info-mac@uw-beaver (12/31/84)
From: Bob Soron <Mly.G.Pogo%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Some perspective on the Apple laser printer working in
conjunction with the Mac...
InfoWorld noted that the laser printer would carry 512K of ROM
and 1.5 meg of RAM. By comparison, our typesetting system at work --
a Comp/Edit 6400, top of the line -- has 512K of RAM, which is used
for all system functions: the editor, typefaces, and photodeck
(which prints the characters). (It's hard to tell, because the
system seems to use text compression routines and Varityper won't
tell us a thing, but we estimate the capacity of the editor at ~4K of
text.) We can store between eight and 16 faces in the memory
reserved for 'em.
But you know that, right? Well, according to typesetting trade
magazines, Apple has 1) severed its ties with Compugraphic (which
produced the Lisa-based Personal Composition System) and 2) licensed
a number of typefaces from Mergenthaler. Although most of the best
typefaces are licensed by typesetting manufacturers from ITC,
Mergenthaler's in- house typeface development staff is considered to
be the best in-house staff in the industry.
What this seems to mean is that, within, oh, half a year or so
-- and I'm being conservative just because it's safer -- we'll see
office typesetting systems from Apple that will have the potential to
rival, and perhaps best, the industry's top-of-the-line systems
today. Our 6400 cost us around $35K, and it was a demo unit from
Varityper; this Mac typesetting system, given prices of existing
equipment and general assumptions about unreleased equipment, could
be well under $10K.
It's important to note, however, that typefaces and editing
programs alone don't make a typesetting system. For the Mac to be
used seriously as a typesetter, the user will have to have far more
control over the final image than s/he now has. For instance,
kerning: there's no way to reduce the space between the T and the o
in the word "To", for instance, and the end result looks even uglier
than it does on a typesetting system. Also, the user currently has
no control over leading (the space between lines); that's a basic
function of typesetting that will have to be accounted for.
But I assume Apple wouldn't take these steps unless they knew
what they were doing and -could- account for these and other problems
-- even they remember the Apple ///, right?
...Bob
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