JMS@ARIZMIS.BITNET.UUCP (03/04/87)
Here is a follow-up summary of what I learned about Postscript printers (like the Apple LaserWriter) on VAX/VMS. First of all, the Digital software for the Printserver 40 is not really the answer. While the translator (ANSI/ASCII to Postscript) is a great idea, and works (supposedly) fine, this software only works with a special symbiont that (*surprise*) only talks to real LPS40s (although it would be easy enough to make it talk to regular printers, IF the translator interface was defined, which it isn't). So how do you get the software? Easy. There is no license for the Printserver 40 software, but there is a media kit (QL797-HM). Evidentally no one has worked out the details of the system, so you can simply call DEC Direct and order the software ($600) even if you don't have the license. You get not only the software, but a nice manual and yet-another-copy of the Adobe Postscript books. The general-case solution is to define a prepend file which the symbiont sends to the printer before your print job and a little clean-up file for after. The mechanics of stuffing some text into a text library and defining the proper forms are relatively simple; some close study of the INIT/QUE and DEFINE/FORM DCL manual pages reveal all easily. A Good Trick is to set the printer up for DTR flow control instead of XON/XOFF. These printers tend to be too stupid to send an XOFF when they get turned off (or jammed), so using DTR is a little nicer. In addition, because these printers like to babble to the host, you probably should cut the return-data (pin 3 or 2, depending on what box you've got) back to the host ANYWAY, so you can use that line for hardware flow control. I believe that both the Apple LaserWriter and the DataProducts 2665 have this capability. An additional complication at this site is that we're using DECservers and LATSYMB instead of normal serial ports, which works beautifully. So where do you get this prepend file? Good question. I asked for any and all that people mentioned to me, and got three public domain ones, and one that cost me $350. None of them work perfectly; some work better than others. I ended up learning enough Postscript to be baffled and made up a composite with the pieces I got (and/or bought). (a side note: the fellow selling the one for $350 had it in VMS Text Library format; he offered to sell a source license for an additional $250. I guess you get a sheet that says "use the $ LIBRARY command"). Most functionality for standard, portrait-mode printing can be gotten in about 30 lines of code. Landscape mode and 2-up printing takes a little bit more (but always less than two pages). The only thing that we're really unsatisfied with is underlining -- the Postscript interpreter doesn't appear to be able to tell the difference between lines terminated with CRLF and those terminated with CR. (Any help?) Some others noted that there are better solutions involving strict ANSI-to-Postscript converters which run BEFORE the print job, but this would require an extra step for users that is quite undesirable. Naturally, things like TeX require a bunch of steps, but for standard output the prepend file is easiest. A note on costs -- we found that the total cost (including maintenance, equipment, and supplies) for Line Printers is about 3.5 cents/page. The cost for Laser Printers is about a penny more. However, if you print 2-up pages (like the DECUS newsletters, right?), the cost for laser printers becomes LOWER than for Line Printers (since 4.5 is less than 7.0), and user satisfaction, we predict, will increase. Any comments on this aspect? The best possible solution would be to have a special symbiont, but that takes more time and energy than we had laying around. Perhaps when Digital announces the LN03Postscript, the Printserver 40 Symbiont will be modified to work with normal, serial ports. As usual, thanks to everyone for all their help and advice. Most-unhelpful- in-this award goes to Adobe, who consistently promised to get back to me and never did. In addition, anyone needing further details and sample COM and Postscript files, please request to me at the address below; I'll do a distribution in a few days when I have enough addresses collected. +-------------------------------+ | Joel M Snyder | BITNET: jms@arizmis.BITNET | Univ of Arizona Dep't of MIS | ArizoNET: MRSVAX::JMS | Tucson, Arizona 85721 | Pseudo-PhoneNET: (602) 621-2748 +-------------------------------+ ICBM: 32 13 N / 110 58 W (std. disclaimer in re: nobody taking anything I say seriously) "Sure looks like Plant Food to me !" - Seymour, and Audrey II