Back from Atlanta

My trip to Atlanta was a success. I was able to fix a few problems with the printer driver, and get a really good color profile. I did have a couple of red herrings to contend with, though.

First was the Mystery of the Small Dots. This printer, like most these days, can print with small, medium, and large dots to get a nice smooth image. My output was a bit grainy, and the person I was working with noticed that the small dots on some prints he did a few weeks ago had much smaller dots than those in my output.

So I tried to find why I wasn't using the smallest dots. I made sure the driver was printing different sized dots (it was) and looked all through the printer's command code manual, but I couldn't find anything.

After about two hours of research, another engineer from the printer company came in and said "Oh, yeah. I think that last firmware upgrade changed the size of the smallest dots to try and get rid of banding." D'oh!

Then there was the Layout debacle. This printer is a large flatbed that prints on sheets, and it is nice with these printers to be able to say where on the sheet you want the print to start. I wanted this for myself as much as anyone else, so I gave up my creative writing time and stayed up way to late Tuesday night adding this feature to the driver.

Unfortunately, the printer doesn't actually use the "move down" and "move left" commands, so I had to manually move the start point for each print anyway.

But in the end I had a working driver and a good profile, and I feel I did a good job with the political part of the visit, which was almost as important as the technical.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guavalicious Contest Rules

As many of you know, I grew up in Hawaii, in the quaint little village of Laie . Many of you also know that I have been working away at my version of the Great American Novel for the last little while. Due to a bout of homesickness brought on by a cruel Utah winter, my story is set in (surprise) Laie. It was also in Laie that I learned to love the great taste of guava - the same taste I am about to share with a few lucky people in the form of my Guavalicious apple butter. To enter the contest, simply add a comment to this post that completes the following sentence: "A story set in Hawaii simply has to include _____." There are no right or wrong answers. I'm just curious to see what everyone has to say, both "insiders and outsiders". I also think it could be fun to try and use as many of these suggestions as possible. You can make as many as you want, but your name only goes in the hat once. I will add a jar of Guavalicious to the prize pool for every four entr
Read more

Canoe-Paddling Polynesian Guys

Image
We have finally hung a picture on the wall here in our house. The fact that this is a blog-worthy event eighteen months after moving in is, I admit, rather pathetic. But it is also very exciting. I finally feel like we are really moving in. Slowly but surely we're picking away at the projects that need to be done, and (for now) avoiding the temptation to take on any new ones. This picture is called Hoe Kama Kani , which means "paddle with the wind." We found this picture at a home show in Honolulu while we were students, and I just fell in love with it. I stood there and stared at the picture for quite some time, but I simply couldn't justify the $140 price. The salesman told us that they had a smaller print available for much less, but they had sold out at the show. We could look at it if we came by the studio the next week. Unfortunately, the little 8x10 just didn't have the same effect as the full size print. So as you can see, we bit the bullet, got the big on
Read more

The Liar's Game - Post 500

Image
Here it is - the 500th post here at Fifteen Minutes of Delusion. To celebrate, I'm having a contest. You can find the rules here . Post your guesses on this post. And now, on to the game. 1. My lunch with Michael Dorn. For several years, I was the Utah Wing Leader for Angel Flight West, a charity flying organization that donates flights in private aircraft for people who need medical attention. Each October, the Wing Leaders would get together with the board of directors in Long Beach, California, for a Wing Leader Planning Day. The first year I attended, actor and pilot Michael Dorn was on the board. I didn't recognize him at first, but as soon as he spoke, there was no doubt who he was. Kara and I were big Star Trek fans at the time. Although we didn't have any direct interaction, we sat at the same table during lunch. I was pleased to note that he took the onions off of his sandwich, just like me. 2. My flight with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. One Christmas Kara and
Read more