laser-lovers@uw-beaver (07/03/85)
From: lucas@cmu-psy-a (pete lucas) The LN01, LN01S, and Xerox 2700 all use the same font format. The LN03 uses a completely different one called the "DEC Common Font File Format". It is an elaborate and quite general scheme with provisions for kerning information, detailed machine-usable descriptions of character and font attributes, printer<->screen font mapping for WYSIWYG applications, and lots more (although much of this is not supported in the LN03 itself). This format is also used for screen fonts in recent DEC workstation offerings. DEC keeps threatening to publish this format, but I haven't seen it available yet. All DEC laser printers use ANSI escape sequences. The LN01S is virtually identical to the LN01 with Tektronix graphics emulation added. The LN03 is also very similar, except that it is somewhat more capable (e.g., you can selectively delete fonts on the LN03 but not the LN01) and some of the defaults are different. We were able to make SCRIBE work on the LN03 with only a few minor database changes to the LN01 support. The LN03 can do bitmaps at 150dpi, but is subject to band-buffer imposed complexity limitations. Finally, if you plan on running your LN01S at high volume, let me suggest that you compute the number of LN03s you could purchase each year for the price of the DEC service contract (including heavy-usage charges) on the LN01S. -PAL
laser-lovers@uw-beaver (07/05/85)
From: Mabry Tyson <Tyson@SRI-AI.arpa> We will be getting some DEC equipment and must decide between the LN01S (most likely) and LN03. (Please don't say "Get QMS (or Laserwriter or...)" as the vendor is fixed.) We have been using TeX and Scribe under TOPS-20 on an Imagen printer. The new equipment will be on a VAX. Can anyone give me a clue as to how using the LN01S or LN03 will be different? Can we still use the AMR fonts? Can we still construct our own fonts using Metafont (we only really modify a few)? Also what about bitmaps? Some time back, people reported that the LN01S did not support full bitmaps. Has that changed? Please respond even if you only have partial info. Any quick note would be appreciated. Thanks! Mabry Tyson Tyson@SRI-AI -------
laser-lovers@uw-beaver (07/07/85)
From: Dave Cohrs <dave@wisc-limburger.arpa> Since I have only dealt with the LN01S, I can't talk about the LN03.... > Can we still construct our own fonts using Metafont (we only > really modify a few)? You will probably have to make a translator between Metafont and the font format the LN01S needs. > Also what about bitmaps? Some time back, people reported that the LN01S > did not support full bitmaps. Has that changed? Alas, the LN01S still does not support bitmaps (we are trying to verify this currently). Both TeX and ditroff support are available for the beast (from wisconsin) for hosts running 4.2. dave