ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mqcc.mq.OZ (Ian Farquhar) (12/19/89)
In article <1531@adobe.UUCP> jeynes@adobe.UUCP (Ross A. Jeynes) writes: >Yes, Adobe does realize that people are determined to find this stuff out. >Most of the code that you're talking about, however, is very device- >dependent. Besides that, things like ROM monitors aren't typically useful >in a page description. :-) I do not see the problem with this. Surely it would be proper to document these device specific instructions in manual supplied with the printer. Certainly, they do reduce Postscripts device independence, but so does the rest of the printer specific code listed in these manuals (paper trays etc.) What I most objected to was the fact that they were locked out by the inbuilt security. >PostScript was designed to make marks on a page, and that's what it's best at. >There just aren't very many people who need to know about PS ROM monitors, >and those who do will find it out, as you have observed. Here's one! However, as I said in the original article, I have better things to do with my time than sitting in my office at 12 pm on a saturday night hacking postscript. >Anyway, if we published information about the limited ROM monitor capabilities >(that are completely device-dependent), people would probably just complain >that our ROM monitor was lame and needed to be fixed. Yes, probably true. >What I'm getting at here is that we're not trying to "keep secrets" from >the world; there are other reasons behind the decision to not document >the ROM monitor, etc. We've documented the device-independent/mark-making >part of PostScript quite clearly, which is the part that people need to print >documents. (After all, it is a printer :-) This rather begs the question: if the information is needed will Adobe supply it? Let's say I am writing a Postscript debugger (as Lasertalk's Oz price is extortionate!), and want page previewing capabilities (which, incidentally, is true). Will Adobe supply me with the details of the instructions that I need to provide this previewing? >Ross Jeynes >Developer Support jeynes@adobe.com >Adobe Systems Incorporated {sun|decwrl}!adobe!jeynes Ian Farquhar Macquarie University Sydney, Australia. D