0100, Brian wrote:
> >
> > It wasn't cups-calibrate I was really advocating but the trying out of
> > printing a file using the Canon and Gutenprint drivers. Do both give the
> > same outcome?
>
> Sorry Brian, I think some confusion there due to my phrasing in the
> original post. There is, to my knowledge, no Canon-supplied Linux CUPS
> driver for this printer. When I said some variation of "Canon iX6500
> series driver" in my original post, I was referring to the Gutenprint
> driver as that is what the Gutenprint driver is called.
https://www.canondrivers.org/canon-pixma-ix6500-series-driver-download/
> Now I will be honest, I haven't googled this recently, and don't have
> time to even now as I am actually supposed to be in the shower and then
> on my way to work, but I will check later... but at the time I first set
> this printer up I could not find anything from Canon for Linux for this
> printer. Language may have been getting in the way at the time, as this
> particular model number is/was only ever sold in Japan to my knowledge.
>
> In the very early days Gutenprint didn't have a driver either and I was
> using a driver with a very approximately similar name which very
> approximately worked... but in the fullness of time the Gutenprint
> driver I am using appeared (or I finally saw what was in front of my
> face, that is also possible) and I am using it now. The darkness of
> native Linux printing, and the contrast if you will pardon the pun
> between that and printing from Windows, didn't strike me until some time
> later when the driver situation had been stable for some time.
A driver came in Gutenprint 5.2.10 (May 2014)
> So to the best of my knowledge I'm using the right driver, all functions
> certainly work, and the only issue is how dark the images come out,
> compared to the high quality results I get when I print from Windows.
The driver is marked EXPERIMENTAL, which could be because it hasn't been
extensively tested.
> Incidentally, the printer _does_ come with a driver (and a ton of
> bloatware) for Windows. On one Windows printer I installed the driver
> and the bloatware, on the other VM I installed the absolute minimum to
> get the network printer to install. (and when I say network printer, I
> mean from Windows' perspective -- this printer is not a network printer
> as far as it is concerned, there is no ethernet port on it, the only way
> in is USB). So the bloatware isn't the reason the printer is looking
> better under Windows, since both VMs can print with better results (and
> the same as each other).
>
> So I am being drawn to the conclusion that your comments about the
> non-existent Canon driver (it being rubbish at colour management) can be
> applied instead to the Gutenprint driver, hence the way I perked up when
> you mentioned cups-calibrate. Which I will try the second I get longer
> than 5 mins in front of my PC.
You should now be able to compare the outputs of the Gutenprint and
Canon drivers. Color management support is done by cups-filters
(completed in Aug 2014) so it will be common to both drivers.
--
Brian.
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