[comp.text.desktop] Another EPS question

jmv@sppy00.UUCP (Jim Vickroy) (01/04/90)

Please forgive me for asking what has probably been asked
before, but:

Is there a UNIX utility which I can use to print EPS files
which I produced on a Macintosh? I can get to a Postscript
printer on our UNIX system. 

If the answer is "YES" to the above:

Can I get the source? Is there an FTP site? Can someone
send it to me?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jim
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skyer@quantime.co.uk (Susannah Skyer) (01/04/90)

I don't think you need a special utility to do this 
(print Mac-created EPS files on UNIX to a PostScript printer)

Here's what I'd do:

on the Mac, in the application in which 
you've created your graphic, print the PostScript file to disk

send this new file (it should be the PostScript code) to
your UNIX machine

on your UNIX machine, check that what you've got looks like a 
PostScript program (i.e., readable code, not garbage characters)

using vi, add the line

showpage

to the end of the file. This will make the printer show the picture,
as opposed to waiting for more PostScript, which is what the printer
would otherwise do with _encapsulated_ PostScript

send the file to your printer. lpr, or whatever your site's print 
command is, should work, because the first line of the file should 
tell the printer, "I'm a PostScript file."

Hope this helps.

Susannah Skyer
Technical Author
Quantime UK

chris@super.ORG (Chris P. Ross) (01/11/90)

In article <138@qtlon.quantime.co.uk> skyer@qtlon.UUCP (Susannah Skyer) writes:
>I don't think you need a special utility to do this 
>(print Mac-created EPS files on UNIX to a PostScript printer)
>
>Here's what I'd do:
>  on the Mac, in the application in which you've created your
>graphic, print the PostScript file to disk.
>  send this new file (it should be the PostScript code) to your UNIX machine.
>  on your UNIX machine, check that what you've got looks like a 
>PostScript program (i.e., readable code, not garbage characters)
>  using vi, add the line
>    "showpage"
>to the end of the file. This will make the printer show the picture,
>as opposed to waiting for more PostScript, which is what the printer
>would otherwise do with _encapsulated_ PostScript
>
>send the file to your printer. lpr, or whatever your site's print 
>command is, should work, because the first line of the file should 
>tell the printer, "I'm a PostScript file."
>
>Susannah Skyer
>Technical Author
>Quantime UK

  Alright, well, I couldn't pass this one up.  This, as taken from comp.
lang.postscript, is not correct.  The big problem here is that Macintosh
uses a file from it's system folder called Laser Prep.  This LaserPrep file
contains definitions and routines that are called as the md dictionary
from the EPS code.  If you take a look at the generated EPS from a macintosh,
it WILL start with the traditional %!, but you'll also notice that a few lines
down in the header there's:

%%IncludeProcSet: "(AppleDict md)" 68 0

or the like, and the first non-%% line is:

md begin

therefore, you need to have the md dict defined previously.  The Mac will do this
automatically by sending the LaserPrep file to the printer before it's first
print job, but unless you get the EPS using the CMD-K sequence (I'm assuming
you're using the CMD-F sequence, you didn't say) the LaserPrep file will NOT
be in the generated EPS.  Now, if you ARE using the CMD-K sequemce to get the
EPS saved to disk, I don't know why it wouldn't work on any postscript printer,
but, I tried that once or twice myself, and it didn't work.  I eventually found
a shell script that would prepend the proper version of AppleDict md (in my case,
68, which cooresponds to LaserPrep 5.2 on the Mac) and do one or two other minor
things to the EPS before sending it to the printer via lpr.  

  If this is any help, I'm happy to have helped, if I'm wrong, go ahead and tell
me about it.  I know that my way works, cause I use it all the time, and I'm
99 44/100% sure that what was posted by Susannah Skyer will not work as she
posted it.  Maybe I'm not reading in what was supposed to have been read in
that would make it correct, if so, I appologize.  Enjoy, and any information
can me sent to me at chris@super.org.

                                    Just trying to be helpful--

                                             - Chris


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news@blackbird.afit.af.mil (News System Account) (01/12/90)

I was introduced to this network about six months ago.  At first I
wasn't sure it was worth the time it took to figure it out.  Then I
came across a posting of the program "macps."  It was prepared by
the folks at Berkley to allow printing Mac postscript files on any
UNIX mainframe with postscript printers.  It allows you to store 
the LaserPrep file on your UNIX machine and merge it with any Mac
documents you download.  "macps" comes in a script file that generates
"macps", another program that you need to process the LaserPrep 
file, outstanding instructions for setting-up your system, and 
even manual pages so others can get info on running "macps."

I have set up the program here at AFIT.  I prepared a WORD file
which explains how to "print-to-disk" and how to transfer the 
resulting files (some of our folks have never transferred files).
Now almost everyone who owns a Mac uses the program (often).  
It's like having your own LaserWriter.  I know this is a bold 
claim; however, I believe "macps" will answer everyones "How do 
I print a mac postscript file on a UNIX printer" question.

I believe macps is posted at sumex.  I know it's somewhere at Berkley.
If you can't find it, send me some e-mail and I'll send it to you.

Bob Pugh                              rpugh@galaxy.afit.af.mil 

ralph@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) (01/13/90)

In article <18645@mikado.super.ORG> chris@super.UUCP (Chris P. Ross) writes:
>In article <138@qtlon.quantime.co.uk> skyer@qtlon.UUCP (Susannah Skyer) writes:

>>graphic, print the PostScript file to disk.

>If this is any help, I'm happy to have helped, if I'm wrong, go ahead and tell
>me about it.  I know that my way works, cause I use it all the time, and I'm

Actually, you're both wrong.  The original query was on how to print
an EPS file from the Macintosh on a UNIX(R) system.  You don't have
to print the EPS file.  If it's EPS, that's all you need.  Upload
the EPS file AS TEXT to the UNIX system.  This way you don't get the
resource fork which contains the PICT representation of the file,
which would just munge things up.  Then you add a showpage command
at the end and send it to the printer through lp or lpr or whatever
you have on the system.

Chris' procedure works for files captured with Command-F, but for
EPS files, you don't need to do that.  And Susannah's procedure was
right for EPS files with the one exception that you don't print to
disk, but rather upload the EPS file directly.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Ralph Brandi     ralph@lzfme.att.com     att!lzfme!ralph

Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged.

chris@super.ORG (Chris P. Ross) (01/16/90)

In article <3351@cbnewsj.ATT.COM> ralph@lzfme.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) writes:
>Chris' procedure works for files captured with Command-F, but for
>EPS files, you don't need to do that.  And Susannah's procedure was
>right for EPS files with the one exception that you don't print to
>disk, but rather upload the EPS file directly.
>
>Ralph Brandi     ralph@lzfme.att.com     att!lzfme!ralph

  Excuse me, this was probably just my own stupidity.  But, as far as I
know to this point, the only way's to generate EPS from a Mac was to use
either the CMD-F or the CMD-K print options.  Is there a way to generate
EPS so as not having to use these?  If so, you may be right, but with the
CMD-F sequence, I had to process it, and I couldn't get the CMD-K output
to work either.  (I don't know why, I still think it should've, but it
didn't want to)  Help appriciated.

                                           - Chris


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matoh@sssab.se (Mats Ohrman) (01/17/90)

chris@super.ORG (Chris P. Ross) writes:

>In article <3351@cbnewsj.ATT.COM> ralph@lzfme.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) writes:
>  Excuse me, this was probably just my own stupidity.  But, as far as I
>know to this point, the only way's to generate EPS from a Mac was to use
>either the CMD-F or the CMD-K print options.  Is there a way to generate
>EPS so as not having to use these?  If so, you may be right, but with the
>CMD-F sequence, I had to process it, and I couldn't get the CMD-K output
>to work either.  (I don't know why, I still think it should've, but it
>didn't want to)  Help appriciated.

CMD-[FK] gives you captured Postscript output, intended for the LaserWriter. 

This has not necessarily anything to do with EPS, "encapsulated
postscript", which is (supposed to be) any wellbehaved piece of
postscript code that follows Adobe's structuring conventions, and is
encapsulated with "structure comments" that tells the recipient of
the EPS file (typically a layout program, such as Pagemaker) what the
postscript code does and where on the page it does it.  That makes it
possible for a program to use PS code without understanding it, and
thus spares it from the necessity (and expense) of containing a full
PS interpreter.

Many (if not most) graphics program for the Mac (and MessDos/OS-a-half
machines) now has the option to save files in EPS format (for
instance, see "Export" in Freehand).

The EPS standard also tells how to bring along a bitmap with the PS
code for use in previews. This bitmap is optional, and is defined for
three formats: Mac, PC and computer independent ("EPSI"). It is up to
the creating program wich bitmap format to add, and the recieving
program which format to read, if any. Also, it is this bitmap that
most so-called "EPS to PICT-converter" programs just copies, ignoring
the actual postscript.

For more info, see "Encapsulated Postscript Files Specification,
Version 2.0", that is available from Adobe's mail server.

/* End of lecture: I hope I didn't bore you */

_____________________________________________________________________________
       _                            :  matoh@sssab.se
/ Mats Ohrman,                      :  {mcvax,munnari,uunet}!sunic!sssab!matoh
Scandinavian System Support AB,     :  Phone:  Nat.     013-11 16 60 
Box 535, S-581 06 Linkoping, Sweden :          Int.  +46 13 11 16 60

ralph@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) (01/18/90)

In article <18981@mikado.super.ORG> chris@super.UUCP (Chris P. Ross) writes:

>  Excuse me, this was probably just my own stupidity.  But, as far as I

Well, you said it, not me.... :-)

>know to this point, the only way's to generate EPS from a Mac was to use
>either the CMD-F or the CMD-K print options.  Is there a way to generate
>EPS so as not having to use these?  If so, you may be right, but with the

The "PostScript" generated by Command-F or -K is not considered EPS,
or anything near it.  I don't think there's really a specific name
for it, except maybe "that munged-up code that LaserPrep produces."
EPS is a specific subset of PostScript (there's a document from
Adobe that describes the specifics).  Applications like Adobe
Illustrator and Aldus FreeHand have options where you can save or
export the current file as an EPS file, which is limited to one
page, and can then be read into other programs, like PageMaker.  If
you look at the code within an EPS file, it's more easily readable
than Command-F stuff, and there's a definite difference.

Hope this helps (yeah, Ralph, it's clear as mud now....)
-- 
Ralph Brandi     ralph@lzfme.att.com     att!lzfme!ralph

Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged.