
What is m2300w?
---------------

    The m2300w driver is an open source Linux driver
    for the Minolta magicolor 2300W color laser printer.


Copyright and Licensing
-----------------------

    The m2300w driver is not in the public domain. Each component
    of the driver framework is copyrighted by its authors. Please
    refer to the copyright notice in each individual source file.
    The driver framework is distrubited under the terms of the
    GNU General Public License. Please refer to the COPYING file.


What's new in 0.2?
------------------

    This is the 2nd pre-release of the driver.
    Basically, there is no new functionality in version 0.2.

    - The sources have been cleaned up and are now checked
      in into the sourceforge CVS.
    - Added autoconf support
    - Makefiles are now available
    - The printer id and PPD names have been changed to comply
      with the foomatic conventions and with the official product
      name, which is "2300W" and not "2300 W".
    - A binary RPM package is now available. The RPM was built on
      SuSE Linux 8.1, but since it does not use SuSE specific
      features, it will likely work to work with other distributions
      as well.


Installation
------------

    Please refer to the instructions in the INSTALL file.


Ghostscript issues
------------------

    The m2300w driver requires that ghostscript is installed on the
    system (as /usr/bin/gs). It works best with ghostscript 8.xx,
    since many bugs of gs 7.xx are fixed in gs 8.xx, and it also looks
    like gs 7.xx does not support all aspects of PostScript level 3
    and CIE-based color rendering correctly.

    If you are using gs 7.xx and some particular PostScript files
    do not print correctly (or do not print at all), then upgrading
    to gs 8.xx may solve your problem and also provides better color
    quality for printing images (less banding).

    AFPL ghostscript 8.xx is available from http://www.ghostscript.com.
    However, you need to compile it from the sources. If you are new
    to Linux and don't feel able to compile and install gs 8.xx yourself
    without help, then rather DON'T consider upgrading ghostscript.

    For the convenience of all people who do not want or do not have
    the know-how to build ghostscript from the sources, we plan to
    distribute a binary RPM package of ghostscript 8.xx on the m2300w
    project page, which can be used in conjunction with the m2300w
    driver. But before we can do that, we need to clarify the
    licensing issues, since AFPL ghostscript 8.xx is not distributed
    under the GNU GPL.
    
    IMPORTANT NOTICE:
    Please understand, that we cannot and DO NOT PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR
    GHOSTSCRIPT. Ghostscript is a separate product, and is maintained
    at http://www.ghostscript.com. So please don't ask us for help
    if you e.g. attempt to build ghostscript from the sources and
    run into problems. Sorry for this inconvenience.


Reporting Problems of the m2300w Driver
---------------------------------------

    Please report problems at http://sourceforge.net/projects/m2300w/

    For debugging purposes, the following files are crated
    in your /tmp directory:

	- /tmp/m2300w.log
	- /tmp/m2300w_gsout.pbm
	- /tmp/m2300w.prn

    Please always attach /tmp/m2300w.log to your bug report.

    Please also save /tmp/m2300w_gsout.pbm and /tmp/m2300w.prn, since
    we might need them for the diagnosis of your problem. If we need
    these files, we'll let you know. But don't attach them a priori
    to the bug report, since these files are very large.

    IMPORTANT SECURITY ADVISORY:
    /tmp/m2300w_gsout.pbm and /tmp/m2300w.prn contain the data
    of your last print job. Do not send them, if your print
    job did contain confident data.

