From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <3DED0FD2.1050703@easysw.com> Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2002 15:10:58 -0500 From: Michael Sweet MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: [Printing-architecture] RE:Scenarios for using the various Open Print API References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: printing-architecture-admin@freestandards.org Errors-To: printing-architecture-admin@freestandards.org List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: To: Pete Zannucci Cc: printing-architecture@freestandards.org Pete Zannucci wrote: > ... > We need to come to a consensus on what additional types > of information an application might need to be able to > generate a job to it's satisfaction. We have discussed > how to provide printable area and margin information. > That is a start. Their may be other things that some apps. > would like to know about a device and that should be added > as a possible separate api (get all the pertinent info. > back from a device on what it supports) or could possibly > be added as an additional grouping of attributes. I'm not sure if the current PWG color attributes cover this, but providing the native colorspace as well as any profile information for the printer/driver might be useful. Right now all IPP provides is a "color-supported" boolean attribute, but knowing if the destination device/driver supports true CMYK/N-color rendering (typically used in a production workflow with apps like Photoshop, etc.) could be useful. > There are two sides of adding additional attributes that > worry me. > 1. No protocol support for the attributes so > current devices will not be able to handle or > provide the information back on a query. Assuming that PAPI is providing the information, it can supplement the attributes as needed. > 2. Since there is no support there will need to be > an intermediary such as a ppd or a driver when > using such a device. I would say that this will be the case for the forseable future, and unless printer manufacturers suddenly have a cheap chipset they can put in their low-end devices, such support will only ever be available in high-end devices. In any case, PAPI can handle the low-level details and provide the app with a common, consistent interface, right? -- ______________________________________________________________________ Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products mike@easysw.com Printing Software for UNIX http://www.easysw.com