loverso@Xylogics.COM (John Robert LoVerso) (01/07/90)
Which ditroff is the best to be using? My choices here are either the latest DWB2.0 (which I think is the 1986 version) or one of the commercial providers (Image Network, which I remember uses its own fonts and thus works poorly with PostScript printers). How recent is the Berkeley ditroff? Does it include grap? I know it has gremlin/grn, but is the latest DWB2 one can get from AT&T better or not than the Berkeley ditroff distribution (which is also handled via AT&T due to licensing)? John -- John Robert LoVerso Xylogics, Inc. 617/272-8140x284 loverso@Xylogics.COM Annex Terminal Server Development Group
papowell@vlsi.cs.umn.edu (Patrick Powell) (01/08/90)
I am currently using a heavily modified version of DITROFF which originated at the University of Waterloo, then migrated to U. Minnesota. It has most of the features that are in the DWB stuff, with the addition of the following: Alex White (among others) put (GASP!) error messages and diagnostics into the code! This alone makes it so increbibly superior to the commercial offerings that I am still sticking with it. Sigh. I am willing to redistribute this version, which has: ditroff, eqn, pic, tbl (updated manuals and documentation also availble) gts (a graph producing thing), psdit (embedding postscript figures into output), refer (the program from hell) and its friends. Updated versions of ms and me macros are also in the package. There is a "ddumb" driver that produces lineprinter output. Throw away nroff for most purposes. I might add that this version has been modified to use more than 10 fonts, i.e.- up to 127 (don't ask) are possible. Temporary fonts are not mounted on position 0 anymore, eliminating those stupid problems that EQN used to get into with wild math formulas. The postscript driver is a heavily hacked version of the original Adobe Transcript Package Driver. You need a source license for this. However, there is another driver from Pipeline Associates that is just as good, and only costs $600.00 for source; I can give you a modified version of this driver as well. I would be willing to let people copy the source using ftp if you send me the first and last pages of your ATT Ditroff License. I will then send you an account and password. Source for the documentation is included as well. Hard copies of the documentation are available from Alpha Print, 14th Ave and 4th St, Minneapolis, MN. Patrick Powell Prof. Patrick Powell, Dept. Computer Science, EECS 4-192, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612)625-3543/625-4002