Linux and Dye Sub - is it difficult?

[rossdv8]

Thank you Adrian. I sit here sometimes trying not to reply with sarcasm when I read some posts. Some of us simply prefer Linux and find that going back to Windows is a bit like going back to lighting a fire by rubbing two sticks together after using a lighter. Mind you I felt the same about OS/2. Even Mac OS can't do what Linux does.

Of course, I could simply run Windows in a virtual machine - but that would take all the adventure out of it. For now, setting the defaults on the printer and applying two curves to a photographic image in GIMP or Photoshop seems to provide acceptable with Cheap Chinese inks on a range of substrates. Except for a few pictures with one of my cameras. But it has the same drama with genuine inks anyway.
Eventually we'll get lucky and GIMP will accept ICC profiles. Currently all you get is a message saying the UTF string is bad.

When I get response to adverts like this from overnight, it makes it fun:
"Four please! These Look awesome! Fair Haven on one side"
Will send you an order, need to get a decent pic first.
I will be in for a couple, what are the cups sizes
Thanks mate, now I just need to get a nice high res image of her (the boat that is), need a cup for the sea wench and one for myself.

[Paul]

Thank you Adrian. I sit here sometimes trying not to reply with sarcasm when I read some posts. Some of us simply prefer Linux and find that going back to Windows is a bit like going back to lighting a fire by rubbing two sticks together after using a lighter. Mind you I felt the same about OS/2. Even Mac OS can't do what Linux does.

lol!
With full respect for you and to all stuff you do and you menaged to achive...
i honestly say you actualy do it now. You rubbing two sticks to make a fire why not use lighter??


and iam affraid there is no many things that osx ow windows cant do this dAys.

If there is anything that they can't do then iam sure they can do something that linux cant. So is leveled out.
And another hing to say, i am sure i will be shot coz tau
linux is least advanced system available. No much stuff is made for it. Drivers are nightmet to instal, if you can get them at all, back hp for less knowledgable ppl almasunavailable.
and yes i did used linux for auite long time. I ised most system available on the market and this is my honest opinion.


so instead of rubbing to sticks to make a fire with linux use something that work and ic profile aware.
Playing with curves, hue and saturation or histagram can be done in any system in most graphic software. So telling to do so to others is simply not effective as each person will have to use different settings any way. So there is even no point to making screen shoots!

sorry buddy but this is what i call rubbing two sticks to make a fire

[rossdv8]

linux is least advanced system available. No much stuff is made for it. Drivers are nightmet to instal, if you can get them at all, back hp for less knowledgable ppl almasunavailable.

Things have changed a lot since those days. The computer I am typing on came with Windows 7 pre-installed. I started the computer with Windows 7 setup, but when it didn't find my WiFi network, that meant it could not complete setup. It needed some kind of driver. I ran a cable upstairs to the router so I could complete setup and it eventually found a Wifi Driver. After an hour and a half it also wanted printer drivers to be installed. That meant trying to find disks for 2 laser printers of different brands and 2 inkjet printers. After that it still had a problem working with my two monitor setup.
I rebooted and installed the latest version of my choice of Linux distribution. It found WiFi and logged into the Internet before installing, found my printers, again, before installing and had both my monitors synchronised and working, before installing. It even allowed me to surf the net and print atest pages, all before installing. This all took maybe 5 minutes, so I went ahead and clicked 'install' It asked me a couple of questions, then asked how I wanted to divide the space on my hard drive. 20 minutes later it asked me for a name and a password and I rebooted. Everything just works.

But Paul, that is still not the point of this thread. People wanting to try Dye Sub with Linux are likely to be just curious and want to play with ideas, as I was. Who cares if it can also be done with Windows? We want to know if we can get results with Linux, easily. Now we know it is simple, but unless those of us who have done it, pass the information to others, they think it is impossible because there is no information around. A few settings on a printer driver and we are away. If we are working with photographs it is a little different a few clicks on levels, but that applies whether we are printing with Dye Sub inks or OEM inks anyway.

I had the same problems when I started sublimating on cotton shirts. It is supposedly impossible, but I have perfect and apparently permanent results. Not commercially viable, mind you - but perfect results. In the same way, Dye Sub with Linux may not be commercially viable for a mainstream business. But for a hobbyist who only wants to sell a couple of hundred mugs, shirts etc, a week, it is quite 'doable'.

[Paul]

I agree with you and point of this tread. Only one thing that i dont understand is the way you doing this. If you want to use linux and sublimation why not spend all this hours to make it possible instead of tweeking every single slide possible. Why mot use ps via vinie? Or you said you have programing experience 40y surely you would be able to create something that would work?

[AdrianH]

I am glad he is doing it, so when I or someone else asks a question hopefully there is an answer to be found, it is all about ideas and then having a go.

I can understand the time is money approach so why do it? But I can also see the experimentation side of things and to make things happen approach, they may not always be the best method but can get the job done in a way that gives satisfaction to the user then why not.

I could be asking Ross how to drive my cutter from Linux, what software I should be trying to use etc. But that will wait until much later.

I built a car, some say why? Some say well done. Live and let live.

Adrian

[rossdv8]

Paul, I am old, and tired. I suffer from chronic fatigue and cannot apply myself to programming these days. I had a dozen fractures in my last motorbike accident. In August 2011 I almost died from a golden staph lesion in my brain, and I also had open heart surgery because of the staph.
I am not interested in trying to write software. I am however interested in finding a way to use the tools I have and work with daily. I acquired the mug press, flat press and some ink very cheaply and by accident. I already had several inkjet and laser printers lying around.
I can print graphics from my Android tablets, or from my Linux computers and press them onto mugs, shirts, coolers and pads. That is enough for me.
If I was younger and planned to get into this in a big way, perhaps I would look at it differently. Computers are no longer my life - they are a hobby. Sublimation is a hobby. That there are only 48 mugs in a carton and that I can sell a carton a day in tourist spots is a luxury.

Adrian.. Funny you should mention cutters. In about 1990 I had a portable vinyl sign writing cutter on my Panasonic laptop that worked with MS Dos The plotter used to stop in the middle of a job. So I installed Digital Research Dos and it worked great.

I'm sure that if I had a plotter/cutter I would be doing the same thing as I am with my printers.

Thanks both of you, and pisquee for the comparitive views.

[Paul]

Cool! Soryy anout that. I didnt know that you are in such a nad health condition.

Is a vinie the option for you ?

[rossdv8]

Is a vinie the option for you ?

Not really Paul. I need to print not only from Linux, but from Android as well. I've managed to get the Android tablets printing wirelessly to my Dye Sub printer and it worked out well. I hope to just use the same printer adjustments as I do in Linux. Brightness, Contrast and RGB, as well as choosing a paper.

I have other considerations because I sometimes need to operate the mug press, laptop or tablet and printer from a 26 foot yacht running off a battery and inverter. Obviously I cannot spend a lot of time messing with stuff. I have to apply chick simple image adjustments (using presets) and have the printer pre-configured.

Off Topic, I am very impressed with the Press It On program. I have a feeling I will order that soon because I mostly do photo mugs. I have a system set up that will display and image looking as if it is pasted around a cylinder the same proportions as a mug and i can manually rotate it, but it is nowhere as neat as yours.

NOTE to Adrian

I could be asking Ross how to drive my cutter from Linux, what software I should be trying to use etc. But that will wait until much later.

There is a program in Linux to drive a Graphtec plotter/cutter, so obviously someone is interested.

[Paul]

There is new app in development (not by me)
you can find it on forum. It look very nice and neet so it may be worth to look at. Iam not sure about the price tho.

[Justin]

http://www.dyesubforum.co.uk/vbforum/sh ... Demo-Video

Here's the thread link if you want to read about it