ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) (12/25/85)
Christine King of Intermetrics writes: >We need a way to exchange WordPerfect files and nroff files. Does >anybody know how to do this? >It sure would be nice to be able to take an nroff input file, mess with >it using WordPerfect and print the result on the laser printer. And >then take a WordPerfect file, send it to the VAX and add a bunch more >text to it, then troff it to the laser printer. >We'd like to preserve formatting info (like indents and stuff) and >"hard" pagination and RETURN, but put off line wrapping, word spacing, >page numbering, etc. >What may make this a little easier is that WordPerfect already has a >convert program that can deal with WordStar, DCA and DIF. I.M.S. (Integrated MicroComputer Systems of Rockville, Md.) has the primary contract with DONOACS (Dept. of Navy Office Automation and Communications) laboratory, and hence also of the Navy DIF project. I personally wrote the Navy's testbed set of DIF programs (for the Fortune 32:16 micro) and directed the efforts of the programming groups from the original group of minicomputer and OA firms which developed DIF software, now required for bidding many kinds of military contracts. We at IMS have also written several other DIF conversion routines for other word-processing vendors. The DIF turned out to be a far more difficult kind of programming task than envisioned; DIF translation routines often end up translating meaning and intent rather than simple structure, much as one would when translating human languages one to another. Especially, tabs, decimal tabs, and indents are handled in radically different ways by varying types of word processors. Documents translated by routines which regarded DIF (Navy DIF, not Visicorp DIF) or DCA/DISOSS either one as a look-up table kind of thing would look mangled on the other side. The Navy DIF routine in SSI's little "Convert" routine, unfortunately, amounts to such a look-up table kind of approach and has never been through the Navy's validation process. I.M.S. has a set of DIF conversion routines for WordPerfect which actually DO work and which sells for $100/copy. This package is being used by Xerox and several other organizations in bidding federal contracts. For a cheap, software oriented system for passing documents around, the only two games in town are the Navy DIF and IBM's DCA/DISOSS standard. The two differ fundamentally in their approach. The DIF represents a workable solution hammered out in actual development between consenting adults from several firms; it resembles the file structure of a very reasonable 1985 word processor, with functionality chosen as a maximal common subset of the products of the Navy's major OA vendors, and structure most easily "reachable" by translation programs from the file structures of those vendors. DCA represents another IBM standard handed down to the masses from on high; its functionality and structure are essentially those of a 1965 typewriter. In the DIF or any 1985 word processor, boldfacing the name "John" amounts to a code meaning "boldface-on" followed by "John" and then a code for "boldface-off". In DCA, you see "John" followed by a code meaning "back-space 4" and then "John" again, exactly what you would do on a typewriter. Needless to say, DCA translations don't work as well as DIF translations. In the case of TROFF, however, neither DIF nor DCA would help very much; there are several features of TROFF which preclude writing accurate DIF or (reasonably) accurate DCA conversions to it. Most notably, proportional spacing and thinking in fractions of an inch rather than in columns are natural enemies of any such conversion process. Here is what I would advise: Troff was written for masochists in the 1970's... get rid of it. Xerox's latest version of their 8010 star, which they call the 6085, is the creature you want. It can be bought for around $6000, and has cheap laser printers available for it. It comes with a very high-res screen (I believe 1024x1024), all kinds of typesetting and graphics features which are WYSWYG, all kinds of fonts, and DIF routines which work reasonably well in conjunction with the (IMS) WordPerfect DIF routines, at least going from the PC TO the 6085. The idea is this: using WordPerfect on PCs in conjunction with one or two 6085s via DIF in an office effectively magnifies the power of the one or two 6085s tenfold by taking the input load off of them. The 6085 can be used for adding finishing graphic or typesetting touches to documents created on PCs, and then for printing them, so that a great many professional looking documents could be produced in an office with, say, 20 PCs, and two 6085s.
bb@wjh12.UUCP (brent byer) (12/26/85)
Christine King of Intermetrics writes: > >We need a way to exchange WordPerfect files and nroff files. Does > >anybody know how to do this? > > >It sure would be nice to be able to take an nroff input file, mess with > >it using WordPerfect and print the result on the laser printer. And > >then take a WordPerfect file, send it to the VAX and add a bunch more > >text to it, then troff it to the laser printer. In YAAA (yet another attempted advertisement), Ted Holden (ted@imsvax) extolls: > > I.M.S. (Integrated MicroComputer Systems) has the > primary contract with DONOACS (Dept. of Navy Office Automation and > Communications) laboratory, and hence also of the Navy DIF project. I > personally wrote the Navy's testbed set of DIF programs > blah blah blah ... > I.M.S. has a set of DIF > conversion routines for WordPerfect which sells for $100/copy. > > In the case of TROFF, however, neither DIF nor DCA would help very > much; there are several features of TROFF which preclude writing > accurate DIF or (reasonably) accurate DCA conversions to it. Most > notably, proportional spacing and thinking in fractions of an inch > rather than in columns are natural enemies of any such conversion > process. Here is what I would advise: Troff was written > in the 1970's... get rid of it. Xerox's latest version of their 8010 > star, which they call the 6085, is the creature you want. But, gee, Ms. King didn't post a request for a sales call, she was seeking a solution to an articulately-stated problem. She didn't say she wanted to stop using her Unix machine NOR buy any new hardware. AND, I am quite sure that she does NOT want to sacrifice such desirable features as proportional printing, variable fonts/sizes, etc. After all, that is why she wants to upload it for laser printing. Ted, if your fantastic whizbang conversion program can only deal with columnar material, I say `get rid of it.' Or, at least, stop trying to foist it off on those who KNOW that they want more. Brent Byer Nephew >> ``Uncle Bill, that steamboat race was the biggest gamble in the world.'' W.C. Fields >> ``That was nothing, son. I remember when Lady Godiva put everything she had on a horse.''