chris@super.ORG (Chris P. Ross) (08/16/89)
I have a problem. I have been doing work on a Macintosh SE in Micro- soft Word. I can get Word to generate PostScript representations of the file I'm working on, and save this to disk. I then port this file over to the network system here, and attempt to print it on our Imagen 6320-1 printer. Whenever I try this, the printer reports only "Offending command" and flushes the job. I am presuming that it is caused by an incompatibility between Mac PostScript, and Imagen's UltraScript (which is postscript, but with enhancments). I don't think it difficult to have a program to convert between these different postscripts, but I know next to nothing about postscript and can't do it myself. If anyone has such a program, or any advice, I be more than happy to hear it. Post a follow- up, or send mail to address below. Thank you. -- -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=- | Chris P. Ross No matter where you go, | Supercomputing Research Center there you are... | chris@super.org | uunet!super!chris -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=- Disclaimer: My views and opinions MUST be my own, because I'm too conceited to let anyone else share them. -=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu (08/17/89)
/* Written 5:14 pm Apr 4, 1989 by era@ncar.ucar.edu in m.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac */
/* ---------- "Imagen postscript problems" ---------- */
I posed a question in these newsgroups on March 23, asking how to
get postscript files prepared on a Mac, to print properly on an
Imagen 2308S running 4.0 software with Ultrascript. This posting
provides the solutions that were suggested by Imagen software support,
and several net readers.
The problem is in the dictionary provided by Apple. The result of
doing an option-K on your Mac, just after clicking on OK in the print
dialogue box, is a postscript file which contains Apple's postscript
dictionary, followed by the output of the application you created a
drawing with. The dictionary, which is the header of the file, looks like:
%!
%%Title: "Laser Prep -- The Apple PostScript Dictionary (md)"
%%Creator: Apple Software Engineering
%%CreationDate: Thursday, March 19, 1987
%{appledict version #68 0
% (c) CopyRight Apple Computer, Inc. 1984,1985,1986,1987,1988 All Rights Reserved.
%%EndComments
%%BeginProcSet: "(AppleDict md)" 68 0
.
.
.
%%EndProcSet
%%EOF
There are two ways of dealing with this problem. The first and
definitely the simplest, is simply to use Imagen's Apple compatibility
dictionary corresponding to the version of LaserPrep your Mac puts
out. For LaserPrep 5.2, that means replacing the entire dictionary
shown above with the two lines:
%!
(dictv52.ps)run
"dictv5.ps", "dictv51.ps", and "dictv52.ps" are postscript dictionaries
which Imagen provides on their hard disk; you can use your Imagen disk
manager program to verify they're there.
The second (and more involved) way of dealing with the problem, is
to fixup Apple's dictionary. Two fixups are needed. The first fixup
is at approximately line 9 of the dictionary, which reads:
statusdict begin waittimeout 300 lt{0 60 300 setdefaulttimeouts}if end
This line attempts to set "statusdict" operators that are normally
protected, which results in an "invalidaccess" error on Imagen.
(I presume the LaserWriter must be executing something behind our
backs to get this to work as is.)
To fix it, either (1) place a "serverdict begin <password> exitserver"
command before the above line, or (2) comment out the above line by
placing a '%' before it.
The second needed fixup is at approximately lines 10 & 11 of the
dictionary. To each of the strings "//setrealdevice" and "//execjob",
prepend a '%' (so they're commented out) and append a '\n' (newline).
(No, I don't know what "setrealdevice" and "execjob" do, they aren't
in Adobe's ps ref manual, appendix D.6 - SYSTEM PARAMETERS. Must be
Apple-specific stuff. If you know, please tell me too.)
I should probably mention that several persons pointed me at host
sumex-aim.stanford.edu, which contains contributed programs for the
Mac. Specifically, they suggested that I look at "macps-prepfix.shar",
which contains programs "macps" and "prepfix", one of whose functions
is to prepend a standard Apple dictionary to a postscript program
on a unix host, before sending it to a LaserWriter. These programs
aren't very useful with an Imagen, as it's a lot easier just to add
that "(dictv52.ps)run" command to your postscript files, before spooling
them to Imagen.
******
I should probably also mention that one of the first problems we
encountered with postscript on our Imagens, had to do with
"invalidaccess" error messages not related to the above dictionary
problems. Imagen already had a fix for this, which involves downloading
two files to your hard disk, "2020.ps" and "startup.ps", which change
some systemdict parameters ... related to memory allocation, I believe.
If you have an Imagen, plan on doing much future postscript work,
and haven't yet applied this fix, you can get it by calling Imagen or
e-mailing me.
--
--------
Ed Arnold * NCAR (Nat'l Center for Atmospheric Research) * Mesa Lab
PO Box 3000 * Boulder, CO 80307-3000 * 303-497-1253(w) * 303-494-6949(h)
era@ncar.ucar.edu (128.117.64.4) * {ames,gatech,noao,...}!ncar!era
/* End of text from m.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac */geof@apolling (Geof Cooper) (08/25/89)
In article <13042@super.ORG> chris@super.UUCP (Chris P. Ross) writes: >soft Word. I can get Word to generate PostScript representations of the >file I'm working on, and save this to disk. I then port this file over >to the network system here, and attempt to print it on our Imagen 6320-1 >printer. Whenever I try this, the printer reports only "Offending >command" and flushes the job. I am presuming that it is caused by an >incompatibility between Mac PostScript, and Imagen's UltraScript (which is >postscript, but with enhancments). I don't think it difficult to have I believe the problem is that you need a header file, probably the Macintosh "laserprep" file, to be loaded on your UltraScript printer. This file is normally loaded "under the wraps" on locally connected laserwriters. Not having this file would cause the error: %%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: md ]%% The same error would occur if you attempted to print the file on a LaserWriter that was connected to a Unix system. I assume that you are using the "command-F" hack to get a Postscript file saved on the Mac's disk, then transferring the file. To get a copy of the laser prep, create an empty MS-Word document and use "command-K" instead of command-F. The resultant PostScript file will contain the laserprep with a small amount of harmless garbage at its end. Transfer this over to your unix system and prefix it with the line: 0 serverdict /exitserver get exec then send it to the Imagen 6320. This will cause the laserprep to be stored in the Imagen's "UltraScript VM (sic)" until the printer is re-booted. You should not be able to print files from Mac MS-Word on your 6320. To cause the laserprep to be executed automatically when the printer is booted, use "language fileutility" to store the file onto the printer's hard disk under the name "startup.ps". This file is executed at "exitserver" level when the UltraScript interpreter is started. If you have any trouble with this, feel free to give Imagen application support a call at (408)986-9400 and they will be more than happy to help you. - Geof Cooper IMAGEN