<chapter><title>Project History</title>
<para>
This software package was first written by Michael Sweet of
<ulink url="http://www.easysw.com">Easy Software Products</ulink> and
initially worked only as a print plugin to the GIMP (GNU Image
Manipulation Program). In the summer of 1999,
Robert Krawitz (the current
Gimp-Print project leader) purchased an Epson Stylus Photo EX printer
to feed his photography hobby. Finding no existing printer drivers, Robert
adapted Mike's Gimp-Print plugin to his six-color printer, and by the end
of the year released version 3.0 of the Gimp-Print software, which was
included in version 1.1 of the GIMP. The intention was for this to be
the stable plugin in version 1.2 of the GIMP while development of the
Gimp-Print plugin continued for later release.
</para>
<para>
Robert put the Gimp-Print development tree on SourceForge starting
with version 3.1, and quickly found a group of like-minded people who wanted to print
high quality output on inexpensive inkjet printers. One of the main
goals, which was not expected to be met until late in the version 3.1
cycle, was to write a Ghostscript driver so that printing would not be
restricted to the GIMP. Imagine Robert's surprise when Henryk "Buggs"
Richter wrote one within days!
</para>
<para>
In July 2000, not more than a year after Robert bought his Epson
Stylus Photo EX, he was invited to the Linux Printing
Summit hosted by VA Linux Systems. In preparation for that, he spent
long hours printing out test images. Robert went back to the
Gimp-Print version 3.0.9 release, which seemed like such an advance
at the time, and was floored at how far the project had come in four
months! Output that had been considered impressive with using six
colors was put to shame by four color output. That should give you
an idea what six color and variable dot size printers can do. It also
illustrates what a group of committed people can do.
</para>
<para>
Robert came away from the Printing Summit with a lot of new ideas, and in
November 2000, Gimp-Print version 4.0 was released, the culmination of 9 months
of work by the team. The quality was already tremendously improved
over what the software could do at the Printing Summit.
</para>
<para>
The team started serious work on version 4.1 in December
2000, and version 4.2.0 was released in November 2001. Despite the fact
that version 4.2.0 is a "minor" release over version 4.0, there are vast
improvements:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The driver is built as a shared library, making it much easier
to use by higher layers of software
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The packaging system now follows GNU standards
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The print quality (in particular, color accuracy, a well-known weakness in 4.0) is even better
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improved performance
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Many more options
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More supported printers
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Releases of Gimp-Print have been historically numbered in
a fashion similar to that of the Linux kernel, where major releases
are denoted by the first digit (in this case '4'), while minor
releases are denoted by subsequent digits (such as '4.2.0'). Even
numbered minor releases are considered stable, while odd numbered
minor releases are considered development releases (whose stability
may vary for any given release).
</para>
<para>
This project is by no means finished. In future releases, the development
team hopes to include the following:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>implementation of proper color management</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>improved dithering</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>improvements in performance</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
The entire Gimp-Print team hopes you will really enjoy using this
software! For more information, please consult the GIMP-Print project
<ulink url="http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net">web page</ulink>.
</para>
</chapter>