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Last post Author Topic: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)  (Read 199463 times)

zridling

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2006, 12:24 AM »
Wow, patteo, fantastic review! I've been using FinePrint (along with pdfFactory Pro) since the 2.0 version and have saved more trees than I can remember (FinePrint evens counts that for you). A wonderful program and built with very few bugs over each release. I also use it to write letters to family and friends on half pages like below.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2006, 12:32 AM by zridling »

TucknDar

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2006, 01:56 AM »
i'm going to contact fineprint people now and see if i can get them to give dc members a discount
Yes, please, mouser  :up:
Great review, got me interested in this tool. I do quite a bit of printing, so I bet this'd save me a few Nkr in ink costs ;)

cranioscopical

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2006, 07:34 PM »
patteo: I guess it is no different from why the printer manufacturers literally sell their snazzy looking printers dirt cheap which are gas ink guzzlers
Printer manufacturers have me hooked.
I know it's cheaper to do the following than to buy replacement ink:
buy a low-end printer on special, use it until the ink runs out, then toss it and buy another.
I just can't make myself do that. It's bad for the planet and it just plain offends my sense of what is right and wrong.

Carol Haynes

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #28 on: December 15, 2006, 08:21 PM »
patteo: I guess it is no different from why the printer manufacturers literally sell their snazzy looking printers dirt cheap which are gas ink guzzlers
Printer manufacturers have me hooked.
I know it's cheaper to do the following than to buy replacement ink:
buy a low-end printer on special, use it until the ink runs out, then toss it and buy another.
I just can't make myself do that. It's bad for the planet and it just plain offends my sense of what is right and wrong.
-cranioscopical (December 15, 2006, 07:34 PM)

Me too -- I used to have a Lexmark printer and a set of cartridges (~$120) was considerably more than the cost of a new identical printer (including cartridges). I also had an HP printer with similar ink pricing. I really think governments should act on this kind of stupidity and charge companies that do this a levy on recycling costs of old printers unless they reduce ink costs to a reasonable level.

Personally I have moved to Canon printers which are excellent. OK their ink is still expensive but not nearly as ridiculous as Lexmark and some other manufacturers (partly because they don't see you a print head with every cartridge, plus you can replace individual colours).

I just wish I found it easier to read stuff on screen and could avoid printing a lot more!

mrainey

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #29 on: December 15, 2006, 08:27 PM »
I bought a Samsung laser on sale for fifty bucks.  Prints beautiful black text - fast, quiet, and cheap.  Upload my photos to Kodak, low-cost two-day service for prints that are high-quality and durable.

Threw away my refill bottles and hypo.  Decided I didn't really NEED to do much color printing.
Software For Metalworking
http://closetolerancesoftware.com

cranioscopical

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #30 on: December 15, 2006, 09:22 PM »
Carol: Personally I have moved to Canon printers which are excellent. OK their ink is still expensive but not nearly as ridiculous as Lexmark and some other manufacturers (partly because they don't see you a print head with every cartridge, plus you can replace individual colours).
I agree about Canon. I'd been using Epson Pro printers for colour (still do for some stuff). One day my sheet-feed scanner died and I needed a replacement in a big hurry. I live in a rural area, so there's not a lot of choice locally and I wound up with a Canon all-in-one. I've never been a fan of all-in-one machines, but the Canon's printing has been excellent and much more cost effective than that of the Epson machines. Canon's fade-resistance rating isn't good, so I use Epson for anything I think might be around for a few years.
mrainey:I bought a Samsung laser on sale for fifty bucks
One of the 2010's? Aren't they a great buy!? For text that matters I use an H-P 2420 because it's one of the few machines with the option of a straight-through paper path, but I bought a Samsung 2010 for my wife for a tenth of the cost and it's just great... nice small footprint, too.

Darwin

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #31 on: December 16, 2006, 12:27 AM »
I have a Samsung 2010 - it's great. My only complaint is the volume of the fan after a print job. It actually (no kidding) hurts my ears!

Darwin

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #32 on: December 16, 2006, 12:28 AM »
Also, Mouser, please add me to the list of people hoping for a Donationcoder FinePrint discount!

mouser

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #33 on: December 16, 2006, 12:32 AM »
Fineprint has been contacted; i will post here when i get a reply.
ps. if you want to see more mini-reviews like this one, be sure to toss some donation credit love to patteo (just click on the gold coin next to his name).  Remember you can give as little as 1 cent (.01 credits) - it's the thought that counts!

Carol Haynes

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #34 on: December 16, 2006, 05:35 AM »
mrainey:I bought a Samsung laser on sale for fifty bucks
One of the 2010's? Aren't they a great buy!? For text that matters I use an H-P 2420 because it's one of the few machines with the option of a straight-through paper path, but I bought a Samsung 2010 for my wife for a tenth of the cost and it's just great... nice small footprint, too.

My Canon ip5000 has a cartidge tray feed but it also also a straight through feed - it is great to have the choice. Plus it includes automatic duplex, automatic 4-up booklet printing (which is really neat), mulitple page reduction to a single sheet and CD/DVD printing and produces really great photos. Add to that PictBridge (no computer) printing from cameras, auto on/off and self-cleaning and I can't think of much that is missing.

This is my third Canon printer and they have got progressively better and better over the years. My experience with HP was one of paper jams and miss-feeds and expensive cartridges (but that was along time ago). Lexmark wasn't that long ago and my memory was of not very good quality print, wet paper lying around for ages after printing and obscenely expensive ink (plus a complete lack of drivers for anything other than Windows).
« Last Edit: December 16, 2006, 05:37 AM by Carol Haynes »

cranioscopical

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #35 on: December 16, 2006, 02:14 PM »
Carol:My Canon ip5000 has a cartidge tray feed but it also also a straight through feed - it is great to have the choice. Plus it includes automatic duplex, automatic 4-up booklet printing (which is really neat), mulitple page reduction to a single sheet and CD/DVD printing and produces really great photos. Add to that PictBridge (no computer) printing from cameras, auto on/off and self-cleaning and I can't think of much that is missing.
Sounds good to me. What's the print life like? Do you notice fading of material that's under glass? Do you use a Canon camera? (My H-P 2420 is a laser, which I need for when I want to generate a high-quality 100+ page report in a hurry.)

Carol Haynes

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #36 on: December 16, 2006, 02:30 PM »
I haven't noticed any fading when I user "Canon Photo Paper Pro" (that's from my last two printers - the previous one was an S520 which is still being used by a friend).

I have a Canon EOS 300D camera with a growing number of EF/S and EF lenses and other bits and pieces. Really good (I can't justify upgrading yet to anything better as the pictures seem good enough to me as it is) but a bit bulky for carting around when photography isn't the main purpose. I have just started using an IXUS i7 for convenience (it really is a tiny pocket camera and very good - fits in the palm of my hand).

cranioscopical

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #37 on: December 16, 2006, 07:00 PM »
Carol:I haven't noticed any fading when I user "Canon Photo Paper Pro".
I have a Canon EOS 300D...  I have just started using an IXUS i7 for convenience
Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate the feedback. It's good to hear about what hardware others use and like.
When I first bought a digital camera I found its relatively small size liberating after using a lifetime collection of 35mm equipment. Then I began wanting more flexibility, so I bought another camera, larger and more versatile and--presto--I was back to lugging around too much stuff :)
I'm interested in your reference to the IXUS i7. It's certainly small enough, and the radio remote appeals to me; I had a similar thing on my main 35mm and it was great for catching the local wildlife.
I guess this is getting well away from the topic of Fineprint so we should desist. Thanks again for the answers!

tomos

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #38 on: December 16, 2006, 07:02 PM »
I haven't noticed any fading when I user "Canon Photo Paper Pro" (that's from my last two printers - the previous one was an S520 which is still being used by a friend).

Carol, you're using canon inks ?

photopaper recommendations !
I still have an i560 (but its giving up on me..)
but with the original canon inks & "Canon Photo Paper Pro" I got terrible fading  - in fairness that was with print regularly in direct sunlight. That was over 2 years ago now, I think the inks have improved since then.

A paper that is highly recommended for canon is Ilford Galerie - Classic Pearl (slow drying - very long life from a fading point of view & gives a slightly "richer" print, but easily damaged by humidity/moisture - even from handling), or Smooth Pearl ("instant" drying - more quivalent to the Canon Pro paper)
I can get them cheaper than the canon papers (here in germany at any rate)

Tom

Carol Haynes

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #39 on: December 17, 2006, 05:38 AM »
Yes I use standard Canon inks and Canon paper for photo printing - I have a mixture of matte and glossy papers and haven't noticed particular problems-  though I don't really have lots of material in constant direct sunlight.

mouser

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #40 on: December 17, 2006, 09:14 PM »
Fineprint people have been nice enough to offer dc members a good discount.. details to follow  :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

Darwin

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #41 on: December 18, 2006, 12:29 AM »
HOORAY!  :-* :Thmbsup: :D

rjbull

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #42 on: December 18, 2006, 03:42 AM »
I really think governments should act on this kind of stupidity and charge companies that do this a levy on recycling costs of old printers unless they reduce ink costs to a reasonable level.

Don't forget there's an entire industry devoted to recycling, refilling and remanufacturing toner and ink jet cartridges.  The most common trade paper is The Recharger magazine

(Disclaimer: I work for a company that (amongst other things) makes toner and ink jet ink.)


Carol Haynes

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #43 on: December 18, 2006, 05:18 AM »
True and for a lot of printers they make sense as they have their own print head (though some of them use ink of dubious quality and I had quite a few that didn't work brilliantly as the print heads got clogged).

Canon on the other had (for me  at least) means using original manufacturer cartridges as the use of others invalidates the warranty on the print head. Having said that Canon consumables are considerably cheaper anyway so it is less of a big deal.

patteo

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #44 on: December 20, 2006, 09:05 AM »
Added some modifications to mini-review :

An Update on 20 Dec 2006

If you're trialing Fineprint, have a look at Blue Squirrel's ClickBook before you commit.
It may have a similar enough feature set it's also $49.95
I last used Clickbook in 1998
http://www.bluesquirrel.com/products/clickbook/


Clickbook in fact appears to have even more features.

I have not attempted to review Clickbook in the light of this new information.

Perhaps someone else would may want to attempt a Clickbook mini-review.

But do see remarks by none other than Darwin below :

Now, I actually showed up here to say: Curse you patteo! I've assiduously avoided trying FinePrint for at least 5 years (I kid you not) because reading about it I always thought "what's the point"? Zaine's review of it at the Great Software List has been wearing me down for over a year but this was the last straw and I installed both it and ClickBook last night. ClickBook is already gone but I am hopelessly in love with FinePrint. Patteo, this is going to cost me money! My wife will be wanting a word with you when she sees the credit card statement. You have been warned.

Darwin

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #45 on: December 20, 2006, 11:20 AM »
Hi patteo,

ClickBook may be more feature rich - I don't know as it didn't last more than 12 hours on my system and didn't really get much of a workout. I didn't find it as seamless in its integration with my system and not nearly as intuitive as FinePrint and decided not to waste more time with it because FinePrint was perfect out of the box.

I should probably reinstall it and give it a thorough workout before I buy FinePrint. On paper it's an impressive application and no doubt deserving of a more considered evaluation! It's hard from viewing the ClickBook website (which has been changed since I downloaded the trial last week) to figure out its feature set. I presume that I'll have to reinstall the trial and view the helpfile to do that...

Darwin

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #46 on: December 20, 2006, 11:24 AM »
PS maybe this should/could evolve into a full review? Perhaps Clickbook should be approached about a discount, too? I'm not volunteering for the review because I don't feel that I am a "power printer" and am not sure that I could do a comprehensive enough job!

mouser

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #47 on: December 20, 2006, 11:35 AM »
ClickBook can do some unique things that can be really useful if you are doing things like booklet printing, because it has additional options for laying out the pages so that they properly oriented after folding.

patteo

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #48 on: December 20, 2006, 11:57 AM »
ClickBook can do some unique things that can be really useful if you are doing things like booklet printing, because it has additional options for laying out the pages so that they properly oriented after folding.

Booklet printing is something that Fineprint does exceedingly well. Sometimes, I think a one trick pony is a good concept for a software. It enables the author to really fine tune it so that it does the "one trick" exceedingly well.

And although one can say Fineprint can be called a one-trick pony since it basically intercepts your print job and let you preview and tweak various settings like background, how many to a page, footers, headers, save to jpg etc, remove graphics and so forth, it does add quite a bit of variations to the primary one-trick really seamlessly and well.

So if your primary interest is to print and save money, paper + convenience all rolled up into one, and I think most of us would fit into that category, then Fineprint will fit the bill very well.

But if you are also looking to print banners, day planner pages, wallet booklets, church bulletins, greeting cards, business cards, catalogs etc, then you are probably going to have to look at clickbook.

Somehow, looking at these other additional features, it gives me the impression that these are nice to have features that I may or may not use. But it would certainly be nice to have provided the baseline features which Fineprint has, are as well implemented in Clickbook (which I'm not in a position to comment). Hint hint - maybe someone can volunteer to do a Clickbook mini-review.

But as for me, Fineprint does what I need very well and I think I will just stick with it and it's one of the very few software I use that I would attach a "Work of Art" label to. As I said earlier in the mini-review, it is hard to improve on a Work of Art.

Perhaps that's the key reason I did not go and also try to do another mini-review of Clickbook. Maybe someone else will prove me wrong.  :-[
« Last Edit: December 20, 2006, 12:13 PM by patteo »

mouser

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Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)
« Reply #49 on: December 20, 2006, 12:17 PM »
I will contact clickbook makers and see if they want to offer a discount as well;
it would be really nice if patteo or someone else with familiarity with fineprint wanted to do a little mini-review of clickbook, to explore which areas they each excel in, etc.  Patteo are you sure you don't want to write such a mini-review?

NOTE:
this is why those of you sitting on your credits should be sending some to patteo and other reviewers like him, to encourage more such reviews.