russ@wpg.com (Russell Lawrence) (05/09/89)
I received quite a few "me too" requests in response to my recent plea
for help in getting a xerox 2700 to work with troff. Here's a summary:
Three responses came from 2700 users who recommended the xroff and
postprocessor products available from Image Network. One response
suggested that I contact Elan without realizing that Elan doesn't have a
postprocessor for the 2700. A fifth reply recommended TeX, but we
decided against this option because of limited machine/disk resources.
In the end, we made arrangements to buy Image Network's product. Two days
after placing our order, we had it up and running... just in time to
"typeset" the elm 2.2 docs.
I'd like to make a comment about "old" technology... both hardware
and software. Years ago, Patty Seybold made a comment about the
[nt]roff family that really stuck in my mind. She admitted that they
were tough to master, but unbeatable in production environments in the hands
of dedicated users. I suspect that her judgement still holds true.
We have WordPerfect and a couple of other word processors here, but never
use them. We prefer nroff and troff.
Our Xerox 2700 was a rather generous Xmas gift from one of our net
neighbors. After watching it turn out 12 pages a minute of troff output
for hours on end, I've decided that I wouldn't want to trade it for the
newer generation of machines. The quality is superb and the speed is
unbeatable.
--
Russell Lawrence, WP Group, New Orleans (504) 443-5000
{uunet,killer}!wpg!russ