kjk@pbhyf.PacBell.COM (Ken Keirnan) (12/03/88)
There is a commercial product available for the Macintosh that can
send a PostScript file to the printer and capture the bit image from
the printer. Is this capability unique to the Apple LaserWriter or
can this be done with any PostScript printer? I'm not interested in
the Mac product but in the mechanism for capturing the bit image.
Anyone know?
Thanks.
--
Ken Keirnan - Pacific Bell - {att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!pbhyf!kjk
San Ramon, California kjk@pbhyf.PacBell.COMjaa@basser.oz (James Ashton) (12/06/88)
In article <4337@pbhyf.PacBell.COM> kjk@pbhyf.PacBell.COM (Ken Keirnan) writes: >There is a commercial product available for the Macintosh that can >send a PostScript file to the printer and capture the bit image from >the printer. Is this capability unique to the Apple LaserWriter or >can this be done with any PostScript printer? I'm not interested in >the Mac product but in the mechanism for capturing the bit image. >Anyone know? I think you'll find that Apple made very sure that this sort of thing was extremely difficult to do (read impossible using postscript) and that Adobe and indirectly the copyright holders on the fonts used would have made sure of this also. Otherwise any fool could get in and get bitmap copies of all the copyrighted fonts at any size. This would be bad for Apple but very good for us. In this vein, if by some miracle you have found a way (read extremely unlikely bug in the PostScript implementation) to do this: please PLEASE tell me now so I can make a fortune pirating fonts. James Ashton.
sears@sun.uucp (Daniel Sears) (12/07/88)
In article <1657@basser.oz>, jaa@basser.oz (James Ashton) writes: > In article <4337@pbhyf.PacBell.COM> kjk@pbhyf.PacBell.COM (Ken Keirnan) writes: > >There is a commercial product available for the Macintosh that can > >send a PostScript file to the printer and capture the bit image from > >the printer. Is this capability unique to the Apple LaserWriter or > >can this be done with any PostScript printer? I'm not interested in > >the Mac product but in the mechanism for capturing the bit image. > >Anyone know? > > I think you'll find that Apple made very sure that this sort of thing > was extremely difficult to do (read impossible using postscript) and > that Adobe and indirectly the copyright holders on the fonts used would > have made sure of this also. Otherwise any fool could get in and get > bitmap copies of all the copyrighted fonts at any size. This would be > bad for Apple but very good for us. In this vein, if by some miracle > you have found a way (read extremely unlikely bug in the PostScript > implementation) to do this: please PLEASE tell me now so I can make > a fortune pirating fonts. > > James Ashton. The issue here is not whether you can read the fonts in a PostScript printer. Fonts are encrypted descriptions of the forms of characters. Being able to read the "bit image from the printer" means being able to read the contents of the frame buffer in a printer. There is a PostScript operator that does just this: renderbands. LaserTalk (from Emerald City Software) uses this operator to read back the contents of the frame buffer in a PostScript printer to preview an image. It's slow, but it works. In response to Ken's original question, this feature is not unique to Apple's printers. It is part of the PostScript language design and is available in every printer that includes a frame buffer (PostScript devices without frame buffers include the Linotype series and (I think) the Varityper VT-600). --Dan -- Daniel Sears Sun Microsystems, Inc. Technical Publications MS 5-42 (415) 336-7435 2550 Garcia Avenue sears@sun.com Mountain View, CA 94043
ddl@husc6.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) (12/08/88)
In article <1657@basser.oz>, jaa@basser.oz (James Ashton) writes: | I think you'll find that Apple made very sure that this sort of thing | was extremely difficult to do Yes. | (read impossible using postscript) No. | and | that Adobe and indirectly the copyright holders on the fonts used would | have made sure of this also. Otherwise any fool could get in and get | bitmap copies of all the copyrighted fonts at any size. This would be | bad for Apple but very good for us. In this vein, if by some miracle | you have found a way (read extremely unlikely bug in the PostScript | implementation) to do this: please PLEASE tell me now so I can make | a fortune pirating fonts. It is possible to access the VM image but it probably isn't worth the effort unless either (1) the commercial product doesn't do what you want (and I have never seen it, so...) or (2) you want to compete with that commercial product. If you just want to make a fortune pirating the fonts and you think you can do this with only the bitmap representation and not the outline format then why not try an image scanner? It is probably even less subject to suit. Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.*
rob@ccsrd11.UUCP (Rob Sleator) (12/10/88)
In article <80342@sun.uucp> sears@sun.uucp (Daniel Sears) writes: >read the contents of the frame buffer in a printer. There is a PostScript >operator that does just this: renderbands. LaserTalk (from Emerald City >Software) uses this operator to read back the contents of the frame buffer >in a PostScript printer to preview an image. [...] >It is part of the PostScript language design and is available >in every printer that includes a frame buffer ... > >--Dan Renderbands is only implemented on banddevice printers. The LaserWriter and similar printers use frame buffers. LaserTalk does not use renderbands but downloads an operator called rdbytes with the eexec operator. Robert Sleator