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.
