Creating a driver for Epson DX9400F

[Lorenzo Petrone]

I have an Epson multifunction DX9400F. Its driver are provided by avasys (1), they work, but don't work very good: they can only print at a very very low resolution.

Now, I really know NOTHING about postscript and CUPS, but since i noticed the eklite.ppd file had the following lines...

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*OpenUI *Quality/Quality: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 20 AnySetup *Quality
*DefaultQuality: PLAIN_NORMAL
*Quality PLAIN_NORMAL/ plain papers - Normal:                      "<</HWResolution[360 360]>>setpagedevice"
*Quality PMPHOTO_NORMAL/ EPSON Premium Glossy - Normal:            "<</HWResolution[360 360]>>setpagedevice"
*CloseUI: *Quality
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...I decided to "just try" to change the resolution and see what happen. After one failed attempt, it ACTUALLY WORKED!

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*OpenUI *Quality/Quality: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 20 AnySetup *Quality
*DefaultQuality: PLAIN_NORMAL
*Quality PLAIN_NORMAL/ plain papers - Normal:                      "<</HWResolution[360 360]>>setpagedevice"
*Quality PLAIN_MEDIUM/ plain papers - Medium:                    "<</HWResolution[720 720]>>setpagedevice"
*Quality PLAIN_HIGH/ plain papers - High:                    "<</HWResolution[1440 1440]>>setpagedevice"
*Quality PMPHOTO_NORMAL/ EPSON Premium Glossy - Normal:            "<</HWResolution[360 360]>>setpagedevice"
*CloseUI: *Quality
------

I cannot distinguish the difference between the 720 and the 1440 settings, maybe it's fault of the image I used, but they're both DEFINITLY better than the original 360 one!!

I also tried this line, which did NOT work:
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*Quality PLAIN_HIGHEST/ plain papers - High:                    "<</HWResolution[5760 1440]>>setpagedevice"
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Now, I have no idea if only the HWResolution setting matters, or also the NAME_IN_ALL_CAMPS is important, I'd have to make some tries, but maybe you already know the answer, and would spare me some time.

I have also no idea on how I could come to know the supported resolutions, these I entered were simply 2* and 4* the original.

Moreover, I have no idea why in the original ppd file, there is a line for normal paper and a line for glossy paper, but the HWResolution command is THE SAME for both lines O_o.

Can you help me building an even better driver?

(btw, if it matters, I'm printing via eth, not via usb, but I guess it's the same thing)


(1) http://www.avasys.jp/lx-bin2/linux_e/spc/DL1.do


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Lorenzo "Lo'oris" Petrone
http://looris.net