[Openicc] Print-colormanagement, application->CUPS->gutenprint

[Michael Sweet]

Hal V Engel wrote:
> ...
> This is exactly the point that I was trying to get across.  This is not about 
> users that don't have exacting color output requirements.  I am sure that 
> most of those users are perfectly happy with how this works now.

The currently available open source drivers are capable of excellent
quality, but configuring the drivers for optimal quality is something
that many users just aren't up to.  On the ease-of-use scale, the HP
IJS drivers are among the easiest and the most limited from a color
management standpoint, and Gimp-print/Gutenprint is by far the most
difficult to use and very advanced from a color management standpoint.

 > We are
> talking about the needs of those users that have very exacting color 
> management requirements.  Photographers, artists and graphics professionals 
> not Joe user who is printing an Open Office document.  These are two totally 
> different sets of users with totally different requirements.  

Certainly a user that only prints text documents from OpenOffice has
lower expectations and requirements than a professional, but *all*
users want color management that works whether they are printing
line graphs or pictures from their digital camera.

The difference is that the professional typically knows what ICC is,
owns hardware and software to general color profiles, and wants to
use them in their workflow.  Joe user doesn't care how it gets done
and wants things to work out of the box.

Since ICC can provide a solution for both kinds of users, and we
want to support both Joe user and Jane professional, then we
should address both users with the same core technology!

 > ...
> A symlink from where and to what?

Again, beyond the scope of CUPS, however the CUPS profile directory
is /usr/share/cups/profiles.  I envision a symlink from ~/.profiles
(which contains all of a user's profiles) to
/usr/share/cups/profiles/username.

 > How do I specify that for printer W
> (meaning a specific physical printer), at resolution X, on paper Y, with 
> dithering algorithm Z, ink set A.... that this is the correct profile and 
> rendering intent to use with a symlink?  I must have that level of control or 
> this does not do the job.  This is a high level requirement and I don't care 
> how it is implemented but I don't see how this is possible with a synlink.  
> Perhaps you could spell this out for me so that I understand how this would 
> work.

CUPS 1.2 will allow you to specify a profile filename to use with a
job.  It is up to you to name your profiles so you know which
printer, media, and other settings apply to each profile, or have a
smart UI which reads this info from the ICC profile and displays it
for the user (or does the selection for them automatically...)

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products           mike at easysw dot com
Internet Printing and Publishing Software        http://www.easysw.com