interesting new development - out of curiosity i decided to test print some adjustment curves to quantify just how far off the 10.6 prints were. turns out that a curve with 7 points pulled out of the middle more or less gives a normal print, although i feel like it still needs a little extra added back to the blacks. while i was playing with the adjustment curve, toggling the preview checkbox in the curve palette, i noticed that it wasn't reacting the way i'd expect. at first it was barely changing, and then not at all. if i apply the curve (as an adjustment layer) and then toggle it's visibility it works as expected. maybe it has to do with the change to open cl? aren't previews somehow generated through the video driver? i believe that my video card - ati radeon hd 2600 xt - is not supported by open cl. anyway - i don't know why this would affect printing.
i printed the same file out of lightroom 2.4 on 10.6 and it prints as expected. i just tried the cs4 demo with the latest patch to 11.0.1 - it prints dark as well. i'm cloning back my 10.5.8 system and shelving the big SL for now. i need to get some work done.