russ@argus.CS.ORST.EDU (Russell Ruby) (02/11/91)
Would someone please explain and clarify the basics of operation for
postscript printers as guessed at in the following questions.
1) My impression was that a "native" postscript printer, such as the Apple
laserwriter II, is one which has a cpu running a postscript interpreter
whose code is stored in ROM. Some fonts might be stored in ROM, and
perhaps others can be downloaded into RAM. As a postscript file is
fed to the printer, a bitmap image is constructed in RAM and then printed.
Extra question: are font substitution decisions made by the printer's
interpreter program, or by a printer driver program on the machine to which
the printer is attached ?
Finally, the trouble part of my question :-), so called adobe 2.0
postscript files cause our apple laser writer IINT (driven by Sun transcript
software) to freak out as it senses "unknown" commands, consequently
flushing the print job. What solutions are possible for printing
adobe 2.0 files ? perhaps one of
printer upgrade ?
driver software upgrade ?
a ps_2.0_to_1.0 (public domain :-) program ???
2) I have noticed that the Next printer in combination with a Next machine
running version 2.0 OS, prints adobe 2.0 files without problem...
The new Sun printer appears to be a similiar setup, with the host doing the
processing and shipping a bitmap image to a dumb printer...
Does the new Sun "sparc" printer handle adobe 2.0 postscript files ?
russell ruby russ@math.orst.edu oregon state university