We mentioned Martin W?rthner's printing system in the previous news item, but it's probably worth looking a little closer, especially as further developments have taken place in the last couple of days.The configuration software that integrates with the Printers or Printers+ front end has now been completed. Several screenshots have been published. As reported earlier, the back-end printing layer called GPDriver, has also been completed. This uses the Gimp Print software and consequently will be released under the GPL. It's not much use to the average user without the front end, which is Martin's own work and can be released under any licence he chooses.
The final release terms haven't been decided yet. Martin commented "It may or may not be a free release eventually. However, the first release will certainly be to supporters only. One reason is that the support effort is likely to be higher at the beginning so this is a way to limit it. Besides, I thought it a good idea if there was at least some benefit for those who donate."
So where next? "The only outstanding activities are the completion of the documentation and the creation of the release archives. The first release will be a beta release to a small selected group of testers this week followed by a release to all supporters of the project before the end of January."
One final point: the project has changed names again. It's gone from ROUGPS to GemPrint and now Gimp-Print for RISC OS. The latest name change is due to trademark issues.
Update:
Martin is now prepared to accept donations, suggesting £20 (EUR 30), or £10 (EUR 15) for those on low incomes. Payment can be made by cheque or PayPal.
Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler