🚀 go-pugleaf

Jon Green wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> Been trying to iron out some niggles..
>>
>> Some stuff prints well, other stuff has oddities.
> 
> You're asking the wrong question, or the wrong way.
> 
> Firstly, what's the printer (make and model) you're using?
> 

Two. Both postcript native. Ricoh 3800 and HP laserjet 5.

> Secondly, which printer driver are you using within CUPS, and how is it
> configured?  (For example, a number of printers offer both PostScript
> and their own language, such as HP-PCL.)
> 
Not sure on this one. Foomatic comes into the RICOH for sure.


> Thirdly, how are you viewing the PDF on screen?  Are you using Acrobat,
> or GhostView (gv), or xpdf, or something else?
> 
> 
Acrobat and other screen based programs see the PDF's as intended. ONLY 
cups screws up.

It also screws up with almost any bitmap where transparency is applied.

> Basically, without knowing which RIP is being used for each of screen
> and printer, it's not easy to diagnose.
> 
> That said:
> 
> If your printer is being treated as a PostScript printer, but has an
> alternative language, try that.  Alternatively, if your printer offers
> PostScript, but you're using the alternative, switch.  You may need to
> tweak the driver config a bit to get the same results, but it's worth
> the effort.
> 

Its not the printer end of things..its something to do with the 
transparency elements of bitmaps being disregarded.

I.e. we can print the pictures fine using acrobat direct to the printer, 
or Corel Draw, or indeed any other way that bypasses CUPS and uses a 
normal print program talking direct to the printer.

There is a bug report out on ghostscript that seems to suggest it is the 
culprit.

But I need to pin it down a bit.

If it helps, I can publish a little PDF file on the net somewhere that 
illustrates the problem.


> Jon