[ale] LightScribe for Linux

Tue Jun 28 15:33:04 EDT 2011

On 2011/06/28, at 13:07 , Michael Trausch wrote:
> You can set the DPI in the GIMP, too. At image creation time is the  
> best bet.
>
> Any time I create images in the GIMP, I create them at 600 dpi. I  
> will crop
>
> and/or scale down as necessary for the final product.
>
Unfortunately, the DPI setting is only a reference number when working
with bitmap images.  It doesn't in any way force the pixel counts of an
image to conform to that resolution.  In electronic bit map graphics,  
pixel
count is the ONLY relevant measure of actual resolution. if you want
your final output to print at best possible resolution for 600 dpi on an
8.5x11 sheet of paper, the pixel count of your source image needs to
be 5100 by 6600 pixels.

And then you output it as a TIF file or some other lossless format
so don't lose resolution to compression artifacts.

peace
aaron
> I always save as xcf
>
> (native GIMP format) for the original, and only ever save things as
>
> png/gif/jpeg/whatever when I am exporting a final graphic.
>

PNG's deflate is a lossless compression.  PNG images
are widely supported in web clients where TIF is more of a
working and widely supported interchange format for image
editing programs.  PNG supports both full depth per pixel
to 48 bits or can use a 256 indexed palette mode (like GIF).

GIF is extremely limited in color range as it _only_ supports
8 bit indexed colors  (a palette of 256 colors from 16 million)

JPEG is a lossy compression format, with some loss seen
even at its highest quality / lowest compression settings. Like
PNG, though, it is widely supported in web applications and
is usually the best choice for photographic images on the net.

I know this info upside down and inside out, but I checked
it with wikipedia just the same...
<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/PNG_format#Compression>

peace
aaron

> --
> Sent from my phone... a G2 running CM7 nightlies!
>
> On Jun 28, 2011 12:43 PM, "Cornelis van Dijk"  
> <cor.angela0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks to all that replied. I tried Inkscape yesterday, but I am  
> only
> > halfway with that. I appears that one can actually set the pixels  
> per
> > inch on Inkscape, so far I had it at 60, which gives the same
> > miserable results as the gimp, at least on my regular hp printer.  
> Not
> > tried to actually burn a label, The burner is Memorex lightscribe.
> > Cor
> >
> > On 6/27/11, arxaaron <arxaaron at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On 2011/06/27, at 14:24 , Lightner, Jeff wrote:
> >>
> >>> Not sure what LightScribe is...
> >> [snip]
> >>
> >> Light scribe drives (using Light Scribe media) let you
> >> burn the disk labeling info into the top side of the disk
> >> (strictly gray scale) as well as burn the data into the
> >> bottom side.
> >>
> >> I've always gone with color ink jet printing for my disk
> >> labeling using Epson printer models that support this
> >> as they provide good quality. The Light Scribe labeling
> >> I've seen was pretty marginal in comparison. Kind of a
> >> gimmick in my view, but still nice that there are printer
> >> drivers under Linux that support it.
> >>
> >> With any printing, resolution of the image file you
> >> start with is key to the quality. With the exception
> >> of plotters, I imagine that any printer (or printer driver)
> >> will be effectively working from a big bitmap for output,
> >> whether that is rendered from structured format like
> >> Post Script or a scaled bitmap image.
> >>
> >> peace
> >> aaron
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, 2011-06-27 at 13:46 -0400, Cornelis van Dijk wrote:
> >>>> Anyone familiar with LightScribe for Linux, such as "4L-gui"?
> >>>> I have a hard time getting reasonably sharp lettering using the
> >>>> "Gimp".
> >>>> Problem is that "4L-gui" will only accept things like "gif",  
> "jpeg",
> >>>> etc,
> >>>> but no regular text or "postcript".
> >>>>
> >>>> I know there are LightScribe forums, but they use Windows and  
> Nero,
> >>>> which I would like to avoid if possible.
> >>>>
> >>>> What image editor besides Gimp would work?
> >>>
> >>> You could try InkScape.
> >>>
> >>> However, I expect that you're actually running into one of two
> >>> problems:
> >>>
> >>> 1. You are exporting the image from the GIMP in a low resolution,
> >>> such as 72 dpi (a standard resolution for Web graphics, but not
> >>> for print purposes).
> >>>
> >>> 2. Your drive is not capable of extremely high resolution on
> >>> LightScribe imaging.
> >>>
> >>> Try to create the image as a 300 dpi (or even 600 dpi) graphic,  
> and
> >>> try
> >>> using that graphic as the source for the process. Also make sure  
> that
> >>> you use the highest quality setting, which will take about 20 to  
> 30
> >>> minutes to create the lightscribe label.
> >>>
> >>> --- Mike
> >>
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