SHULMAN@sdr.slb.com (Jeffrey Shulman) (11/18/88)
Date: Fri 18 Nov 88 08:09:13-EDT
From: Jeff Shulman <SHULMAN@SDR.SLB.COM>
Subject: Delphi Mac Digest V4 #22
To: Delphi-List: ;
Message-ID: <595861753.0.SHULMAN@SDR.SLB.COM>
Mail-System-Version: <VAX-MM(218)+TOPSLIB(129)@SDR.SLB.COM>
Delphi Mac Digest Friday, November 18, 1988 Volume 4 : Issue 22
Today's Topics:
RE: Usenet Mac Digest V4 #150
re: David Dunham Anywhere?
High resolution printing.
RE: High resolution printing (8 messages)
re: Fullwrite Pro -- Six Months Later
MAC II ACCELERATORS
re: Generating MacWrite Documents
Jasmine printer
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From: DSACHS
Subject: RE: Usenet Mac Digest V4 #150 (Re: Msg 27731)
Date: 4-NOV-22:32: Network Digests
>From: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
>Subject: Frozen Mac IIs: Any suggestions?
>Date: 26 Oct 88 23:24:29 GMT
>Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
There is a small utility called 'zapPRAM' around. You could try creating
a floppy disk with a System folder and zapPRAM as the startup
application.
Are you sure you are not infected with a virus?
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re: David Dunham Anywhere? (Re: Msg 27774)
Date: 5-NOV-05:38: Network Digests
>From: thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu
>how to reach David Dunham, the apparent author of the "bootDiskIcon" INIT
*sigh* so much for my fame...I figured everyone who dabbles in things
like bootDiskIcon would know that I'm also the author of the shareware
DAs DiskInfo and miniWRITER, and could contact me on the address in them
(POB 1480, Goleta, CA 93116). (I'd prefer that questions about Acta and
Findswell go through their publishers -- that's why I pay them royalties
in excess of 80%...) If you know how the gateway works, you can reach
me on AppleLink at D0457.
bootDiskIcon does a control call to find the address of the driver icon,
then stuffs that address with its own data.
David Dunham "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." Maitreya Design
------------------------------
From: DWOOD
Subject: High resolution printing.
Date: 6-NOV-12:29: Programming
I am seeking help with obtaining the highest quality output from the
LaserWriter and the Linotronic. I have figured out how to use PrGeneral
to determine the resolution (dpi) of the printer and I am using the
standard printer dialogs in the System to let the user control the
printing parameters. The problem is that I don't see how I can
determine what the user has choosen for the reduction factor since the
only information you are given is page rectangle in (scaled) points per
inch. A reduction (<100%) with 8 x 10 paper looks the same as no
reduction using larger paper (as is possible with the Linotronic). I
notice that some programs that go a good job of printing at high
resolution on the LaserWriter ask you go choose a reduction factor of
25% so that when they print the object at full scale lines come out thin
(i.e. at 300 dpi) rather than at low resolution (72 dpi). This seems
awkward to me since the user should be allowed to scale the overall size
of the output using the reduction factor.
=> Is it possible force the printer to use a page rectangle that you
provide?
I would like to set the page rectangle to be the actual number of
pixels
that are in the image on the page. To do so I need to know:
(1) the physical size of the paper (inches or some other unit)
(2) the reduction factor the user has choosen in Page Setup
(3) whether "maximum printing area" has been choosen in Page
Setup
(4) the resolution of the printer (dpi)
All but the last one I know how to determine. Can any one offer any
help or suggest a better way to do this?
-Doug Wood
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2613)
Date: 7-NOV-22:29: Programming Techniques
It's not clear to me what you're trying to print here. You can use
PicComments to set line width to fractions of a point. This is device
independent. Why specifically do you need accuracy of endpoints greater
than one point?
------------------------------
From: DWOOD
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2614)
Date: 8-NOV-21:17: Programming Techniques
Well, it is entirely possible that I am confused, but one point is
1/72th of an inch. The LaserWriter can print at 300 dpi and Linotronics
at much more. If you want to control the lines accurately it seems that
you need much better resolution than 72 dpi. I realize that can use
PicComments to set the line width to fine resolution, but the end points
will still be off. Also, the ends of lines are always little 72dpi
squares and I would like to have much sharper end points. I am
beginning to think that I may just do the whole thing in PostScript, but
then I will have trouble with the ImageWriter. I would be very
interested to here --hear-- your comments on this. -Doug
------------------------------
From: SVC
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2615)
Date: 13-NOV 14:32 Programming Techniques
Another thing for you to take into account, Doug, is that many of
the 3rd party (and even some of Apple's) print drivers DO NOT support
PrGeneral and using it would cause MANY problems with printer other than
the LW and IW.
David's recommendation is probably the best, that way you won't be
making yourself incompatible, but will be able to get 'pretty close'.
LDR
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2615)
Date: 14-NOV 04:46 Programming Techniques
I've forgotten the original reason for doing printing "more accurately"
on different printers. One solution would be to do your drawing at
double size, and scale it down. I have no idea what you mean about
lines having 72dpi squares at the ends -- lines would get fit onto a
72dpi grid, but the way they get drawn depends on the pen width, right?
You do NOT want to do the whole thing in PostScript, because then you
won't work on a LaserWriter (SC, that is). However, my guess is that
the LW II SC handles PicComments.
------------------------------
From: DWOOD
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2617)
Date: 15-NOV 00:17 Programming Techniques
Thanks for your comments. Since I sent my last message I came up with a
solution. I tell the user that the best method is to select 25%
reduction in Page Setup, then rPage is as large as possible with the
LaserWriter. All drawing is done to a Picture at this resolution and
then the picture is drawn either to a on screen window for viewing or
into the printing graph port. This way I can easily do reduced views.
My point about 72 vs 300 dpi is this: if you begin with a page rectangle
that is at 72 dpi then all of the lines are one point thick. By asking
the user to select 25% reduction (and the 4% bit map alignment option) I
get nice, fine, one LaserWriter pixel wide lines when the drawing is
pasted into the graph port. I can also draw this same picture into the
screen with any scale and I have avoided using PicComments with embedded
PS for compatability reasons. This solution, however, runs up against
the basic data types of Rects and Points: they are integers so they have
a range of only +/-32000 or whatever. Since I am interested in creating
drawings that span many pages, and my page Rect is of order 3000 x 3000
this means I can do at most 10 or so pages square. This is ok, but on a
Linotronic with 625 or 1250 dpi I will be much more limited. I know that
you are wondering what is wrong with me, but I have got this whole thing
working pretty well and I am getting very nice LW output. Right now I am
writting some routines that parallel the Rect routines, but use a new
stucture I call LRect where the coordinates are long ints-- this way I
can handle very large page dimensions. Unfortunately the basic drawing
routines (MoveTo, LineTo, etc.) all use ints, so I may have to limit
drawings to 10x10 pages on a LW, 2x2 on an Lino at 1250 dpi. I hope I
don't sound like too much of a crackpot, but most people are not
interested in getting the full resolution out of the LW with line
drawings. Since I am writting a professional plotting package, I am.
Thanks again for your input. Let me know what you think about this
approch. -Doug
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2620)
Date: 16-NOV 22:03 Programming Techniques
There are two issues here: printing lines thinner than one point, and
putting endpoints on a finer grid than one point. The first doesn't
require PostScript because there's a PicComment to set pen width (so far
I've avoided actually looking these things up, but I will if you don't
have the Tech Notes).
This is the first you said "professional plotting package," I think; for
that I can see where you might want more precise endpoints.
I don't like solutions which require the user to do something. Why
can't you just draw your picture in a smaller rectangle than it's
defined?
------------------------------
From: DWOOD
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2622)
Date: 17-NOV 00:53 Programming Techniques
I agree that it is stupid to have to ask the user to do something for
you, but the Print Manager routines do not allow me to take control and
they do not give me enough information to know what the true dimension
of the page is. You are correct in pointing out that I can draw fine
lines with PicComments, but as you also point out, I need greater
control of the end points. I could draw the picture into a rectangle
with 72dpi points, but when it is printed it doesn't look that good.
Since my last message I have decided to work with only one page for now.
A future version may allow for multiple page documents. -Doug
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: RE: High resolution printing (Re: Msg 2623)
Date: 17-NOV 21:03 Programming Techniques
MacApp 2.0 supposedly has some support for a bigger coordinate space.
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re: Fullwrite Pro -- Six Months Later (Re: Msg 27775)
Date: 6-NOV-19:27: Network Digests
>From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
>Subject: Fullwrite Pro -- Six Months Later
>What use is having read-only
>stationary (sic) when you have to go searching for it with SFGetFile?
Not to blow my own horn too loudly, but you really should buy a copy of
Findswell if you want to have a set of stationery. Despite its name, I
view Findswell as a file _remembering_ program -- you could put all your
stationery documents into Findswell's list, so they'd be accessible by
pretzel-O (Open) pretzel-F (Findswell) S (or whatever the unique first
letters of your stationery document are) return. Slightly less
convenient than a Work menu, but then you get Findswell in your other
programs, too.
David Dunham "If voting could change the system, it would be
illegal. If Maitreya Design not voting could change the system, it
would be be illegal."
------------------------------
From: ZACHARY
Subject: MAC II ACCELERATORS
Date: 12-NOV 09:51 Hardware & Peripherals
Ric - do the Mac II accelerators that you've tested require memory
faster than 120 NS? If so, did the faster memory come with the board? I
think the whole subject of memory speed would make for a timely article
in your column. I haven't seen it discussed in any of the Mac
periodicals I read.
Thanks, Ben
------------------------------
From: DDUNHAM
Subject: re: Generating MacWrite Documents (Re: Msg 27792)
Date: 14-NOV 04:46 Network Digests
>From: yvw@gmdzi.UUCP (Yvo Van Wezemael)
>Subject: Generating MacWrite Documents
Generating MacWrite documents is not trivial, but it's not impossible
(like generating Word 3.0x files :-). My advice is to stay away from
compression. Also, you can leave many of the fields zero and let
MacWrite recompute them when it reads the document.
David Dunham "Whenever you see a sign 'No Exit,' it means Maitreya
Design there is an exit."
------------------------------
From: DAVECROZIER
Subject: Jasmine printer
Date: 15-NOV 03:44 Hardware & Peripherals
The December MacWorld ( p. 50 ) has an ad for the
Jasmine Direct Print page printer
> Liquid Crystal Shutter technology
> PostScript
> 300 dpi
> 4 MIPS processor ( average 5 times faster than the
competition )
> price under $4,000. ***************************** Questions:
1. Is this available now?
2. Does it support LocalTalk ( AppleTalk )?
3. What is the street price? Where?
4. How much memory? Can you add memory?
5. Does it support SCSI disks? ****************************** Any
beta testers want to comment?
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End of Delphi Mac Digest
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