NOTE: This version of the print plug-in is obsolete. Go to the Gutenprint plug-in project page instead!

Introduction

The print plug-in provides a basic printing capability for The GIMP. The current 2.0.2 release supports PostScript, PCL (HP LaserJet and DeskJet), and ESC/P2 (EPSON Stylus Color) printers. The PostScript printer drivers handle PPD (PostScript Printer Description) files if you have them.

Source Code

• print-2.0.2.tar.gz (v2.0.2)

Location

File->Print...

Using the Print Plug-In

Figure 1 shows the print options window. The Printer option provides selections for many common printers. Currently the print plug-in supports the following printers: PostScript printers HP DeskJet 500, 500C, 520, 540C, 600C, 660C, 68xC, 69xC, 850C, 855C, 855Cse, 855Cxi, 870Cse, 870Cxi, 1100C, 1120C, 1200C, and 1600C printers HP LaserJet II, III, IIIp, IIIsi, 4, 4L, 4P, 4V, 4Si, 5, 5FS, 5L, 5P, 5SE, 5Si, 6L, 6P printers EPSON Stylus Color, Color Pro, Color Pro XL, Color 400, Color 500, Color 600, Color 800, Color 1500, Color 1520, and Color 3000.

Figure 1 - The print plug-in window

The Output Type option controls whether the printed output is in color or B&W (grayscale). This option is silently forced to B&W for grayscale images and B&W-only printers.

The Media Size option controls the size of the output. By default images are printed to fit the page and are automatically rotated to fill the largest area possible.

The Media Type option tells the printer what type of media is being used (Plain, Coated, etc). Not all printers support the media type option.

The Media Source option tells the printer which paper tray to print from. Not all printers support the media source option.

The Resolution option controls the resolution of the output. Not all printers support the resolution option.

The Orientation option controls whether the output is automatically rotated for maximum page coverage (Auto) or set to a specific orientation (Portrait or Landscape).

The Scaling option controls how large the printed image is. The default is to scale to a percentage of the printable area of the page. You can also specify an image resolution in pixels-per-inch (PPI) by clicking on the PPI radio button. The image is centered by default, however you can adjust the position of the image on the page by dragging the preview image.

The Brightness option controls the overall printed image brightness. A brightness of 100 is usually good for most B&W and PostScript printers, while most inkjet printers need a brightness between 100 and 120 for acceptable results.

Setting Up Printers

Once you select a printer (or file) from the list of available printers, you can setup the printer by pressing the Setup button. The Printer Setup dialog will then appear (see Figure 2). The PPD File field is only available for PostScript printer drivers and specifies the PPD file that describes the printer. This file provides a list of available media sizes, types, sources, and resolutions along with the commands needed to select them. The Command field contains the command the printed output is sent to. When setting up the File device this field is not available (a file chooser dialog is displayed after you click on the Print button.

Figure 2 - Printer setup window.

Printing to a File

If you want to print to a file, select File from the Printer list. A file chooser dialog is displayed when you press the Print button. Warning, when you print to a file any existing file will be silently overwritten by this release of the plug-in!

Layered Images

Like most plug-ins, the print plug-in only reads the image from the active layer. If you want to print a composite of all visible layers you need to merge the layers (CTRL-M) and then print.

Supported Printers/Features

Most of the printer drivers in the print plug-in use the highest supported resolution for a printer, with the following exceptions:

• EPSON Stylus Color 600, 800, 1520, and 3000 - Currently the driver only supports 720 DPI printing in "compatibility" mode. This makes the drivers extremely slow compared to the Windows and Mac drivers. Unfortunately, I cannot provide optimized drivers (nor drivers for 1440x720) because of our NDA with EPSON.
• EPSON Stylus Photo, Photo Ex, Photo 700 - Currently the driver only supports 720 DPI printing in "compatibility" mode. This makes the drivers extremely slow compared to the Windows and Mac drivers, and you don't get the use of the light cyan and magenta inks (again, because of NDA restrictions.)

Other Pages

For better printer support for Solaris, IRIX, and HP-UX, see our pages on ESP Print. We are also working on a new printing system for UNIX called "CUPS" (Common UNIX Printing System).