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Author Topic: Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions  (Read 2321 times)

sergepole

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« on: March 17, 2009, 12:20:51 am »

I'm a newbie here, so please take this into consideration when responding (which I hope some folks will  ...)

Got four beefy friends & hauled the 9900 up on its stand.  Note to Epson Human Factors Division: As I contemplated the universe under the 9900 whilst my four beefy friends suspended the printer above me -- it'd be nice if out of the sea of matte black paint under the printer there were (say) a DAY-GLO Orange (or similar) series of ever smaller concentric circles pointing out the holes that the matte black posts were to slip in to.  Needless to say, there were some "Hey, we can't hold this thing up forever, locate the bleepin' holes"  -- followed by, "I'm trying, I'm trying!!"

Other than the above, the install went very easily.  The 150ml carts don't leave much ink for printing after they have charged the lines, but that's life.

For fellow Mac Brethern out there: There seems to be a problem with Bonjour & the 9900 (maybe the 7900, too). Could only be Bonjour under Leopard. Anyway -- it seems as if once you 'touch' the printer's ethernet port with Bonjour, it looks as if you'll need to power cycle or Reset the printer before the 'real' ethernet connection method can be successfully used (that would be the 'other choice,' the Epson TCP/IP route).  And even though it isn't supported, I have a Linksys WET54GV2 wireless connection that's working just fine with Epson TCP/IP + CS4 Extended.

Question remains about the max print size that the combination of CS4 Extended + Leopard + Epson's drivers can support.  CS4 is apparently OK up to 300K pixels in any direction.  Anyone know for sure what max pixels the driver will support ?  I could just load & go, but potentially wasting a bucket of Epson ink & not knowing for sure what the threshold was that I tripped over isn't my idea of fun.

Does anyone know of a place in the SF Bay Area to Monterey, CA, that will Gatorboard (or Gatorboard like) mount 44" by .. well, 120" or maybe 150" ?  I have some panoramics that are a bit 'long.'

Anyone having luck with ColorBurst 6.0.4 & the 9900 ?  The Linksys doesn't work for me with ColorBurst (so the 50' Cat5e comes out & this really upsets the wife, as Cat5e snakes down the stairs & tries to trip everyone).

CB prints really, really slow (4 hours 15 minutes for a 36" by 24" image -- 4" border left & right on 44" media).  Except for the last few 'swaths' that the printer makes -- which go at a fairly rapid clip.

The CB folks say that I need a much faster computer.  But !!   'top'    shows less than 0.5% CPU usage for CB.  Hmmm ... ?!!  Says here I'm not CPU limited & don't need a faster machine (well, I do, but that's another story ...).  Something else is causing CB to print a swath, pause, then print another swath, pause, etc. Also, Server   Admin's network graph show about 155KB/sec going out the ethernet port.

Since the .rtl file that CB produces (RIP, then print)  is 1.8 GB, it takes over 3 hours to transfer the 1.8 GB -- let alone actually lay ink on paper.

CS4 just goes to town & prints the 36" by 24" in maybe 15 minutes.

Thanks all --
Serge
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pindman

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2009, 12:55:41 am »


"Does anyone know of a place in the SF Bay Area to Monterey, CA, that will Gatorboard (or Gatorboard like) mount 44" by .. well, 120" or maybe 150" ? I have some panoramics that are a bit 'long."

Hi Serge,

I recently installed a 9900, but running Vista.  The printer's wonderful!  But Mike Chambers at Picture Element does mounting (as well as superb printing.)  He's near the San Jose Airport.  I was just there this morning with some of my prints.  Here's his contact info: http://www.pictureelement.com/conta2.php.  Not much info on the web site, but give him a call.

Paul
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52days

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2009, 03:04:10 am »

Serge,

I'm using CB 6.1 and 9900. CB prints same speed as PS. 5 think you should upgrade CB and see if it fixes the problem.
I have trouble making good profiles for this printer. I think it has to do with the internal LUT. CB turned off ink limiting for the x900 printers. I think this is a mistake.


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sergepole

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2009, 09:35:37 am »

Quote from: pindman
"Does anyone know of a place in the SF Bay Area to Monterey, CA, that will Gatorboard (or Gatorboard like) mount 44" by .. well, 120" or maybe 150" ? I have some panoramics that are a bit 'long."

Hi Serge,

I recently installed a 9900, but running Vista.  The printer's wonderful!  But Mike Chambers at Picture Element does mounting (as well as superb printing.)  He's near the San Jose Airport.  I was just there this morning with some of my prints.  Here's his contact info: http://www.pictureelement.com/conta2.php.  Not much info on the web site, but give him a call.

Paul

Paul -- Thanks for the pointer !! And, yes, the printer is absolutely fantastic. -- Serge
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sergepole

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2009, 09:48:21 am »

Quote from: 52days
Serge,

I'm using CB 6.1 and 9900. CB prints same speed as PS. 5 think you should upgrade CB and see if it fixes the problem.
I have trouble making good profiles for this printer. I think it has to do with the internal LUT. CB turned off ink limiting for the x900 printers. I think this is a mistake.


Hi -  Thanks for the tip.  I may bypass RIPs altogether, as the main reason for a RIP (previously) was to be able to print longer than CS3's 32K pixel limit.  CS4's 300K limit should hold me for a while & the prints out of CS4 to the 9900 are lookin' pretty darn good.  After more snoopin', I'm ready to try printing a panorama (as soon as more ink arrives) straight from CS4.    I did like what I was able to get out of ImagePriint 7.0.3  on my 4880 (which I sold to be able to buy the 9900).  I may try ImagePrint 8 when it comes out  (if I can afford it -- youch !)

Keith at ShadesofPaper may be able to help with profiles  -- Tx, Serge
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snickgrr

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2009, 10:07:04 am »

These people are directly across the parking lot in my little compound in San Francisco...right next to the drydocks in the Dogpatch district.  They mainly do huge orders for retail stores and their displays but with the economy being what it is I'm thinking they'll start to do the smaller jobs.  They can mount huge photos.  Just as a side note, they have the tallest analog enlarger I've ever seen with the rail capacity to go almost three stories high.  

http://www.color3lab.com/

Edited to correct a spelling error.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2009, 09:18:11 pm by snickgrr »
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sergepole

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Epson 9900 Experience & Some Questions
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2009, 11:02:01 pm »

Quote from: snickgrr
These people are directly across the parking lot in my little compound in San Francisco...right next to the drydocks in the Dogpatch district.  They mainly do huge orders for retail stores and their displays but with the economy being what it is I'm thinking they'll start to do the smaller jobs.  They can mount huge photos.  Just as a side note, they have the tallest analog enlarger I've ever seen with the rail capacity to go almost three stories high.  

http://www.color3lab.com/

Edited to correct a spelling error.


Thanks much !!!   Used to live not far from there.  I'll call in the am.  -- Serge
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