HELP for ppaSet

(C) Javier Sedano (jsedano@ieee.org, jsedano@it.uc3m.es)

Table of contente:
  -Introduction
  -pnm2ppa project
  -ppaSetBase
  -gPpaSet (GTK)
  -nPpaSet (ncurses)




INTRODUCTION

ppaSet is a set of tools to help configuring a PPA printer, part of
the pnm2ppa project.





PNM2PPA PROJECT

PPA (Pretty Performance Architecture) is a protocol developed by HP in
order to manage its new cheap software-based printers (so called
"winprinters", as manufactures only provide dirvers for Windows(TM)).

The pnm2ppa project tries to provide software so that printers could
be used in other operative systems (in the moment of writing this
help, Linux, *BSD and BeOS are supported). The idea is to provide a
filter that converts PNM image format (produced by Ghostscript from
the PostScript source) to the PPA protocol, so it can be used (almost)
in any system where Ghostscript or similar is available.





PPASETBASE

ppaSetBase is a library providing a set of functions that do almost
all the hard job, to ensure that providing ppaSet for diferent graphic
toolkits was an easy job.

We won't debscribe those methods here, as they have only value for
code hackers.

In the same way, a few scripts are provided... but the user has to
know nothing about them.




GPPASET

gPpaSet is the GTK front-end for the ppaSetBase library. It's divided
into four tabs:

-BASIC: basic configuration is made here:
  -Type of printer: choose the printer you own.
  -Color mode: choose the way you want to print (full color,
   greyscale or black&white).
  -Dithering mode: choose the kind of dither you want to
   aply. Floid-Steinberg is "a bit" slower, but much prettier (try
   both, anyway).
  -Quiality mode: choose the print quality. Economic is not actually
   so bad. Normal is the default behaviour. Photo... fairly... it's
   not photo-quality, just disables black cartridges (try it, anyway).
-PAPER OPTIONS: configuration related to the paper is made here:
  -Size: choose your paper size. Be carefull with A3 size: it's
   nominally supported in the filter, but other aplications doesn't
   support it.
  -X offset: the ammount of points (each 1/600 inch) the printing is
   moved to the right in the paper.
  -Y offset: the ammount of points the printing is moved down in the
   paper.
  -Margins: the ammounts of points the filter doesn't actually
   print. Check your printer manual to get theses values (or left them
   as default... they are usually good enough).
-ADVANCED: advanced options, are stored here. You won't probably need
to modify them, but at least you should know where they are:
  -Unidirectional printing/bidirectional printing: when in
   bidirectional printing, the heads print in both left-to-right and
   right-to-left ways; when in unidirectional printing, only
   left-to-right if printed, leading to better quality if shearing is
   not good enought.
  -B&W and Color shearing: theses values control the offset between
   the left-to-right and the right-to-left printings, so they are
   perfectly aligned. Obviously, has no effect in unidirectional
   printing.
  -X and Y color offset: as the main offsets, controls where to made
   the color printings, so they where perfectly aligned with the blakc
   ones.
  -Blackness: controls the ammount of black ink to use (leading to
   darker images). 0 disables the black ink cartridge.
  -Gamma correction can be choose from four modes:
    -System defaults: just that... uses the gamma corrections defined
     by the system administrator.
    -None: disables gamam correction. It actually leads to no so bad
     printings.
    -Enhancementes: the enhancements given in the test field are
     aplied in the gamma correction functions.
    -Indexes: the indexes given in the text fields are used as gamma
     correction entries.
    -File: the correction is made using that correction file (look at
     gamma-correction files under the pnm2ppa filter for more
     information).
-SERVICES: this tab provides some basic services for the printer:
  -Print a test page: just print a pnm2ppa logo, checking that printer
   works properly.
  -Create /tmp/pnm2ppa.conf file: creates a file in the temporary
   directory. That file has the correcto format so it can be used as
   the system default 7etc/pnm2ppa.conf file
  -Print calibration pages: print the calibration pages. Use "margins"
   and "offsets" so the first one is perfectly centered. Use
   "shearings" and "color offsets" so the lines over 0 are perfectly
   straight (if they are not, the number bellow the straight lines
   show the addition to the respective value).
  -Create gamma reference: creates a gamma.ppm file in the temporary
   directory. This reference must be viewed in a gamma-corrected device
   (printed under the HP Windows driver, printed in a gamma-corrected
   printer, viewed in the screen in last instance), and used in
   against the next option.
  -Print a non-gamma-corrected page: prints a matrix of colours,
   without being gamma-corrected. Then, for each colour, look for the
   one that best matches the reference (in the previous
   option)... it's number is the one you must use as the gamma index
   (in the gamma correction frame, in the advanced tab).
  -Clean printer cartridges: cleans printer head, as much as posible.

The buttons in the lower row act as follow:
  -Ok: closes the aplication, saving the configuration, so the "ppa"
   printer will use it.
  -Aply once: the next (and only the next) printing through the "ppa"
   printer will use the given configuration.
  -Cancel: closes the aplication, without saving anything.
  -System defaults: resets the configuration to the system defaults
   (the one that was show when the aplication started first time).
  -Remove: removes configuration files for the user.
  -Help: shows this help.




NPPASET

nPpaSet is the ncurses front-end for the ppaSetBase library. It has
four entries on the top of the sreen, and five general actions on
the bottom:

-BASIC: basic configuration is made here:
  -Type of printer: choose the printer you own.
  -Color mode: choose the way you want to print (full color,
   greyscale or black&white).
  -Dithering mode: choose the kind of dither you want to
   aply. Floid-Steinberg is "a bit" slower, but much prettier (try
   both, anyway).
  -Quality mode: choose the print quality. Economic is not actually
   so bad. Normal is the default behaviour. Photo... being fair... it's
   not photo-quality, just disables black cartridges (try it, anyway).
-PAPER OPTIONS: configuration related to the paper is made here:
  -Size: choose your paper size. Be carefull with A3 size: it's
   nominally supported in the filter, but other aplications doesn't
   support it.
  -X offset: the ammount of points (each 1/600 inch) the printing is
   moved to the right in the paper.
  -Y offset: the ammount of points the printing is moved down in the
   paper.
  -Margins: the ammounts of points the filter doesn't actually
   print. Check your printer manual to get theses values (or left them
   as default... they are usually good enough).
-ADVANCED: advanced options, are stored here. You won't probably need
to modify them, but at least you should know where they are:
  -Fine tunnig: It has actually three options inside:
    -Unidirectional printing/bidirectional printing: when in
     bidirectional printing, the heads print in both left-to-right and
     right-to-left ways; when in unidirectional printing, only
     left-to-right if printed, leading to better quality if shearing is
     not good enought. If you choose bidirectional, two new values will be
     asked:
      -B&W and Color shearing: theses values control the offset between
       the left-to-right and the right-to-left printings, so they are
       perfectly aligned. Obviously, has no effect in unidirectional
       printing.
    -X and Y color offset: as the main offsets, controls where to made
     the color printings, so they where perfectly aligned with the blakc
     ones.
    -Blackness: controls the ammount of black ink to use (leading to
     darker images). 0 disables the black ink cartridge.
  -Gamma correction can be choose from four modes:
    -System defaults: just that... uses the gamma corrections defined
     by the system administrator.
    -None: disables gamam correction. It actually leads to no so bad
     printings.
    -Enhancementes: the enhancements given in the test field are
     aplied in the gamma correction functions.
    -Indexes: the indexes given in the text fields are used as gamma
     correction entries.
    -File: the correction is made using that correction file (look at
     gamma-correction files under the pnm2ppa filter for more
     information).
-SERVICES: this emtry provides some basic services for the printer:
  -Print a test page: just print a pnm2ppa logo, checking that printer
   works properly.
  -Create /tmp/pnm2ppa.conf file: creates a file in the temporary
   directory. That file has the correcto format so it can be used as
   the system default 7etc/pnm2ppa.conf file
  -Print calibration pages: print the calibration pages. Use "margins"
   and "offsets" so the first one is perfectly centered. Use
   "shearings" and "color offsets" so the lines over 0 are perfectly
   straight (if they are not, the number bellow the straight lines
   show the addition to the respective value).
  -Create gamma reference: creates a gamma.ppm file in the temporary
   directory. This reference must be viewed in a gamma-corrected device
   (printed under the HP Windows driver, printed in a gamma-corrected
   printer, viewed in the screen in last instance), and used in
   against the next option.
  -Print a non-gamma-corrected page: prints a matrix of colours,
   without being gamma-corrected. Then, for each colour, look for the
   one that best matches the reference (in the previous
   option)... it's number is the one you must use as the gamma index
   (in the gamma correction frame, in the advanced tab).
  -Clean printer cartridges: cleans printer head, as much as posible.

The buttons at the bottom of the screen act as follow:
  -Save & exit: closes the aplication, saving the configuration, so
   the "ppa" printer will use it.
  -Aply once: the next (and only the next) printing through the "ppa"
   printer will use the given configuration.
  -System defaults: resets the configuration to the system defaults
   (the one that was show when the aplication started first time).
  -Remove: removes configuration files for the user.
  -Help: shows this help.

Finally, Cancel closes the aplication without saving anything.




MORE INFO

For more information, ask in ppa.users@listbot.com (you need to subscribe
first).
