campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell) (11/16/85)
Help! We need software that produces quality text output -- preferably
PostScript -- for VENIX or XENIX. nroff doesn't hack it, troff doesn't
speak PostScript, and I've never heard of a ditroff for PC-based Unixes.
FinalWord II from Mark of the Unicorn looks wonderful, but it only runs
on MS-DOS and when asked about Unix they said "Never". Sigh. We don't
have a Pascal compiler, or we might have a bash at TeX. Suggestions?
(I know, I know, buy a Sun and run Interleaf... we're not that rich yet.)
The bottom line is we could do it with MS-DOS (and probably will if we
have to) but would really prefer something that ran on Unix.
--
Larry Campbell decvax!genrad
The Boston Software Works, Inc. \
120 Fulton St. seismo!harvard!wjh12!maynard!campbell
Boston MA 02109 / /
ihnp4 cbosgd
ARPA: maynard.UUCP:campbell@harvard.ARPAjeff@mcnc.UUCP (Jeffrey Copeland) (11/18/85)
In article <189@maynard.UUCP> campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell) writes: >Help! We need software that produces quality text output -- preferably >PostScript -- for VENIX or XENIX. nroff doesn't hack it, troff doesn't >speak PostScript, and I've never heard of a ditroff for PC-based Unixes. >FinalWord II from Mark of the Unicorn looks wonderful, but it only runs >on MS-DOS and when asked about Unix they said "Never". Sigh. We don't >have a Pascal compiler, or we might have a bash at TeX. Suggestions? >(I know, I know, buy a Sun and run Interleaf... we're not that rich yet.) This is about the 14th of this type article in recent weeks, and I thought I'd give a blanket reply. Adobe Systems, (at 1870 Embarcadero Rd, Suite 100, Palo Alto 94303) who invented PostScript, have a Unix software package called TranScript, which provides a lot of troff/ditroff support for PostScript printers. It is available for about $300 for a single CPU binary, or $1700 for a single CPU source. It has pieces that will convert C/A/T troff files to PostScript, ditroff output files to PostScript, emulate a Diablo (i.e, "nroff -Txerox" output), and other useful things. As for ditroff on the PC, I have ported it to an 11/70 and had no problem getting it to work on a split I/D space machine. (In fact, the original development was done on an 11, so it should work.) I have compiled it for the PC, but have not run it, or extensively tested it, so while I know it will fit, I can not say for certain that it will run, but there is nothing I can think of to prevent it. TeX is available in two ports for the PC: one from Addison-Wesley, one from Personal TeX. See the Furata and MacKay article in the September Dr Dobb's Journal for details. Jeff Copeland ...!decvax!mcnc!jeff