mao@blipyramid.BLI.COM (Mike Olson) (06/25/87)
at the phoenix usenix conference, nat batchelder and trevor darrel (then with u. penn's computer science dept.) presented a paper on a ditroff post-processor named 'psfig.' a key element of the software they described was the ditroff incantation \X'message' where message is passed intact to the postprocessor. the version of ditroff we're running doesn't support \X commands. i've hacked it in, but given the complexity of the ditroff source, there are bound to be unwanted side effects in my implementation. i'd like to get the standard implementation of this feature. i presume it's in the latest dwb release. i presume that that release is 2.0. straighten me out on any of that if i'm wrong. i'll also need the post-processor source for imagen laser printers that supports this feature -- the program named 'dimp' or 'dip', depending on who you are. where can i go for the latest source code? we're fully licensed for dwb and berkeley unix. thanks, mike olson britton lee, inc. ...!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!blia!mao
kg@elan.UUCP (Ken Greer) (06/26/87)
in article <35@blipyramid.BLI.COM>, mao@blipyramid.BLI.COM (Mike Olson) says: > > \X'message' > > where message is passed intact to the postprocessor. > the version of ditroff we're running doesn't support \X commands. Use "transparent" mode. It's already in ditroff. \!anything passes anything to the postprocessor. -- Ken Greer Elan Computer Group, Inc. {ames,hplabs}!elan!kg 415-322-2450
wjc@ho5cad.ATT.COM (06/27/87)
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.47.1 of Fri Jun 26 1987 on ho5cad (usg-unix-v) In article <35@blipyramid.BLI.COM> mao@blipyramid.BLI.COM (Mike Olson) writes: > post-processor named 'psfig.' a key element of the software they described > was the ditroff incantation > \X'message' > where message is passed intact to the postprocessor. > the version of ditroff we're running doesn't support \X commands. i've See if your version of ditroff supports this input: \!special sauce This has been in troff for "a while" (before dwb 2.0), but I have heard it was broken in some versions. Dunno; have never used it; yes, it is documented that it exists. Bill Carpenter (AT&T gateways)!ho5cad!wjc HO 1L-410, (201)949-8392
trevor@linc.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP (06/29/87)
In article <35@blipyramid.BLI.COM> mao@blipyramid.BLI.COM (Mike Olson) writes: >post-processor named 'psfig.' a key element of the software they described >was the ditroff incantation > > \X'message' >the version of ditroff we're running doesn't support \X commands. i've >hacked it in, but given the complexity of the ditroff source, there are >bound to be unwanted side effects in my implementation. i'd like to get the >standard implementation of this feature. i presume it's in the latest >dwb release. i presume that that release is 2.0. straighten me out on any >of that if i'm wrong. In the troff/README file contained in our January, 1986 version of ditroff, it lists \X as having been added in July 1984. I'm not sure when the comercial types at AT&T started shipping the ``january 1986'' version, but we have had ours for at least a year and a half. > >i'll also need the post-processor source for imagen laser printers that >supports this feature -- the program named 'dimp' or 'dip', depending on >who you are. where can i go for the latest source code? we're fully >licensed for dwb and berkeley unix. > Hmmm. unless you have a postscript interperter that produces imagen code, psfig wont be of any use to you. It is designed to include PostScript figures, and relys on many PostScript features. It flat-out wont run on non-postscript devices. I'll be posting when psfig is available for ftp and is sent to comp.sources (shortly) --trevor
patwood@unirot.UUCP (Patrick Wood) (07/01/87)
The \!, .cf, and .sy commands allow you to send data directly to the post processor. These have been in ditroff since it was first released in DWB 1.0. It was in previous, internal versions of ditroff that I used in '82-'84. We have had a set of macros designed to be used with devps that allow PostScript file inclusion (e.g., Mac graphics), PostScript special effects (e.g., rotation)etc., since early last year. Since the postprocessor is designed to accept information passed this way, it requires no processing of the postprocessor's output. This technique really isn't new. I suggest you look at a copy of Topics in C Programming (Kochan & Wood, Sams 1987) for a sample of what integrated Mac and troff looks like. Pat Wood Pipeline Associates, Inc. bellcore!phw5!phw
axel@coma.UUCP (07/06/87)
I think it might be worth mentioning, that there exists a 'freeware' di-troff postprocessor which produces PostScript output. It was originally written by Stephen Frede, who now works for some australian company. We use a customized version of his 'tpscript'-package. Our customizations include some improvements concerning the generated PostScript and an extended '\!'-interface. Namely, we added an execution-directive, that allows to 'invoke' any UNIX(1) command and insert it's (standard-)output into the stream of PostScript generated by the postprocessor. This - of course - makes only sense with unix-commands which produce PostScript on standard-out themselves. We use this feature with a program that converts GEM-Metafiles to PostScript. The described approach is not limited to the Metafile-converter, but can be applied to any PostScript-graphic for which bounding-box information is obtainable. We have one single troff-macro that interfaces very conveniently to this mechanism. Axel Mahler, Tech.Univ. Berlin UUCP: axel@coma.uucp (unido!coma!axel) BITNET: axel@db0tui62.bitnet