giovin@ecs.umass.edu (04/18/91)
I was wondering if there might be some sort of program available that could convert a QMS laserprinter file to a postscript file. I might soon only have a postscript machine available but have programs that generate only in QMS format. Thanks, Rocky Giovinazzo
brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot) (04/23/91)
In article <13283.280dc44b@ecs.umass.edu> giovin@ecs.umass.edu writes:
<
< I was wondering if there might be some sort of program available
<that could convert a QMS laserprinter file to a postscript file.
<I might soon only have a postscript machine available but have
<programs that generate only in QMS format.
But QMS makes PostScript printers. I didn't know that QMS had a format of
their own. Please tell us the model number of the printer in question so
that we can give an informative reply.
--
harvard\
ucbvax!uwvax!astroatc!ftms!brown
rutgers/
INTERNET: spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!ftms!brownpauld@stowe.cs.washington.edu (Paul Barton-Davis) (04/23/91)
In article <45@ftms.UUCP> brown@ftms.UUCP (Vidiot) writes: >In article <13283.280dc44b@ecs.umass.edu> giovin@ecs.umass.edu writes: >< >< I was wondering if there might be some sort of program available ><that could convert a QMS laserprinter file to a postscript file. ><I might soon only have a postscript machine available but have ><programs that generate only in QMS format. > >But QMS makes PostScript printers. I didn't know that QMS had a format of >their own. Please tell us the model number of the printer in question so >that we can give an informative reply. >-- >harvard\ > ucbvax!uwvax!astroatc!ftms!brown >rutgers/ >INTERNET: spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!ftms!brown QMS also make (or made) QUIC printers. The company I used to work for was faced with the very same problem as part of a large contract we took on to automate multiple listing books for realtors. They used to use QMS and we wanted to use PostScript. They didn't want to change their back-end, so we (or my colleague, Paul) wrote a failry complete QUIC to PostScript conversion program. I says its complete because it is actually a compiler, and in our experience, thats the only way to do the job and be able to guarantee it will work. QUIC allow macro generation, overlays and other wierd stuff. We used lex and yacc to process the whole thing: it ran about 15ppm (also doing a lot of other stuff which consumed about 75% of the CPU - text string lookups, and other BS). If your existing QUIC code is VERY simple, you can get away with a simple PostScript "prep" file, and a filter, perhaps sed or even awk based to transform the QUIC macros. But considering that you can redefine the QUIC "escape code", and that "comments" aren't always "comments", if your software plays any games with QUIC, you will need a complete QUIC parser. I don't think the company is interested in making this software available, since it is buried in a large system and has a lot of custom additions that are specific for multiple listing books. -- Paul Barton-Davis <pauld@cs.washington.edu> UW Computer Science Lab ``to shatter tradition makes us feel free''