Can a proprietary printer driver outperform the Gimp-Print project and the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)? I recently raved about an Epson Color Stylus 880 and its free software offerings. This week, I will review the Lexmark Z52 Color Jetprinter and the proprietary Linux software Lexmark has created for it.
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Lexmark sent me a brand-new Z52; it is a fine printer for desktop use. It can reach an amazing resolution of 2400 dpi, in both black and color. At the default setting of 600 dpi, it spits out up to 15 pages per minute. Just a couple of years ago, Lexmark's top-of-the-line printers offered only 1200 dpi. Online prices for the Z52 range from $141 to the suggested retail, $179.
Installation
After unpacking the Z52, I hooked it up using Lexmark's illustrated (no text at all) installation guide. The first step was to connect the parallel cable between the computer and the printer. The illustration showed that to do so, a hinged door on the back of the printer had to be open. The interface could be either USB or parallel; both types of cables come with the printer. Following the illustrations, I quickly connected the power supply (it is built into the Epson printer, external on the Lexmark) to the printer and a wall outlet, and turned it on.
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How we tested
Hardware
Processor: AMD 300-MHz K6-2
Memory: 128 MB SDRAM
Mass storage: 20-GB Fujitsu IDE drive
Platform
Operating System: SuSE Linux 7.0 Professional
Kernel: Unmodified 2.2.17
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Another illustration showed me how to remove the tape that guards the print heads on the black and color ink reservoirs. After that, it was literally a snap to install them. The only step left was to add paper. The entire hardware installation, from opening the box to loading the paper, only took about 5 minutes.
The Linux install differs from the Windows and Mac OS installs in that the software for those platforms comes on a CD, while the Linux driver and related software lives on Lexmark's Website. (See Resources for a link.) Please note that the Lexmark driver comes as an RPM file and requires Ghostscript (6.01 recommended).
To get a Linux driver for your Lexmark Z52, go to the Lexmark drivers page (see Resources for a link), enter "Z52 Linux" in the Driver Quick Find box, and click Go. That takes you to the download page. Then hold down the shift key and click on "cjlx52le.tar.gz."
I put the downloaded file in a Lexmark subdirectory that I created in my home directory. Then I typed
tar xzf cjlx52le.tar.gz to extract and decompress the contents. That produced a text file that contained detailed documentation of the installation of the software and RPM file.
My first attempt to install the RPM failed. I was running SuSE Professional 7.0 with minimal packages installed, and it complained about not having libslang.so.1. I started the YAST single-package update and quickly resolved the missing dependency.
After I installed the Lexmark package, a pop-up window presented me with a choice of whether to accept the licensing terms. No recount was necessary -- I said yes. Another window appeared and asked me to verify the ink cartridges loaded in the printer. The defaults were set to the color and black cartridges that came with the printer. After verifying that the correct cartridges were in the proper locations, I clicked OK.
Next a window describing a print test appeared. I clicked on Continue and the printer came to life. Then another window asked me to align the cartridges by selecting the straightest vertical and horizontal lines from the print-test page.
Once I entered the test results, the install was complete. My first print job was one of the cartridge-alignment images I had just saved in GIMP. Everything seemed to work fine, so I decided to give the Z52 a more demanding task and selected a photograph taken with my Sony Mavica digital camera over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The proof's in the printing
The quality of the default 600-dpi printed digital image was good, but not good enough to frame and hang it on the wall. Using the graphical user interface program (lexmarkz52) provided with the driver, I changed the resolution to the maximum (2400 dpi) and printed the image again. As expected, the print was much clearer and crisper -- very nice indeed. But it still wasn't photo quality. I decided to print the image on Kodak photo paper.
Photo paper is expensive, so I took advantage of scaling and, using GIMP, set the page position to use only a quarter of the page. You can use this trick to print multiple images on one sheet of photo paper -- but if you print an image in the upper left quadrant and then want to print another in the upper right, you must reload the paper with the first image on the lower right.
I then ran the interface program again to inform the printer of the new media type. The printer software also supports coated paper, transparency, iron-on transfer, and greeting card stock. The resulting print was indeed photo quality. But being a dweeb, I wasn't yet satisfied. So I purchased a Lexmark 12A1990 high-resolution photo print cartridge and gave it a whirl.
After installing the new cartridge (it replaced the black ink cartridge, not the color), I tried to use the printer interface software to inform the Z52 of the change. But I couldn't: the Install/Change Cartridge option was grayed out and did not respond. The download page for the driver provided a number to call for tech support, so I gave them a call.
The automated menu at their tech-support number didn't have an option for Linux support for the Z52, but the techie answering Mac calls connected me to the Linux group. I quickly described the problem and was told that only root could change cartridges. Sure enough, I did an su, restarted the program, and there was no problem at all with telling the Z52 about the new cartridge.
Next came the final test: would using the $39.95 high-resolution print cartridge on the glossy photo paper improve the print quality? I reinserted the glossy photo page that displayed the last effort and printed the new image adjacent to the first. The difference wasn't night and day, but the lighting and color were slightly more accurate.
Open-and-shut case
Choosing a cartridge is easy. The more important and complex choice is between the Gimp-Print project's open source software and the proprietary software that Lexmark provides free of charge.
If you look only at bits and bytes, the winner is clear: the Lexmark is easier to install, configure, and use than Gimp-Print or Epson. In my world of fuzzy, color-impaired vision, Lexmark also produces superior print. On the other hand, if you select software based on the freedom of its code, Gimp-Print wins hands down. I don't want to dodge the issue of picking one over the other, but I think Linux needs an abundance of both free and proprietary software (at least for now) for its importance and relevance to continue to grow.
It is also important to compare the major players in the printer market, companies that have seemed strangely reluctant to embrace Linux and other free operating systems. Hewlett-Packard talks a good game, but offers no open drivers or APIs for the Linux market. Epson appears to be the best at sharing information with open source developers, but is not exactly an open book. Canon just sucks in this regard.
Lexmark deserves kudos for providing its Linux customers with high-quality software. I've learned unofficially that the Linux driver does not provide as much as the Windows version, though. Specifically, bidirectional communications, support for printing banners, the ability to reverse the print order and collate documents, Web smoothing, online help, and voice prompts are not available in the Linux version. Nor will they become available; the driver and software interface are not works in progress -- they are finished. Nevertheless, Lexmark stands at the head of the class in the inkjet printer market; the Z52 is accessible and usable.
I also asked my unofficial source at Lexmark if the company would provide any additional printers with Linux support. The answer was noncommittal, but did include this statement: "We do recognize the importance of the Linux market." We shall see.
Resources
