david@jc3b21.UUCP (David Quarles) (07/08/89)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I need some help on getting eroff to print the text (all of it) from a regular text file on UNIX. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I have the book "Preparing documents with UNIX" by Brown et.al. but just cannot figure out how to get the text to print continuously from page to page. This book covers troff and nroff but not 'eroff'. I had hoped there would be something in it that would help. In talking to a couple of others at this site, this 'eroff' is apparently third party software for UNIX. What happens is that several lines get left off at the bottom of a page and then the second page does not have the missing lines but has just somehow skipped text. ALL I WANT TO DO IS TO TAKE A TEXTFILE AND PRINT WITH eroff (for our HP Laserjet). This program eroff does a very nice job with margins and font styles. ANY IDEAS OUT THERE ?? ANY ADVICE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED !! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= PLEASE email since our UNIX system purges the news sometimes before I get a chance to read it ... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-= Email: david@jc3b21.UUCP -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dave =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EOT
scs@adam.pika.mit.edu (Steve Summit) (07/11/89)
In article <690@jc3b21.UUCP> david@jc3b21.UUCP (David Quarles) writes: >I need some help on getting eroff to print the text (all of it) from a >regular text file on UNIX. >What happens is that several lines get left off at the bottom of a page >and then the second page does not have the missing lines but has just >somehow skipped text. ALL I WANT TO DO IS TO TAKE A TEXTFILE AND PRINT >WITH eroff (for our HP Laserjet). A *roff program is not quite the right tool for the job. If eroff is like troff, it is actually trying to do what you want (i.e in the absence of any formatting instructions, print on all lines of the page). The problem is that most laser printers cannot print all the way to the top and bottom edges of the paper. If you're going to use a roff-style formatter for the job, you'll have to somehow insert enough formatting instructions (simply asking for a default macro package such as -ms might suffice) so that top and bottom margins will be generated to avoid the unprintable regions. For simple, line-printer output, laser printers (especially PostScript printers) often use simpler filters designed just for that purpose. (Adobe's TranScript package has a program called psof for this purpose, named for the Berkeley lpr printcap field it occupies.) Actually, since a LaserJet is more like a "normal" printer than a PostScript printer, you might be better off just shipping your file to it without using any intervening filters at all. Steve Summit scs@adam.pika.mit.edu
hardy@rb-dc1.UUCP (Jeff Hardy) (07/12/89)
I have a Laserjet II and am using eroff (quite nice!) to drive it. Your problem is as someone has already mentioned (and its in the eroff docs). It is due to the fact that the laserjet (like most laser printers) does not print to the edges of the paper. If you use one of the macro packages (I use -mm), it will reserve the proper space at the beginning and end of the page. Jeff Hardy