[argyllcms] Re: Use of DTP-22 digital swatchbook with Argyll CMS

  • From: Graeme Gill <graeme@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: argyllcms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:20:00 +1100

Mario Becroft (mailing list) wrote:
I am thinking of buying this device so I am curious to know exactly what
the problem with the switch is and whether it will in fact be possible
to use this device directly with Argyll CMS.

The DTP22 is rather an old instrument, and is not very suitable
for measuring the large number of patches needed to make output
device profiles. It's not something I'd recommend buying, unless
it's going for a song, and you don't mind trading lots of work
every time you want to profile, for not spending much on an instrument.

Elsewhere on the web people have mentioned that a password may have to
be sent to the DTP-22 before it will respond with the spectral data. Is
this a problem and should I check whether the DTP-22 device has such a
password before buying it? Presumably without knowing the password it
would not be possible to use the device.

If you go looking on the X-Rite web site, you will find that
X-Rite have made about half a dozen versions of the DTP22. Some
are intended for particular OEM use, and (as seems to be typical),
they've keyed some models to make them non-interchangeable. They
don't publish particular models passwords, they're buried in their
software.
Although it's marked "DTP22" on the base, the instrument I have
access to (and possibly a model that's more common out there) is
actually the "Digital Swatchbook" model of the DTP22, and it's the
only one I can be sure will work directly with Argyll.

I did have a quick look a the Argyll CMS source code, but could find no
mention of the DTP-22. Perhaps this feature is too new to be in the
release version.

It's work in progress. I'm in the process of adding support for a number
of different instruments. Supporting a switch activated instrument requires
making more intrusive changes to some of the applications.

I'm not sure when I'll be done with these changes - probably a few months.
As Mike Russell points out, there are other ways of using foreign
instruments with Argyll, it's just not as flexible or convenient as
when an instrument is directly supported. I'll think about making
a "Development Source Code" release a bit earlier, for those keen
to play with new stuff.

Graeme Gill.

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