[ale] Epson printer experience questions

[Steve Hamlin]

On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, John Mills wrote:

> The Epson 'Stylus Color 660' is phenominally cheap just now ($129.95 at
> Office Depot, and $30 rebate available - cheaper than their in-store ad, in
> fact), and I wondered if anyone could share experience comparing this
> printer with others as far as resolution, color quality and saturation, and
> other factors. I would be using it in Linux under gs-5.10 or later. I have
> been battling a Canon BJC-620 for a couple of years with occasionally decent
> - but very unpredictable - results, and with very unfaithful color mapping.
> (Even the color bars on RedHat's PostScript test page come out wierd.)
> 
> Does the Epson 740 work [well] with any gs driver? It's not among the
> "supported", but there are references in 'uniprint' to "ESC/P2" printers,
> and Epson identifies this as the "printer language" of the 740.
> 
> Can these printers reach their advertised dot pitches (1440x720) under gs?



***
Definitely check out Grant Taylor's Printing Compatibility Page (found in
the Printing HOWTO) - it is the bible of Linux prining.
***

I have an Epson Stylus Color 640 that I use happily under gs5.10.

It works great in b/w, but as with your Canon, the color is way off.  I
tried messing around the stc600**.upp (printer definition) files to get
the color mapping in a little better, but gave up after a while (due to
lack of need and exasperation).  There is a tcl/tk tool on SunSite
(pub/Linux/system/printing) called gstransfer that can attempt to correct
ghostscript color curves, but I never got a good match.

gs5.10 comes with printer definition files for the  Epson Stylus Color
600 (which I use with my 640) and the Stylus Color 800.  I assume you can
try one and it will probably work.  

The Printer Compatibility Page has the 740 as "mostly" - all resolutions
work, but some color tuning is needed.  I seem to remember a thread
somewhere else that mentioned problems with a newer Epson 7xx - search
Deja.com for it.

Both the 600 and 800 definitions come in 360x360, 720x720 and 1440x720
dpi resolutions.  On plain paper the 360x360 works better than the others
(they tend to bleed a little - you need special paper for the high
resolutions).)  I use 360x360 for my resume on nice bond paper and it
looks fantastic (a *little* light, but no blurring or pixelation.  I
might just try to adjust the black level, and leave the colrs alone as I
have never used them).

I looked at the models in the store carefully, and Epson takes the cake
as far as cheap inkjets under Linux.  Even better than some more
expensive HPs under Windows.  But if you run Windows, the new
inkjet Lexmarks are absolutely awesome - like lasers.  But no Linux
support :(

I exchanged a few emails with a guy who had tried to do the same color
adjustment as I.  If they are a few people out there with Epson 6xx's,
maybe we can work on a good color definition and send it in to the
ghostscript people.  Maybe a project for my next weekend.


Steve


*****************************************************************
Steve Hamlin           steve at hamlinx.com          www.hamlinx.com