"Unknown device: stp" when using Foomatic/gimp-print

[Kurt Pfeifle]

David Fleck <dcf at aracnet.com> wrote (Saturday 29 July 2006 21:49):

> Thanks to Kurt, my previous problem has been resolved. I am now 
> using the 8.15.2 version of ESP Ghostscript with my BJC-250, and 
> it's working. 
> 
> But now I've got a new question. If I use the CUPS+gimp-print.v4.2.7 
> drivers, everything is fine.

So keep it like that  :-)

> But if I configure my BJC-250 using  
> the Foomatic/gimp-print drivers, I get the following error: 
> 
> D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25] renderer command: gs -q -dPARANOIDSAFER -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH
> -sDEVICE=stp  -sModel=bjc-250 -sOutputFile=- - D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25]
> foomatic-gswrapper: gs '-dPARANOIDSAFER' '-dNOPAUSE' '-dBATCH' '-sDEVICE=stp' '-sModel=bjc-250'
> '-sOutputFile=| cat >&3' '/ dev/fd/0' 3>&1 1>&2 D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25] ESP Ghostscript
> 815.02 (2006-04-19)
> D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25] Copyright (C) 2004 artofcode LLC, Benicia, CA.  All rights
> reserved. D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25] This software comes with NO WARRANTY: see the file
> PUBLIC for details. D [29/Jul/2006:14:14:38 -0500] [Job 25] Unknown device: stp
> 
> ..and sure enough, no 'stp' device appears when I look at the devices listed by 'gs -h', and I can't
> find any configure options that reference it.
> 
> Assuming it can be done, how to I get ghostscript to recognize '-sDEVICE=stp' ? Or is this driver just
> not usable?

Gimp-Print's driver functionality (now renamed into Gutenprint) 
formerly could be built in 3 different ways:

* "stp" was one incarnation of the Gimp-Print/Gutenprint driver, 
  where the driver was compiled into Ghostscript as a device; 

* the second option was to use the generic "ijs" Ghostscript 
  interface device, which would utilize the externally running 
  Gimp-Print driver;

* and last, there is the possibility to compile it directly into 
  the "rastertoprinter" filter for CUPS.

The first two options both use Foomtic+Ghostscript, the third 
does plug the filter directly into the CUPS system.

The stp device was removed in more recent versions of Gimp-Print, 
and hence isn't in recent versions of ESP Ghostscript either.

You'll need to use a different PPD that does not call for stp 
to be used. Funnily, for SUSE those are in the "cups-drivers-stp" 
package (including the required "rastertoprinter" filter).

There shouldn't be any difference in print quality between the 
Gimp-Print incarnations. "rastertoprinter" is the recommended 
one for CUPS. 

(Gimp-Print's only way to go through Ghostscript+Foomatic now is 
with the help of "-sDEVICE=ijs" -- but this also needs that set 
of PPDs that match this purpose.)

Cheers,
Kurt