[comp.sys.mac] MacRip: Postscript-->Quickdraw

c3ar@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Walter C3arlip) (01/25/90)

The Macintosh store across the street just got in a new product: MacRip.
Allegedly this package takes postscript files and prints them on an
assortment of quickdraw printers (deskwriters, plp's, imagewriters,
laserwriter SCs, etc.) as well as previewing on screen.  For a list price
of $150.00, this sounds like a wonderful product.

I tried it, and had great success with the screen previews, and encountered
some flakyness with printing on various engines.  Since I was using the mac
in the store (with an accellerator and a bunch of inits--basically a
complicated, and unknown configuration) I don't really want to make a
judgement.

Has anyone else tried this or its more expensive competition (Freedom of
the Press)?  Lets post some interesting reviews!

--Walter
_____________________________________________________________________________
Walter C3arlip 				c3ar@zaphod.uchicago.edu
(the "3" is silent)			c3ar%zaphod@UCHIMVS1.bitnet
_____________________________________________________________________________



_____________________________________________________________________________
Walter C3arlip 				c3ar@zaphod.uchicago.edu
(the "3" is silent)			c3ar%zaphod@UCHIMVS1.bitnet
_____________________________________________________________________________

fulk@cs.rochester.edu (Mark Fulk) (01/25/90)

I'm presently coding up a Postscript interpreter for my own use, also as
a hacking exercize (I do computational learning theory all day, and a bit
of programming gives my neurons a chance to stretch).  It will do anti-aliasing
on a grey-scale screen, so it should provide a nice looking previewer,
as well as a way to (perhaps slowly) print Postscript files on non-Postscript
printers.

My question is: How many people out there would pay a $20 shareware fee for
this product?  Furthermore, how many of you would like to provide printer
interfaces for it?  We could make fee-sharing arrangements; alternatively,
the drivers could be posted separately as code resources for editing into
the RIP.

Postscript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.  Since the Adobe fonts
are copyrighted by Adobe, they of course cannot be included with the
program and must be obtained from licensed sources.

Mark Fulk
fulk@cs.rochester.edu