[net.periphs] How do you use an Epson w/ nroff ?

ilya@vectron.UUCP (ilya) (11/25/84)

	I have an Epson MX-80 F/T III printer that I would like to use
with nroff.  It has several type sizes and fonts, but I don't know how
to tell nroff about it.  I know that it probably has to do with the macro
files in /usr/lib/tmac , but since they are all non-ascii, I do not know
how to make one for my printer.  I have all the special sequences that
need to be sent to the printer when switching modes (e.g. start/stop
underline or start/stop italics).

	If you have gone thru this before or you know how to do it, please
send mail.

					Thanks,
-- 
		       Ilya Goldberg @ Vectronic's Computing,Berkeley,California

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mike@gangue.uucp (Mike Norred) (12/22/84)

>	I have an Epson MX-80 F/T III printer that I would like to use
>with nroff.  It has several type sizes and fonts, but I don't know how
>to tell nroff about it.  I know that it probably has to do with the macro
>files in /usr/lib/tmac , but since they are all non-ascii, I do not know
>how to make one for my printer.  I have all the special sequences that
>need to be sent to the printer when switching modes (e.g. start/stop
>underline or start/stop italics).
>

Sorry, no answer - just another request.  I have a similar request with
respect to an Okidata 93.  I suppose, in general what we need is a
Q+D tutorial on nroff customization for particular printers.

Thanks,
Mike
-- 
gangue!mike  (Mike Norred) at MINEsoft, Ltd.
...ucbvax!nbires!gangue!mike

ekrell@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/28/84)

In article <141@gangue.uucp> mike@gangue.uucp (Mike Norred) writes:
>
>... I have a similar request with
>respect to an Okidata 93.  I suppose, in general what we need is a
>Q+D tutorial on nroff customization for particular printers.
>

  The old nroff/troff pair is obsolete. nroff didn't understand point
sizes or fonts. It was intended for a standard line printer with one
point size and one font. Troff knew about fonts and point sizes but it
was hard coded for a particular phototypesetter, the C/A/T.
  This old version of nroff/troff was replaced by ditroff (device
independent troff), which generates a device independent sequence of
instructions that have to be interpreted to be printed on a particular
printer. Thus, you can build device drivers for any printer by just
writing a version of this interpreter.
  We at UCLA have device drivers for our Imagen laser printer, our
line printer, our diablos, etc.
  To make the story short, you need ditroff to do what you want.
-- 
    Eduardo Krell               UCLA Computer Science Department
    ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa      ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell