rwl@umree.ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little) (12/23/89)
Anyone running a PostScript printer on a sun without Transcript?
It seems that sending PostScript documents should work fine through the
standard lpr interface? The 2 obvious things one might miss from the
Transcript package ("LaserWriter Interface Kit") are ptroff & the
raster-to-PS filter. Anything else essential?
With our university discounts on the HP LaserJet IIp, it looks like we
should be able to get one with 2 MB of memory & PostScript (when its
ready) for under $2000.00. It seems like a real shame to turn around and
pay just as much ($1800.00 Non-Discountable) to sun for the Transcript
package.
Are there any common-domain alternatives, or do we have to cough up $1800?
Or am I all wet & its really worth it? Convince me :-) [ Then maybe I can
convince the prof. who almost choked to death when I told him about the
$1800 price tag to "interface" his printer. :-) ]david@sacto.west.sun.com (David Kensiski) (12/31/89)
In Sun-Spots v8n132, rwl@umree.ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little) writes: > It seems that sending PostScript documents should work fine through the > standard lpr interface? Yes, it does work fine. We have Transcript, but I have tested the hardware connection to our printer this way. > The 2 obvious things one might miss from the Transcript package > ("LaserWriter Interface Kit") are ptroff & the raster-to-PS filter. > Anything else essential? Well, the obvious thing that is missing is enscript, the filter that generates PostScript from a flat ASCII file. There may be a PD version of enscript out there, but without it, all you will be able to print are PostScript documents. Of course, you may never need to print an ASCII file... David L. Kensiski, KB6HCN Martin Marietta Data Systems Software Engineer 1540 River Park Drive, Suite 213 Phone: (916) 929-8844 Sacramento, CA 95815 UUCP: sun!sacto!mmsac!david INTERNET: mmsac!david@sacto.West.Sun.COM
poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger) (01/10/90)
In article <4185@brazos.Rice.edu> mmsac!david@sacto.west.sun.com (David Kensiski) writes: > >> The 2 obvious things one might miss from the Transcript package >> ("LaserWriter Interface Kit") are ptroff & the raster-to-PS filter. >> Anything else essential? > >Well, the obvious thing that is missing is enscript, the filter that >generates PostScript from a flat ASCII file. There may be a PD version of >enscript out there, but without it, all you will be able to print are >PostScript documents. That's not true. If you have the transcript package, you can print ASCII files just fine on your postscript printer. To print a file that is already in postscript format, you must make sure the first line of the file is '%!'. Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com Schlumberger Technologies UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen 1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276 San Jose, Ca. 95110 (408)437-5254
chandave@pyrite.som.cwru.edu (Davy Chan) (01/28/90)
In article <4185@brazos.Rice.edu>, mmsac!david@sacto (David Kensiski) writes: **>In Sun-Spots v8n132, rwl@umree.ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little) writes: **> **>> The 2 obvious things one might miss from the Transcript package **>> ("LaserWriter Interface Kit") are ptroff & the raster-to-PS filter. **>> Anything else essential? **> **>Well, the obvious thing that is missing is enscript, the filter that **>generates PostScript from a flat ASCII file. There may be a PD version of **>enscript out there, but without it, all you will be able to print are **>PostScript documents. Yes, there are a lot of freely distributed programs that convert ASCII to postscript (lwf and pps just to name two). Also, there are freely distributed programs that provide the raster->PS or sunview screendumps to PS (eg. pbmplus which does a heck of a lot more graphical conversions than you could shake a stick at!). Being from a University background ("first you ask for money to buy the machine and now you expect ME to provide money for you to buy SOFTWARE !!?!?"), I've grown to first look at freely distributed software before going proprietary. I've been running my Vaxen's and Sun Server on FD software for the past couple years. I don't miss not having the Transcript package (lwf and pps takes care of ascii and TeX & xfig takes care of my desktop publishing needs. It has to be said that proprietary software might make your life easier by eliminating a couple of in-between steps for format conversions but I feel a lot more secure when I have the sources to look at and tweek if there's something I don't like or understand about PS software. (Yes, I'm a GNU person!) Davy Chan chandave@pyrite.som.cwru.edu [129.22.48.4] or chandave@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu [129.22.32.1] ...!{sun,uunet,decvax}!cwjcc!{pyrite,skybridge}!chandave
doug@JHUVMS.BITNET (01/29/90)
In article <4322@brazos.Rice.edu> poffen@sj.ate.slb.com writes: >just fine on your postscript printer. To print a file that is already in >postscript format, you must make sure the first line of the file is '%!'. That sounds right but we have a Sun running transcript and are having a problem with this. A few users are creating postscript files on their Macs and then uploading them to the Sun and printing them. The result is either nothing after the burst page or a copy of the postscript file. We cannot get the document to print properly. The first line is '%!PS-Adobe-2.0' although I have tried also '%!', '%!PS-Adobe-1.0', and '!%PS-Adobe'. Has anyone else seen this? Doug O'Neal Distributed Systems Programmer Homewood Academic Computing doug@jhuvms.bitnet, doug@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu Johns Hopkins University mimsy!aplcen!jhunix!doug
gray@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Gray Watson) (02/06/90)
In article <4495@brazos.Rice.edu> doug@JHUVMS.BITNET writes: >A few users are creating postscript files on their >Macs and then uploading them to the Sun and printing them. The result is >either nothing after the burst page or a copy of the postscript file. We >cannot get the document to print properly. I have had many problems printing Mac postscript to Unix based Postscript printers. I finally found a header file that if cat'ed ahead of most Mac files would produce correct output. I can send a copy to interested parties or I can post it. gray
fchan@vlsi.waterloo.edu (Francis Chan) (02/06/90)
>That sounds right but we have a Sun running transcript and are having a >problem with this. A few users are creating postscript files on their >Macs and then uploading them to the Sun and printing them. The result is >either nothing after the burst page or a copy of the postscript file. We >cannot get the document to print properly. The first line is >'%!PS-Adobe-2.0' although I have tried also '%!', '%!PS-Adobe-1.0', and >'!%PS-Adobe'. Has anyone else seen this? > >Doug O'Neal Distributed Systems Programmer I'm assuming that you have a Sun/Apple Laserwriter (I don't know if any other PS printer has messages coming back). If you can get a hold of the offending PS file and know which port it is attached to: (e.g. /dev/ttya) just do this on 2 separate sessions (or windows): First: cat < /dev/ttya Second: cat PSfile > /dev/ttya It should say something like: %%[ error: <cause of error>] %%[ <ignore rest of file>] Usually it's an unknown command word. To get even more info, set up the ttya as a Hayes compatible modem port to a remote UNIX system. Use tip on the port and go into the PS printer's interactive mode by typing: executive<CR> You can now enter commands one line at a time to see what the problem is. I also heard from a friend, that there is something missing in the Mac PS files. Apparently you have to run it through some sort of macro preprocessor before sending it to the printer. This can be made available via anonymous ftp on his machine if anyone wishes (Send me email). Francis Chan