[comp.lang.postscript] Printing legal size images on an L300

hjp@bambam.bedrock.com (Howard J. Postley) (08/03/89)

I am trying to figure out how to tell an L300 to print an
8.5 x 14 image; it defaults to 8.5 x 11 even though the paper
is 12" wide in a roll.

Further, I would like to find the commands to do this for
a general postscript device so that I can test it on my
laserwriter before blowing $5 to test it and find that it
didn't work (again!).

I have been told that the following should work:

statusdict begin

8 inch  14 inch  0  setpage

end


This does not work on my laserwriter, which complains about
setpage.  Could someone out there is postscript tell me the proper
way to do what I want to do?  It seems like it should be easy
but I can't find it anywhere.

Thanks in advance,

//hjp

-- 
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hammen@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Robert J. Hammen) (08/03/89)

In article <671@bambam.bedrock.com> hjp@bambam.bedrock.com (Howard J. Postley) writes:
>I am trying to figure out how to tell an L300 to print an
>8.5 x 14 image; it defaults to 8.5 x 11 even though the paper
>is 12" wide in a roll.
>
>Further, I would like to find the commands to do this for
>a general postscript device so that I can test it on my
>laserwriter before blowing $5 to test it and find that it
>didn't work (again!).

The problem here is that there are a few printer-specific extensions to
PostScript to print larger size pages on machines that support them. As you
have discovered, your laser printer doesn't like the "setpage" command because
it knows nothing of it. 

>I have been told that the following should work:

>statusdict begin
>
>8 inch  14 inch  0  setpage
>
>end

I think this is correct (I unfortunately don't have my "Linotype PS 
supplement version 49.3" book here at home) as long as you have "inch" defined
correctly. Make sure that the Lino that you are sending this to has a later
(47.x or 49.3) rev of PostScript, as the "setpage" operator was nonexistant in
earlier ROM versions. The trick in that case is to use the "setpageparams"
command, which took 4 parameters, of which I can only remember 3 off the top
of my head (length width unknown orientation).

In general, try to find someone with a Lino with version 49.3 of PostScript.
Besides being much more efficient, it also removed some of the limitations to
earlier versions of PS on the Lino (most notably, you can now print legal size
and larger pages on the L300 at 2540 dpi). Another thing to consider: make sure
you find a service bureau that has people who know PostScript. They should have
been able to answer your question immediately. Most of the other service 
bureaus I've had to deal with (besides the one I run) barely know more than 
how to output Mac files or PostScript files from PCs...

(side note to Glenn Reid - how about posting the "official" Adobe list of
service bureaus here, if there is enough interest?)

Robert

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