ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) (12/22/86)
Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff generates?
When the output from ptroff (Adobe's TranScript troff script) get printed on
the LaserWriter Plus there are cut marks at the top of the page. Short of
buying stock in the company that makes white out, any suggestions would be
appreciated. Thanks in advance.
--Daniel Ehrlich
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Department of Computer Science.SofPasuk@imagen.UUCP (Munach Rvi'i) (12/23/86)
In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP>, ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff generates? > When the output from ptroff (Adobe's TranScript troff script) get printed on > the LaserWriter Plus there are cut marks at the top of the page. Short of > buying stock in the company that makes white out, any suggestions would be > appreciated. Thanks in advance. > The problem you describe affects not only PostScript printers, but imPRESS, QUIC, DDL, and all other devices driven by [di]troff. The macro sets as delivered by most sources of UNIX and/or Documenters Workbench contain explicit code to generate cut marks at the top of each page. List the macro sets (and any files included by same) and edit out the code. (Suggestion to providers of UNIX systems and/or Documenters Workbench: Please provide comments in your macro sets to allow such excision of cut mark code in a clean and easy manner. You might even consider defaulting to NO cut marks given that most [di]troff output is CURRENTLY to page printers.)
gww@beatnix..UUCP (Gary Winiger) (12/23/86)
In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP> ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: >Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff generates? >When the output from ptroff (Adobe's TranScript troff script) get printed on >the LaserWriter Plus there are cut marks at the top of the page. Short of >buying stock in the company that makes white out, any suggestions would be >appreciated. Thanks in advance. The cut marks are not being made by troff, but by direction of the macro package. For example in the -ms macro package (/usr/lib/tmac/tmac.s) for troff (ditroff is probably different, mine is in /usr/local/lib/ditmac/tmac.s), there is a reference to the macro CM. This macro generates the cut marks. You can make this macro a ``noop'' by defining it in your input as null. Viz. .de CM .. Or you can, as is often done in ditroff, only call it if the output is to a device like a Versatec that has continuous paper. Happy printing. Gary.. {ucbvax!sun,styx,altos86}!elxsi!gww
geoff@ncr-sd.UUCP (Geoff Walton ) (12/23/86)
In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP> Dan Ehrlich writes: > Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks > that troff generates? When the output from ptroff (Adobe's > TranScript troff script) get printed on the LaserWriter > Plus there are cut marks at the top of the page. Short of > buying stock in the company that makes white out, any > suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. The easiest way I've found to eliminate these bothersome holdovers from the days of roll-fed typesetters is to edit the macro packages you use, and replace the dashes in their definition with spaces. This way, if you ever need to, you can re-insert the dashes. As an alternative method, add .de CM (or whatever your macros use for cut marks) .. or .rm CM to the head of each file, but the first method is less hassle and you dont need to remember to add the new "definition" or "remove" lines. :r all usual disclaimers Geoff Walton Software Publications NCR E&M San Diego {wherever}!ucbvax!sdcsvax!ncr-sd!geoff Even the smallest problem becomes unsolvable if enough meetings are held to discuss it.
dsmith@hplabsc.UUCP (David Smith) (12/23/86)
In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP>, ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff generates? The cut marks are inserted by the macro packages. I cobbled up some function redefinitions for the -ms and -me packages to oust the cut marks. They are minimal changes from the preexisting ones, and I am sure could be made shorter. Here they are. For -ms: \" Kick out the cut marks at the bottom of the page by redefining a macro .de @m .@O 0 .lt 7.5i .tl '''' \" DRS changed .@O .lt .. For -me: \" Don't print the cut mark. . \"CM - cut mark .de CM .po 0 .lt 7.6i .ft 1 .ps 10 .vs 4p .tl '''' .po .vs .lt .ps .ft ..
rusty@weyl.Berkeley.EDU (Rusty Wright) (12/24/86)
Be careful, for old troff the software that converts the C/A/T output to whatever your printer wants may depend upon those cut marks. We had some software that did. ditroff has a page command that the device dependent driver can use to start a new page, old troff doesn't and the cut marks are about as good as you can do. -------------------------------------- rusty c. wright rusty@weyl.berkeley.edu ucbvax!weyl!rusty
paul@vcvax1.UUCP (paul) (12/24/86)
> In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP>, ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > > Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that > > troff generates? > > The cut marks are inserted by the macro packages. > (-ms and -me solutions described) For -mm, just put the line .rm )k at the beginning of the document. Paul Kleppner VenturCom, Inc. 617/661-1230 {seismo!harvard,genrad!mit-eddie}!cybvax0!vcvax1!paul
roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (12/24/86)
In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP> ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: > Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff > generates? When the output from ptroff (Adobe's TranScript troff script) > get printed on the LaserWriter Plus there are cut marks at the top of the > page. Ptroff is a shell script that essentially runs "troff | pscat | lpr" with the proper assortment of arguments to the various commands. One of the arguments to pscat (the C/A/T to PostScript translator) specifies a Y offset to be used. We just made the offset big enough to push the cut mark out of the image area. Quick and dirty, but it works. Ah, if only all troff problems were that simple to solve! -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 "you can't spell deoxyribonucleic without unix!"
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (12/31/86)
> For -mm, just put the line > .rm )k > at the beginning of the document. Um, could we please make that something like .rm )k \" suppress cut marks so that the poor clod who has to work on your document ten years from now can tell what's going on? I doubt that this particular feature of mm is documented (if it is, I still suggest the comment, but less strongly). -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
shor@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Melinda Shore) (12/31/86)
In article <2547@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes: >In article <2369@psuvax1.UUCP> ehrlich@psuvax1.UUCP (Dan Ehrlich) writes: >> Can anyone suggest a method for eliminating the cut marks that troff >> generates? >We just made the offset big enough to push the cut >mark out of the image area. Quick and dirty, but it works. Wow, kludge :-). The cut marks are in the macros, so you'll need to modify the appropriate files. The -ms macros have a .CM macro that does the dirty deed, and -mm uses a three-part title to stick them in. I forget how -me and -man do the cut marks, but it should be similar to one of the above. -- Melinda Shore ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!shor University of Chicago Computation Center XASSHOR@UCHIMVS1.Bitnet