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Image Printing

Table of Contents

Printing from applications

http://www.turboprint.de/manual/turboprint-7.html

KDE

KDE applications show a list of all printer queues on the system. Simply select your printer in this list.

KDE print dialog

With "Properties" you can reconfigure the TurboPrint driver (resolution, media type, etc.). Please note that the CUPS printing system must be installed for this feature.

Other applications (e.g. Netscape / Mozilla)

In most other applications printing works just like printing from shell: The application programs creates a temporary file with the page(s) that should be printed (usually in postscript format) and starts the lpr or lp command.

In most applications the user can determine whether another print command should be used instead of lpr and which parameters should be used, e.g.

lpr -P tp0

lp -d tp0

(replace "tp0" by the actual name of the printer queue).

kprinter

Instead of the lpr command you can also enter the command kprinter. kprinter opens a window in which you can choose the printer and make further settings.

kprinter

GIMP

To print from the image editor GIMP, click on the image to be printed w ith the right mouse button, then choose "File -> Print…". In the frame "Printer Settings", button "Printer Name" choose the short name of your printer. Set "Media Size" to the desired paper size.

gimp - print dialog

Then click on the "Setup" button.

gimp - setup dialog

Choose "PostScript Level 2" as the printer driver. Dont choose any of the manufacturer specific drivers (Epson / HP / …)! The default in the field command must be slightly changed. Please remove the "-oraw" option. The correct entry is:

lp -s -dprintername

For older versions of GIMP the command line must be changed from "/usr/bin/lpr -Pprintername -l" to

/usr/bin/lpr -Pprintername

In the field "PPD File" you should choose the PPD file for your printer from the directory

/usr/share/turboprint/ppd

Press "OK" to close the "Setup" dialog.

As GIMP prints the picture a bit too bright you should open the Dialog "Adjust Colors" and change the "Gamma" setting to 0.75 and "Saturation" to 1.2. At this point everything is set up correctly for TurboPrint.

gimp - Color Dialog

Now you can choose the print size and position of the image. Use the "Scaling" slider to change the picture size. The print position can be changed either by moving the black square in the preview or by entering the position in the fields "Left" and "Top". Use "Center Image" to position the image in the middle of the page.

Finally choose "Print" or "Print And Save Settings" to print the picture or just "Save Settings" to save the settings you made.

Printing problems with GIMP

If you do not get any printout, this may be a result from problems with GIMP's Postscript Leve2 driver (Gimp 1.3, 2.x).

To correct the problem start GIMP from command line as follows:

export LC_NUMERIC=C gimp

OpenOffice / StarOffice

Setup

Before you print, you should first setup one or several printers - or you use the driver "Kprinter" which is pre-installed in current versions of OpenOffice. Kprinter lets you choose the actual printer driver before printing starts (see section "kprinter" above).

The printer installation tool is started from shell with the command

/opt/OpenOffice.org/spadmin

(the path may be different - please see the OpenOffice online manual).

In some versions of StarOffice with "Desktop" you can use the icon "Printer Setup" instead:

StarOffice - Desktop

The setup window:

OpenOffice - Setup Dialog

First you have to add a new printer driver. Choose "New Printer" and enter the path to the TurboPrint PPD files ("Driver Directory"). The path is by default

/usr/share/turboprint/ppd

Choose the correct printer and click on the "Ok" button. Now the new printer will appear in the list of OpenOffice printer drivers. Choose it again in the printer driver list.

Choose "Next" to continue with the following dialog:

OpenOffice - Printer Connect Dialog

Select the printer queue of your choice (e.g. "tp0") and continue with "Next".

OpenOffice - Printer Configure Dialog

Choose the default page size and orientation. Then set "PostScript Level"="2" and "Color space"="Color". If you're using the CUPS printing system, you also have to choose the print resolution (DPI). Close the dialog with "OK".

Now close the "Printer Setup" dialog - everything is set up.

Printing

Open the "Print" dialog with the menu "File" / "Print".

OpenOffice - Print Dialog

Choose your printer. In the "Properties…" dialog you can change the page size and the color mode, if you want to. With the CUPS printing system you can also change settings like print resolution and print media. Thats it! Just press "OK" to print.

Note: The printout may need much time to process if you have chosen "TrueColor" mode in TurboPrint's xtpconfig configuration menu. You can speed up the printout a lot by choosing "Black & White". Also with the "256 color" or "Grayscale" modes printing speed will be a bit higher.