[cups.general] Konica Minolta Magicolor 7450

[John Jason Jordan]

On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:46:58 -0700
Helge Blischke <h.blischke at srz.de> dijo:

> Just found via Google:
> 	http://www.qms.com/products/color/mc7450/index.asp
> As it supports PostScript 3 natively, you should be able to get
> a suitable PPD from the mentioned web site (if in doubt, the
> PPD for Windows will do). There are technical specs available
> as well.
 
Helge,

Thanks, but I already have that PPD file. Not only do I have it, but I
used it to install the CUPS driver for the Magicolor 7450 on my Ubuntu
Feisty computer. I also have the "OpenOffice.org" PPD file that
Konica-Minolta has on their website.

The problem is not the PPD file. The problem is, will CUPS recognize
the syntax in that PPD file that refers to the optional banner tray?
Will it recognize and utilize all the other features and options of the
printer?

Let me clarify what I am talking about with a real-world example. I
have an HP Laserjet 8000DN. This printer is decked out with just about
every option you can get, including the optional 3,000 sheet output
stacker and the optional 2,000 sheet input tray (tray 4). When you
print multiple copies collated the stacker has the option of offsetting
each copy back and forth as the pages fall onto the tray., making it
easy to separate the individual copies.

I use the same PPD file for this printer that I use on my old Windows
2000 desktop computer. It is the latest PPD file available. In CUPS
there are three drivers you can install. One is "Laserjet-8000," one is
"Laserjet-8000-PS," and one is
"Laserjet-8000DN-PostScript-(recommended)." The last two use the same
PPD file.

If I print to the "Laserjet-8000-PS" driver I can get job offset in the
stacker, but there is no way to tell it to pull paper from whichever
tray has paper in it. In fact, it shows only "tray 2," although that
setting pulls paper only from tray 4. The other trays may be full of
paper, and the printer can be set in its control panel to pull paper
from whatever tray has paper in it, but the print job will always pull
only from tray 4 and stop when tray 4 is empty.

If I print to the "Laserjet-8000-PostScript-(recommended)" driver it
shows tray options for 1 through 5 (even though tray 5 is not
installed), but regardless of which tray I set it to it will pull paper
from whatever tray has paper in it. Since this is what I normally want,
this is no problem. However, this driver will never offset each copy
back and forth in the output stacker.

My point is that the PPD file may list all the options the printer is
capable of, but CUPS has to be able to recognize the feature and
implement it before the feature will be available to the user. My worry
is that I need the banner tray feature of the Magicolor 7450. This is
not only an optional device, but rather unusual in the world of
printers. In fact, the whole printer is unusual and not extremely
popular. To me that smells of a disaster in the making. If I buy the
printer, will I be able to access that tray? Will it print the whole
image, or will it truncate everything after 17 inches wide? Will it
print to that tray so that the image comes out upside down and
reversed? And what about other features of the printer?

Having said all of the above, there is something else I don't
understand. Sometimes a feature of the printer will be available in one
application, but not another. It may be that I am blaming CUPS for not
understanding the PPD file, when I should be blaming the application.
If that is the case, then my concern is that kpdf can access all the
features of the Magicolor 7450, since kpdf is what I will probably
normally print from.