All my prints came out too dark when they were printed in Gimp. I tried everything, reading the internet, made changes to gamma etc in Gimp, nothing worked.
I have Knoppix 3.6, but this must work for 3,5 and 3,4 too. You can choose your printerdriver in KDE. For Knoppix 3.6 I choose the driver Foomatic/hpijs-rss. The same printer and resolution is then used in OpenOffice in 3.6. In former versions of Knoppix you have to install the printer yourself in OOO.
Go to printersetup in de KDE OpenOffice menu and check. Within OOO you are able to set the printer resoltion to 600 dpi Photo Black+ Color cartridge. This works for Knoppix 3.6. I remember older Knoppix versions had that possibility already. Then don't change anything.
Start Draw and place your photo there. OpenOffice uses far more ink, than Gimp. You can change that. Select the photo. Now you can change color, contrast etc. Lighten your picture by 5 to 10%. Dit does not make your picture much lighter, but it makes the printer use less ink. Then print your picture and see for yourself!
The print is even brighter than in Photoshop!! I thought Photoshop printed good pictures, but wait until you see this :P
Might work for other printers, but I am not sure.
Don't need Windows for that anymore!
Hope you'll enjoy
Eradus