[Foomatic] Re: Developing a mini-driver

Grant Taylor gtaylor+foodev_bbhdc040504 at picante.com
Mon Apr 5 11:17:35 PDT 2004


hamed at cb.uu.se (Hamed Hamid) writes:

> I would like to know if it is possible to do the following task on a
> color laser printer:

> 1-the paper comes into the printer and the printer uses its highest
>   resolution.
> 2-the printer prints a pure Magenta picture (a binary bitmap picture) on
>   specific area on the paper.
> 3-on the same area, the printer prints a different pure Cyan picture.
> 4-on the same area, the printer prints another different pure Yellow
>   picture.
> 5-the paper is going out.

> I suppose that the paper is staying totally freezed in its place in
> the printer, to be able to get high precision and resolution at
> microscopic level. My goal is obtaining homogenius areas of C, M or
> Y, not mixing them.

High resolution at a microscopic level?  I'm not sure how microscopic
you need.

Laser engines accept highly precise inputs (typically to 1/1200 or
even 1/2400 inches), but are not enormously accurate in anything but a
statistical way.  Attempts to print, say, a barcode composed of
one-pixel wide lines will be unsucessful.  Ditto for attempts to print
C, M, and Y images with perfect alignment.

Any little lasers will feature linear mechanisms and moving paper.
You'll have to spend some serious dollars to buy a laser printer with
a "full-page with nonmoving paper" mechanism.  I'd be surprised if
most full-page systems weren't built around moving roller mechanisms,
though; you may have trouble finding anything with fixed paper.

You might actually have better luck with inkjets, which typically
feature more detailed software control over the mechanism.  They also
feature a *much* higher mechanism precision per dollar spent.  And
it's more plausible to find a fixed paper inkjet; such plotters were
one more or less common, so inkjets built this way might still exist.

-- 
Grant Taylor - gtaylor<at>picante.com - http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/
   Linux Printing Website and HOWTO:  http://www.linuxprinting.org/



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