[comp.sys.hp] Big Fun w/troff & Laserjets

smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) (01/05/89)

Hi people!

I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?

I'm sure it must be possible, but I have yet to see
a package anywhere which would work in conjunction
with DWB to produce troff format documents on the
above mentioned printer.

Anybody with such information may respond to this
article through either mail or followup article, and
will in turn receive the eternal gratitude of a very
tired individual.

Thank you,
Michael C De Masi - AT&T, Herndon Va.

 - Several of the terms used above are registered trademarks
   of any number of various corporations none of which do I
   speak for in any official capacity whatsoever, OK?

kinmonthprep@deneb.ucdavis.edu (Earl H. Kinmonth) (01/06/89)

In article <723@titanic.UUCP> smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) writes:
>Hi people!
>
>I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
>up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
>the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
>Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?
>
>I'm sure it must be possible, but I have yet to see
>a package anywhere which would work in conjunction
>with DWB to produce troff format documents on the
>above mentioned printer.

Which troff are you talking about, the original for the CAT
phototypesetter or the so-called (di)troff?

The case for the former seems nearly hopeless. Sources for several
conversion programs (output filters) have been posted. My reading is
that they can handle only one or two type sizes at best. Because of
this I have not bothered trying to bring them up since the result could
not be much better than nroff (for which you can write drivers fairly
easily) and much, much slower.

There are apparently several sources of filters for (di)troff including
a shareware item called Jetroff, a commercial product from Elan, and a
and a complete porting for MSDOS by MKS. The latter two firms are
Canadian, I believe. Look in the Programmer's Connection catalog for
prices and addresses.

mat@emcard.UUCP (Mat Waites) (01/06/89)

In article <723@titanic.UUCP> smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) writes:
>
>I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
>up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
>the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
>Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?

We use eroff, a complete system with grap, pic, tbl, troff, nroff, etc.

It will work with laserjets and postscript printers.

It doesn't work with your troff at the original posting requests, however.
You get a version of troff with the eroff distribution. Supposedly their
troff, pic, etc. have fewer bugs than those supplied by hardware vendors.

Elan Computer Group
410 Cambridge Ave, Suite A
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(415) 322-2450

Their system is available for many Unix platforms. (also MS-DOS!)

Mat


-- 
W Mat Waites
gatech!emcard!mat
8-5 ET: (404) 727-7197

gpasq@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) (01/06/89)

In article <723@titanic.UUCP> smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) writes:
->Hi people!
->
->I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
->up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
->the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
->Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?
->
-

You might try a company called Soft-Quad, based in Canada.  They sell a
troff package called sqtroff that works with the AT&T495 laser, and (I believe) 
the Hewlett Packard.  Their address is:

	SoftQuad Inc.
	720 Spadina Avenue
	Toronto, Canada M5S 2T9
	Telephone (416) 963-8337
	uucp:	utzoo!sq!mail

I have used the package lightly for about a month and it seems to work
pretty well.  Note that I am not affiliated with SoftQuad in any way.

Greg
-- 
=============================================================================
Dirt is the mother o' lunch 	  	Greg Pasquariello AT&T/EDS
					att!picuxa!gpasq  
=============================================================================

mike@mks.UUCP (Mike Brookbank) (01/06/89)

In article <723@titanic.UUCP>, smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) writes:
> 
> I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
> up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
> the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
> Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?
> 
> I'm sure it must be possible, but I have yet to see
> a package anywhere which would work in conjunction
> with DWB to produce troff format documents on the
> above mentioned printer.
> 

My company, MKS Inc., has a product we call MKS SQPS.  It is a complete
Troff package based on the enhanced version of the Documentor's
Workbench for DOS.  It includes all the pre-processors, macro packages and new
features which were designed by Softquad Inc. in Toronto.  Most
important of all, for you, we support the HP LaserJet Series II printer
as well as the Postscript printers.   We can also provide the same
software through Softquad for a whole host of Unix machines and printer
support for these include Hp LaserJet, Postcript, AT&T 495, Imagen, and
imPRESS printers.


-- 
     Mike Brookbank                          Phone: (519)884-2251
Mortice Kern Systems Inc.               UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!mike
   35 King St. North                             BIX: join mks
Waterloo, Ontario  N2J 2W9                  CompuServe: 73260,1043

JONBH@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (John Fuchs) (01/09/89)

A company called ELAN in Palo Alto, California (sorry I don't have
the particulars in front of me) makets a version of TROFF they
call EROFF. It appears to be a full implementation of DiTroff
and they also have drivers for Postscript and HP Laserjets.


John Fuchs
The City University of New York
(212) 794-5494

tim@attdso.att.com (Tim J Ihde) (01/10/89)

In article <723@titanic.UUCP> smacmcd@titanic.UUCP (Michael C. De Masi) writes:
>Hi people!
>
>I figured I'd ask again one more time before giving
>up totally.  Can anybody out there point me towards
>the necessary software for using a Hewlett-Packard
>Laserjet II printer as an output device for troff?

We're using a package called 'tplus' to do that job.  The output of
troff is piped through the program and then to lp, and everything comes
out fine.  As I recall, installation was a bit tricky, but that's where
the fun is.

It's available from:
	Textware International
	PO Box 14 Harvard Square
	Cambridge, Mass		02238
	(617) UNI-TEXT

Disclaimer:  I don't know anyone who works for Textware, or their cats.
	     But it works!

	tim

-- 
Tim J Ihde				INTERNET:   tim@attdso.att.com
(201) 898-6687				UUCP:	    att!attdso!tim
"Blimey - this redistribution of wealth is more complicated than I'd thought!"
		- Dennis Moore and various Presidents

john@hpdslab.HP.COM (John Fereira) (01/12/89)

>
>A company called ELAN in Palo Alto, California (sorry I don't have
>the particulars in front of me) makets a version of TROFF they
>call EROFF. It appears to be a full implementation of DiTroff
>and they also have drivers for Postscript and HP Laserjets.

The address for Elan is:

Elan Computer Group, Inc.
410 Cambride Ave., Suite A
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(415) 322-2450
FAX: 415-322-1915

--
John Fereira
john@hpdsla.HP.COM