bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) (09/04/88)
Has anyone gotten Microport DWB 2.0 to work with an HP Laser Jet Series II
printer and font cartridges? I know that they say there are optional
drivers for the LJ, does anyone have them? Do they work? Will they work
with font cartridges? Properly? By that I mean bold, underscore, italics,
etc.
Is there a similar companion for their V/AT product? I have a '286 with
V/AT (and DWB 1.0 for it) and a '386 with AT&T 386 UNIX Vr3.1 (which should
be binary compatible with Microport) and would like to use the LJ-II.
There are two other alternatives, eroff and Word Perfect, but I've become
brainwashed to nroff/troff commands. Thanks,
--
Bill Kennedy usenet {killer,att,rutgers,sun!daver,uunet!bigtex}!ssbn!bill
internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COMwnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (09/04/88)
In article <230@ssbn.WLK.COM> bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) writes: >Has anyone gotten Microport DWB 2.0 to work with an HP Laser Jet Series II >printer and font cartridges? I know that they say there are optional >drivers for the LJ, does anyone have them? Do they work? Will they work >with font cartridges? Properly? By that I mean bold, underscore, italics, >etc. There are a number of commercial products out there which will do that. We are using TPLUS, from Textware in Cambridge, Mass. (textware!brent), and it drives not only our LaserJets but also our Compugraphics typesetter. Elan is a similar product. Both of them actually are POSTPROCESSORS for ditroff; as far as I know, both of them will support both cartridge and downloaded fonts. If you need something non-commercial (i.e. inexpensive), Rick Richardson has sent his JetRoff to Brandon, and it should appear in comp.sources.misc starting around Sept. 6. Haven't seen it, but Rick's claims sure sound enticing. >Is there a similar companion for their V/AT product? I have a '286 with >V/AT (and DWB 1.0 for it) and a '386 with AT&T 386 UNIX Vr3.1 (which should >be binary compatible with Microport) and would like to use the LJ-II. I am sure both Textware's TPLUS and Elan's EROFF are available both for the 286 as wellas the 386; we're using TPLUS on 286, so I know that is available. Both TPLUS and EROFF provide their own port of DWB 2.0 ditroff, btw., so they should be the same on 286 and 386. >There are two other alternatives, eroff and Word Perfect, but I've become >brainwashed to nroff/troff commands. Thanks, Of course EROFF, as well as TPLUS and presumably JetRoff, use troff commands on the input side. They then take the troff ouput and massage it into compatibility with the LaserJet. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: dcs!wnp@killer.dallas.tx.us TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD
rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (09/10/88)
(Cross posting because separate, but similar, inquiries have appeared in all three groups the past several days. Followups, if any, have been directed to comp.text) In article <198@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes: >In article <230@ssbn.WLK.COM> bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) writes: > >Has anyone gotten Microport DWB 2.0 to work with an HP Laser Jet Series II > >printer and font cartridges? I know that they say there are optional > >We are using TPLUS, from Textware in Cambridge, Mass. (textware!brent), >Elan is a similar product. Both of them actually are POSTPROCESSORS for >ditroff; as far as I know, both of them will support both cartridge and >downloaded fonts. > >If you need something non-commercial (i.e. inexpensive), Rick Richardson >has sent his JetRoff to Brandon, and it should appear in comp.sources.misc >starting around Sept. 6. While we are waiting for the sources to appear from Brandon, let me fill you in a little more about JetRoff. I'd had some experience with the TPLUS product (as implemented on a VAX 8700), and was terribly disappointed with the amount of output, the font selection that was provided, and its handling of pic and grap output (a lot of my stuff wouldn't print). Then, I got my hands on a 386, and called around to pick up the ditroff postprocessor to drive the HP LJ II. Neither Elan, nor Textware would sell the postprocessor. It was the whole package or nothing at all. Well, I already had paid for DWB (actually, twice). I sure wasn't about to pay for it a third time. Even worse, those packages cost more than the whole UNIX did, and more than half of what the printer did! At this point, about mid April, you have one very ticked off experienced C programmer (me). I did what comes naturally -- I started coding. Then I needed fonts, because I wasn't about to pay $200 to HP for a cartridge that doesn't even properly support troff. So I spent some time wandering around in Metafont land (lots of fun!) making a set of troff special characters. I decided early on that I was never going to support cartridges -- they are too expensive and don't have the range of sizes that I'd like to see. Downloading the glyphs as needed works very well, and makes each printout self contained. I spent some time in bitmap land, because I needed to integrate my logo and my signature into troff (Yep, my letters and checks come out of the printer already signed). Bitmaps are tricky to do without direct support from troff. But they can be implemented, and the gory details are buried in a macro. By now, JetRoff is a full fledged postprocessor for DWB. I have a few more features on the TODO list, which I won't mention yet because you never know who might be listening. There are even a few more bonus features I've added since I sent the copy to Brandon to post to Usenet in comp.sources.misc. Even at minimum wage, I've spent more money (in my time) on JetRoff than I would if I'd just paid for a copy of Eroff or TPLUS. But now everybody can get a ditroff-->LJ II postprocessor for a fair price, determined by their own needs, and with the source code included. That's all I ever wanted, and I hope that's what a lot of netters want to. There are quite a few reams of paper left in troff, and JetRoff will make sure that all those reams get used. -- Rick Richardson, PC Research, Inc. rick%pcrat.uucp@uunet.uu.net (INTERNET) uunet!pcrat!rick (UUCP, Personal Mail) ..!pcrat!jetroff (JetRoff Info) ..!pcrat!dry2 (Dhrystone Submissions)