donna@casey.UUCP (Donna Hrynkiw) (04/30/87)
hsi!stevens (Richard Stevens) writes: > I just got a flier in the mail from Pipeline Associates in NYC > for their "devps" software package, which appears to be a > replacement for Adobe's Transcript. Does anyone have any > experience with it ?? We got 'devps' from Pipeline via their distributor SSC (Specialized Systems Consultants) in Seattle and are fairly happy with it. We've got a spooled LaserWriter Plus and a QMS Lasergraphix 1200 (QUIC) on a Vax 11/780 running Ultrix V1.2 and are running a hacked version of ditroff. I have absolutely no experience with TranScript and until the LW+ arrived in February (?) no experience with PostScript either; so my comments may reflect my satisfaction with PS as well as devps. The prices hsi!stevens reported are accurate [$295 (binary), $495 (single-system source) and $895 (multi-system source)] but please note that according to SSC's catalogue TranScript is a >troff< to PS Translator while devps is a >ditroff< to PS translator. The devps program itself converts device independent troff to Postscript. devps comes with a a package of programs and scripts that also allows you to do nifty things on the LW+: 'reverse' reverses the page order on output (last page printed first, etc), 'lwpage' lets you select pages from a PS file to be (re)printed, and 'mkenv' generates labels and envelopes. One of my favorites is a script called 'LW' that lets me do manual feed, print in landscape mode, automagically print a letterhead overlay on the first page of the document, print a transparency frame on the first page, and print a message in large outline type diagonally across the page (this is neat; it looks like a large rubber stamp.) Some Problems: - Formulas generated with eqn have a problem with vertical spacing. Characters overlap each other; output is unacceptable. - pic diagrams are reduced by a factor of about 2.5. We think inches are being interpreted as centimeters somewhere. Output can be fudged. - landscape option prints first page in landscape mode and the rest in portrait. These work fine: - tbl works as well or better than on the QMS 1200. - Times-Outline and Helvetica-Outline are supported. - I can call some of the LW+ resident fonts from ditroff documents and I'm sure that when I really work at it I'll be able to figure out how to call the rest. - Supports the standard list of troff special characters and then some. - Has decent documentation and man pages with the odd typo. Stuff I don't know about: > - troff macros for shading, outlined and rotated text. This is news to me. - devps comes with a program to handle output from a MacIntosh: macroff On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd rate devps a 7.5. Donna Hrynkiw Systems & Computing - Kwantlen College SCA: PO Box 9030, Surrey BC Canada V3T 5H8 Lady Elizabeth Braidwood ....!ubc-vision!casey!donna Kingdom of An Tir donna@casey.kwantlen.bcc.cdn Disclaimer: I don't work for SSC or Pipeline, I just bought some of their stuff.
jeff@ism780c.UUCP (Jeff Copeland) (05/04/87)
In article <87@casey.UUCP> donna@casey.UUCP (Donna Hrynkiw) writes: >We got 'devps' from Pipeline via their distributor SSC (Specialized >Systems Consultants) in Seattle and are fairly happy with it. > >but please note that according to SSC's catalogue TranScript >is a >troff< to PS Translator while devps is a >ditroff< to >PS translator. > >Some Problems: >- Formulas generated with eqn have a problem with vertical spacing. > Characters overlap each other; output is unacceptable. >- pic diagrams are reduced by a factor of about 2.5. We think inches are > being interpreted as centimeters somewhere. Output can be fudged. > >Donna Hrynkiw >donna@casey.kwantlen.bcc.cdn TranScript has both troff and ditroff to PostScript filters. More importantly, though, your eqn and pic problems are likely the result of both pic and eqn being "device dependent" software. They both need to know the resolution of the ultimate output device, just like ditroff does. If my memory is correct, the default for both is the l202, with a resolution somewhat higher than a LW+. (Unless you're using original eqn, which assumes the C/A/T resolution of 432 x 144 dpi.) Both programs need to be invoked with a -Txxx, where xxx is the device. Unfortunately, the device names are compiled into the code. The workaround, for pic at least, is that you can use -Tnnn, where nnn is the resolution of the output device. (The real workaround is to go in and modify the code to get the device name and look up the ditroff device description to get the resolution...) Jeff Copeland
patwood@esquire.UUCP (Patrick H. Wood) (05/07/87)
In article <87@casey.UUCP>, donna@casey.UUCP (Donna Hrynkiw) writes: > ...but please note that according to SSC's catalogue TranScript > is a >troff< to PS Translator while devps is a >ditroff< to > PS translator. Yes, TranScript is the only program I know of that correctly converts the old troff (for the Wang C/A/T phototypesetter) to PostScript > Some Problems: > - Formulas generated with eqn have a problem with vertical spacing. > Characters overlap each other; output is unacceptable. Try specifying the device "aps" to eqn, e.g., $ eqn -Taps file | troff -Tps | devps | lp devps uses an internal resolution of 720 DPI, which is very close to that of the aps-5 (723). > - pic diagrams are reduced by a factor of about 2.5. We think inches are > being interpreted as centimeters somewhere. Output can be fudged. Specify the resolution to pic as -T720, or -Taps: $ pic -T720 file | troff -Tps | devps | lp Note that the default resolution for pic is 300 DPI (Imagen 8/300 was used by many of the folks at Murray Hill). > - landscape option prints first page in landscape mode and the > rest in portrait. This is a bug I wasn't aware of; I'll fix it and send a update to SSC. If you want me to, I'll post the fix to the net. Note, you should READ the Devps User's Guide that is distributed by SSC. It tells you what to do to get eqn and pic to work right. Pat Wood Pipeline Associates, Inc. bellcore!phw5!phw (use this, it's the preferred path) P.S. If anyone has any questions about devps, please send them to me via email so we don't tie up this newsgroup.
patwood@esquire.UUCP (Patrick H. Wood) (05/07/87)
Oh, yes, the PostScript special effects macro package is almost complete. Right now it supports rotated text (say for printing in landscape mode along the margin of your page) and shading. We have also added support for additional PostScript file inclusion from S (actually, the PS code produced by the psc driver) and the AT&T TARGA board (PS from the trueps program). SSC will have these as soon as we get them out of testing. We are also working on a new PostScript driver for S that will integrate better with devps than the current one. It will be a public domain program (that I'll post to the net when finished) with hooks that simply make devps' life easier. Pat Wood Pipeline Associates, Inc. bellcore!phw5!phw