Gutenprint 5.2.11-pre1 was released this weekend. It contains the usual support for a pile of new printers, and improvements for many previously-supported models. I'll only speak about stuff I had a hand in:
First, the newly-supported models that are reported to be working quite well:
Next, new models that were added but have received no testing:
Models that have much-improved support:
Finally, models that are improved or added, but will require muh more work before they are considerd useful:
Some notes:
[1] The Shinko S1245 is notable in that I've already completed a full-featured backend that just needs testing with a real printer.
[2] These models are all related, and use an unknown color scaling/dithering algorithm that must be reverse-engineered before the printers become usable.
[3] The Kodak 68x0 family in particular is consirerably more robust in the face of errors, media mismatches, and status reporting.
[4] The DNP/Citizen backend was greatly improved, and is far, far more robust than it used to be. Error detection and recovery, general buffer management, handling media/printjob mismatches, and even general status queries were all improved.
Oh, just to forestall the question, all printers with multicut modes (eg 2x6 strips) have full support, but will require a minor patch to be applied to Gutenprint before compiling.
I'll end this with my usual request for testers, especially ones with access to the Shinko S1245, Sony UP-CR10L, and DNP SL10 models since the work is already completed. As for what's next, the Shinko S6245 is the most promising candidate.
Thanks go out to everyone who has helped -- be it testing or providing USB dumps; sending over documentation (Yay, Shinko!), or actual printers (Yay, LiveLink!). There are others I would like to acknowledge but they have asked to remain anonymous. Thank you, all.