[Techtalk] How do I get Gimp to print?

[Akkana]

E. Sterling Wall writes:
> OK, I feel really stupid, but I've never been able to get GIMP to print
> anything. When I try to print from GIMP what I get is one line of text
> (I think it's a description of the file or something). That's it.
> 
> I'm running Mandrake 8.2 on a Compaq Presario 1200 Laptop, with an HP
> Deskjet 840c printer. I have loaded the GIMP print rpms but that hasn't

I don't have experience with that specific printer, but I have found
with my Epson that if a distro doesn't print properly (I had terrible
problems getting redhat 7.2 to print, though 7.1 and 7.3 are fine),
it sometimes helps to download the latest gimp-print tarball and
build it instead of using the distro RPMs.  (You do have to know
which spooler you're using, e.g. you have to configure --with-cups
if you're using cups, etc.; so it's not quite as easy as an RPM.)
If you want to try that: http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/

Mandrake usually does printing very well, but no distro can test every
possible printer so it's possible they shipped a version with a bad
filter for your HP (which I think is what happened to me with RH7.2).
My impression is that the HP drivers are improving fairly rapidly, so a
newer gimp-print might give you better quality anyway.  The people on
the gimp-print mailing list are pretty friendly, too, so if all else
fails you might find someone there who knows about your printer.

	...Akkana