"...How much of the print quality comes from the
printer and how much comes from software is an interesting
question. With this particular printer, as Bruce Perens said in an
interview earlier this year, much of the color handling happens in
hardware rather than by the driver. This should mean prints from
both Windows and Linux would be the same. It's obvious some
enhancement is done to the image the printer is asked to print
before it gets there, in much the same way that hitting the
"loudness" button on a boombox boosts the bass and makes music
sound richer. Perhaps color enhancement is a default settings on
Windows but not Linux.
The open source side of the equation (GIMP/HP open source
driver) does not deliver the same quality as Windows/HP. Certainly
not in resolution, where the open source driver can only achieve
600 x 600 DPI. Though I want more fidelity to colors than either
delivered, the "loudness" enhancements on Windows were more
pleasing to my eye than the toned-down GIMP print. As I noted
above, I believe the Lexmark driver on Linux beats the HP on either
platform for trueness of color.
Who do we blame for this poor showing against identical hardware
on Windows? I think we need to blame ourselves. HP delivered the
goods in terms of open source code for this printer. An HP
spokesperson says higher resolutions will be available for this
driver in the future, as will the ability to do duplex (two-sided)
printing. Now, the open source community needs to step in and bring
the drivers up to parity with what users get in the Windows
world."
