[Klug-general] Canon PIXMA iP2000 PPD file?

[Andrew Scott]

Hello,

Recently our venerable Epson C20SX blew up (after leaking messily all
over the place), and I was frog-marched to the shops to get a new
printer. The one we eventually settled on is the Canon in the subject
line.

It's a nice machine, which connects via the now ubiquitous USB. On
plugging in and powering up, the Yast2 printing section on my SuSe 9.1
pro install detected the printer correctly first time, and offered to
configure it. However, and here's the problem: no PPD file!

To cut a long story short, I downloaded the excellent TurboPrint for
Linux RPM demo edition, which supplied the required files and by
default integrated straight away with CUPS printer management and hence
Yast2. Print quality is as good as I could ever expect it to be, and
there are a couple of setup / management utilities [nozzle alignmet,
print head cleaning etc]. However for all resolutions other than draft,
the TurboPrint logo is displayed in the printing page. Draft is fine
for everyday use, and $USER is quite happy. However, I forsee problems
moving forward.

Following extensive googling I also tried the default BJC7000 and 7100
drivers from the installed CUPS DB. However the print quality is
definitely less than optimal, and noticeably poorer, and the 7100 is
very poor. Hence the native PPD file [as provided by TurboPrint] is
definitely required. That's 30 EUR for the full working edition to you
and me, plus the prospect of being locked into an upgrade cycle: "buy
now and get a discount on v2 of the software ...".

Does anyone know where I could get hold of a Free [GPLed] PPD file for
this printer, that actually works to the required standard? Google is
definitely not my friend, despite the product being on the shelves for
apparently up to one year, and posts bemoaning the lack of existence of
a Free driver(!).

I'm really pleased with the way in which Linux printing is maturing,
however in the process someone seems to be trying on a landgrab.

Thanks for any help!

- Andrew




		
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