From: "GLL"

type of paper and
profiles. any suggestions on them.

Epson makes six papers for the 2200 and all are very good. I especially like
Premium Luster, Premium Semi-Gloss and Watercolor - Radiant White but you might
like one of the other three better. You said in an email you use HP paper,
that's your problem, the printer drivers don't put down the right amount of ink
for it because the driver has no profile for it, so the ink doesn't dry before
it hits the rollers and you get the smear.

Just print out a test image on each of the six papers (you need to change the
photo black to matte black for the art and matte papers, and vice versa for the
glossy papers) and see what looks best to you. You probably got 2 or 3 of them
for free with the printer.

For profiles, use the ones provided by Epson with the printer, these are fairly
accurate ICM profiles for each paper. Easiest way to access them is to open
the printer driver interface, set 'quality' to 'photo' or 'best photo' and
select the paper type, then click 'advanced' and in the Color Management box
click ICM and leave it at 'Applied by Printer Software' (this last step appears
on XP but not on 2000 and possibly other OS's). That's it. (There's a more
flexible way to do it in Photoshop but this should get you started).

You asked about using AdobeRGB as the profile ... AdobeRGB is an abstract
working space, not a device-specific profile. It's a good choice for files
destined for the inkjet printers, but don't use it as a profile.

Bill