Update - unlocking the spools 'prison'!!

After printing several files on iPF8000s using a 3.5" 500GB WD Sata HDD (after it had been re-formatted on the printer), I removed the drive to view content in Win XP.

The printers re-format of the drives prior full 500GB format in NTFS - was to make 3 partitions, the first 126.7GB Fat32, the second 1.28Gb fat32 and the third 337.76GB Unallocated.

The first partition contains only 4 files; they are, 1. cpcainfo, 2. dminfo, 3. garodata, 4. temp. All names are lower case.
The files 2 & 3 are empty.

The cpcainfo file contains the mailboxes, except common, which appears in the temp folder. Opening the temp folders first mailbox one sees-

DOC-00000001-1.gad Size 992kb, type GAD file

This was my first print, it went into the common mailbox.

So Canon are using a format Windows XP says is a GAD file, to store the spools.

Opening the file in notepad/word pad it looks like this (cut and paste):

%-12345X@PJL
@PJL RESET
@PJL SET HRESOLUTION=1200
@PJL SET VRESOLUTION=1200
@PJL SET PAPER=CUSTOM
@PJL SET PAPERLENGTH=2794
@PJL SET PAPERWIDTH=9200
@PJL SET TOPMARGIN=50
@PJL SET BOTTOMMARGIN=50
@PJL SET LEFTMARGIN=50
@PJL SET RIGHTMARGIN=50
@PJL SET SAVE_PAPER=OFF
@PJL SET BANNER=OFF
@PJL SET ROLLMEDIA_CENTER=0
%0A$b1680W�
S 
wN
ž–
Æ3
ð
1, etc, etc.

How does this help?? Well, it shows it is possible to pull an iPF formatted hard drive and view content in XP, also the spool files can be copied and/or the drive imaged. Note laptop drives need only a 5v supply, 3.5" SATA use 5v and 12v. The Canon iPF printers have no 12v from their power supply.

So the spool file format Canon are using is now known... GAD, according to Bill Gates!

All comments welcome!!

:-)

cheers,

Since posting here I have searched google with little result on this topic.

The best suggestion has been the workaround of using a PDF creator and printing to PDF, then saving the PDF's. 

But The PDF is not the spool, it will not be accepted by the printer, it cannot be sent to the printer without opening/unzipping it, and it will still need spooling again.

So printing to PDF and storing PDF's is not even a near comparison to saving and storing spools off and on the printers HDD. It may be better than saving jpegs/tiffs, if paper size and ICC profile is embedded, but if it needs opening and spooling again all is lost in my view.

My first post suggested being able to edit the spools if they can be recovered or stored on the PC creating the spool, but this is a separate issue and I would accept an easy workaround is to just save the file itself for potential re-edit and re-spooling.

It is the storage of spools on the PC ~ for printer HDD space expansion, etc. ~ and the convenience of dragging and dropping of mailbox content between PC and printer that would be a great step forward.

For example, the running of two printers the same; using same spools; is not possible in the present system, as 'our spools' are all now locked on the first printer. Even if the first printers HDD was extracted and spools copied, they can then be saved on the PC but cannot be sent to 2nd identical machine to print. The present default format of one PC spooling to printers HDD is explicit ~ the spool is locked in this prison!!

:-)

cheers,

Spool saving and storage!! What is the way to save print spools off and on printers?

The Canon iPF8000s uses a 5400rpm 80GB conventional laptop HDD to store spools in mailboxes. The mailboxes can be named, renamed and spools moved between mailboxes at any time via the printers 'Status Monitor' or via the 'Remote UI' which is basically the status monitor program, ported to a browser interface and with nice GUI colours added...!

So user has no choice but to save print spool, as by default, it goes to the printers HDD and into common 'mailbox' unless redirected to another named/numbered box. Job can then be either just saved there or printed immediately. The spool is given the previous file name by default and has no (visible) .suffix - so the format of the spool file is not provided to user. Photoshop is seen to create the spool and the printers HDD led seen to save it. The spool can then be reprinted at will or moved between mailboxes. It cannot be edited in any way, neither can it be retrieved to the PC which sent it ( I think, from my present knowledge of machine!).

It may be a matter of only time before the Canon interface programs allow the spools to be retrieved, but at present, the print file needs to be stored on the sending PC if it is to have edit ability and be re-sent to the printer again at a later stage. All mailbox content on the printer can only be moved, deleted or printed.

So this system is rather like sending mail and not being able to receive it. Also, one has to, by default, PRINT the file, to save it on the printers HDD - though it can be just saved there for later use. I think with a little more work the 'mailbox' method should be extended to allow the creating PC to PRINT the spool to PC based 'mailboxes', and for those mailboxes to be able to be dragged and dropped to the printers HDD 'mailboxes', within the present status monitor or the 'Remote UI'. For example, like having the PC and the printer both running 'print mail programs' which allow dragging and dropping (or cut and paste) of spools to each other. Since all the print setup is in the spool I am not suggesting the spools for one printer could be dragged and dropped to another printer - for this would be complicated by the page size and ICC profile etc embedded for the previous printer, it was intended for.

So I am suggesting and asking if 'one printer - one spool' storage, can be better managed than in the present Canon system - of 'no return mail' allowed & 'no off printer spool storage allowed'?? OK, their system is pretty new, but they certainly made it for bunnies/dummies and to prevent errors.

I accept, of course, that removing the printer HDD and viewing its printer formatted content, mailboxes and stored spools, could enlighten the issue, but I haven't got that far yet.

My thoughts are that this has all likely been done before using other high end rips and I am concerned to know if there is existing software which can enable this task without having to wait for Canon to extend their new printer spool management programs.

regards to all

   
 

Hi all,

My thoughts on update possibilities are towards getting a 'perfect' scan!

I've just completed and imported a hundred scans into PP! It seems to me that PP is well aware when a perfect target scan is done - Since it tells you so. i.e. 2 sectors only from IT8 at max/min brightness and no grey clipped, so when the 'adjoined' PP pattern is selected and appraised (from the same scanner and settings of course) with a 'perfect' resulting histogram - i.e. as per the PP help file pix, then surely a greater comment/suggestion could be given as to why there are 180 squares at max brightness??

For example, could there be a suggestion that the printed target may not have been done using correct (no col mgmt) settings, etc? Or, could it be found by the software on this scenario that "The reason your ideal target scan is not replicated in the PP pattern print is likely due to...... "YOUR PATTERN PRINT IS TOO BRIGHT/ DARK/ ETC ETC ETC. So please reprint pattern and ensure all col mgmt is set to NONE." Etc, or an even more detailed/exacting solution...?

I for one am presently floundering on why PP finds my IT8 scan perfect and the adjoined Pattern to have 180+ X's, despite it also having a perfect histogram.

On visual appearance many of the Max Bright squares are not even near white - so how can they be found to have max brightness - yet a perfect histogram on both it8 and Pattern???

cheers, :-)

ps, Scanner used here was an older Microtek scsi V636 - PP thinks its IT8 scan was great with 2 squares at max/min brightness and no grey clipped!! I even got the scanner out of my junk pile to do this job - where its been for 3 months! :-( Software used was Microtek's standard twain driver D/L ex their website and scan imported via Photoshop CS3 & then saved for PP with no icc profile.

cheers,

I print a lot of bright colours, greens, reds, blues and purples etc. Many of these colors are virtually on the edge of the gamut of genuine Epson 10600UC inks and also of my aftermarket pigment ink. When I view the (PP icc profiled) colorwheel printed from the Onyx test print the entire outer edge is rather weak in color, when it should be (in parts) showing the fully saturated colors - blue, green and yellow. Just to check it was weak I also printed my needed file in miniature and sure enough the bright saturated green of the girls dress was looking very yellow and severely weak on blue.

So I edited the file - 8 times - and finally increased the blue (on dress only) to produce a very sharp saturated apple green. So proving the inks are capable of doing this. However I then used the icc file for another print of the Onyx test image and the colorwheel showed an outer wheel patch of dark blue with marked poor blend into the rest of the blue lighter shades, on the RGB wheel and more so naturally on the CMYK wheel.

So at this stage I am impressed by the PP icc profiles print of a very well blended Onyx color wheel - but I wish to increase the saturation of all the colours, so that it looks more like the 'seemingly perfect' Onyx & digital dog test prints from my HP B9180. My PP icc profiles seem good on most neutral colors though the saturated colors are lacking intensity. Is this something I could try to alter in my scanning of the targets?

The cyan colour is the one seeming to be giving me the most trouble with its low saturation - the segmented density bar of the Onyx chart is particularly weak at the bottom - where it should be showing maximum intensity. Yet the multicolour bar shows that a good broad spectrum of all the colours is and can be printed. Why is this?

regards to all  

Update - I think I am doing pretty well here (in NZ!) the PP ICC profile after the 8 (blue) edits (on dress) is proving very versatile on the inkset I am using. For an important subsequent sale I had to decrease the global brightness of the blue edited PP ICC profile by -10 (PP edit of +10brt) and save to different file name for security, the print following check test print came out with colour matching the same image file in Photoshop CS3 on the monitor.

It gives one an eerie feeling of success to see an Epson 10600 printing what is on the monitor!! Albeit with aftermarket ink profiled with PP and its great icc editor.

A lot of time, thought and work is needed - but it works and works well. Nobody should be afraid of buying and using quality aftermarket ink when there is PP for an ICC solution. :-) ;-)

Hi,
When I import my color target and PP pattern printed on canvas and scanned on HP5400C using the recommended settings (300dpi, 0-255 exp, 75% saturation - gamma setting seems not available though) around 200-240 blocks are at maximum brightness (red x). The color target pattern imports to PP with no errors and everything good from the same scan. The histogram shows good but with the right side cropped short of the bottom line.

The entire top row of the PP pattern on the canvas has red x, plus some other bright boxes.
The resulting profile is light on yellow and red and saturation of all.

I'm wondering if this is due to the texture of the canvas interfering via light diffusion during the scan?
Is it possible that a more accurate PP ICC profile could be obtained from the after market ink using photo-paper for the pattern, and then editing that profile, if needed, after using it to print the test (digital dog image) on the intended canvas?

If not, can you advise any other solution - or other settings on HP5400 (using HP Precision scan 3.1) that might help lower the max brightness X count on the canvas to result in a better color and saturation profile.

best regards - PP is good SOLID software!

cheers :-) ;-)

ps I think I have this sorted now, i.e. restart Photoshop to apply new printer driver ICC profile & use identical media to that profiled. The pattern squares showing as max brightness make little difference to the generated ICC profile obviously.

Update - I'm getting there via PP icc profile edits and test prints. The initial profile was low on cyan and the saturation was low. I am wondering if the fact that PP recommends setting the HP scanner to 75% saturation, results in a better PP profile - but is that profile made then 25% low on saturation?? As that is what crossed my mind here. So printer is now running test print with icc saturation increased 20%. PP version is an old v.6.03

cheers to all - it works - one at least gets a good feeling of control when its so easy to edit the icc!! :-)