jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin) (12/13/90)
Problem: I sent a four-page corporate newsletter to a Lino shop for film output. Two out of four pages came out fine. But the two pages that contained scanned images (300 dpi, 256 grayscale, HSD Scan-X Professional scanner) could not print out! The shop has a Lino L300 with RIP4. The first page was about 3MB, second page and third page about 40KB each, fourth page about 3MB. As you've probably guessed, the first and fourth pages contain the scanned images. I selected the Lino printer from the print panel, and then use the "Save" option to save everything to Postscript. The newsletter was created using FrameMaker 2.0b. Images (two) were scanned in using the HSD Scan-X Professional scanner at 300-dpi and 256 grayscale. The scanned images were saved in TIFF and imported into FrameMaker. The pages were "printed" into separate files (i.e. page1.ps, page2.ps, etc.). The files were then FTP'ed to my 386SX PC (ASCII transfer). The big files were compressed using PKZIP (LZH algorithm) in order to fit them onto several 1.44MB floppies to take to the Lino shop. I assumed that since pages which didn't contain scanned images printed without any problem, the culprit must be the scanned images. But Postscript is Postscript and it should be compatible ... from one true Postscript machine (NeXT) to another true Postscript device (the Linotronic L300). Are the pages with scanned images too "complicated" for the L300? Any thing I've missed so far? Anyways, this problem is driving me nuts! I welcome any suggestions or words of wisdom any of you can offer ... some real experience would help. Thanks in advance. :-( Joe jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca -- ***************** "Happiness is a warm gun ... " *************** | NeXT --> The ultimate electronic publishing platform! | | Joseph Chin --> jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca | ****************************************************************
rob@lighthouse.com (12/14/90)
I've seen some PostScript, generated by the NeXT computer that had the images stored as *binary* data. If you just did an "ASCII transfer" to the PC, then you may have lost some of the data for that page. To check if your PostScript files have binary data in them you can check them for the string, "%%BeginBinary:". Another possible problem (although I don't think many people will hit this) is that the PostScript dictionary, userdict is defined to have 300 entries on the NeXT, but only 200 on the RIP4. I hope this helps. We just had our battle with documents printing on the NeXT printer and not on the Lino so I can empathize completely!! Rob Kedoin rob@lighthouse.com Lighthouse Design, Ltd 6516 Western Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815
glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) (12/17/90)
In article <904@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca> jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin) writes: >Problem: >The newsletter was created using FrameMaker 2.0b. Images (two) were scanned >in using the HSD Scan-X Professional scanner at 300-dpi and 256 grayscale. >The scanned images were saved in TIFF and imported into FrameMaker. >The pages were "printed" into separate files (i.e. page1.ps, page2.ps, etc.). >The files were then FTP'ed to my 386SX PC (ASCII transfer). The big files >were compressed using PKZIP (LZH algorithm) in order to fit them onto several >1.44MB floppies to take to the Lino shop. You should take a look at the PostScript files that you created on the disk to see if the image data is in ASCII form or binary. If they're binary, you may have just lost (or added) some bits during the process of transferring them onto floppies, etc. Binary image data is *very* sensitive, and even one extra carriage return can make the image operator fail. That's why you use ASCII hex data, for portability and a little more robustness (although it's twice the size). The scanner software may have options for saving as ASCII if it turns out that the files are indeed binary. >I assumed that since pages which didn't contain scanned images printed >without any problem, the culprit must be the scanned images. But Postscript >is Postscript and it should be compatible ... from one true Postscript >machine (NeXT) to another true Postscript device (the Linotronic L300). Are >the pages with scanned images too "complicated" for the L300? Any thing I've >missed so far? Another possibility is to send your optical disk directly to a service bureau that supports NeXT machines printing to Linos. There is at least one in Portland, Oregon, and perhaps others. The NeXT catalog lists them in the back, and you might call NeXT to see if there are more of them popping up near you. That would at least eliminate the process of transferring them to other computers. It is also possible that the service bureau sets the job timeout value in PostScript to abort jobs that take longer than X minutes to image. In summary, there is nothing inherent in PostScript that would cause that kind of problem. It is more a "systems" problem of too many kinds of networks, computers, and so forth. I have successfully printed scanned images from the NeXT on a Lino through a service bureau, and it is certainly possible and a reasonable thing to do. Some service bureaus try harder and know more than others, however. I hope this helps a little bit. Glenn -- Glenn Reid RightBrain Software glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us PostScript/NeXT developers ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn 415-851-1785
adonis1@nwnexus.WA.COM (Adonis Corporation ) (12/20/90)
In article <904@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca> jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin) writes: >Problem: > >I sent a four-page corporate newsletter to a Lino shop for film output. Two >out of four pages came out fine. But the two pages that contained scanned >images (300 dpi, 256 grayscale, HSD Scan-X Professional scanner) could not >print out! The shop has a Lino L300 with RIP4. The first page was about 3MB, >second page and third page about 40KB each, fourth page about 3MB. As you've >probably guessed, the first and fourth pages contain the scanned images. I >selected the Lino printer from the print panel, and then use the "Save" >option to save everything to Postscript. > >The newsletter was created using FrameMaker 2.0b. Images (two) were scanned >in using the HSD Scan-X Professional scanner at 300-dpi and 256 grayscale. >The scanned images were saved in TIFF and imported into FrameMaker. >The pages were "printed" into separate files (i.e. page1.ps, page2.ps, etc.). >The files were then FTP'ed to my 386SX PC (ASCII transfer). The big files >were compressed using PKZIP (LZH algorithm) in order to fit them onto several >1.44MB floppies to take to the Lino shop. > I don't know much about tiff formats or how they are converted to ps, but I do know that I've had a problem transferring eps files from my pc to my NeXT. I use kermit in either binary or text mode and the file is unreadable on the NeXT. My suspicion is that the eps file is comprised of both text and binary information, the combination of which cannot be handled by just text or binary transfer modes alone. I also wonder whether the eps format is different for the pc than for the NeXT (there is some binary information at the very beginning of the file for instance which I don't expect to be there on the NeXT). At any rate, I wonder if you have a similar problem where text or binary transfer modes just don't cut it. I'd be interested in hearing the resolution to your problem! -Doug Kent Independent NeXT Developer Newsgroups: poster Subject: Re: Lino problem Summary: Expires: References: <904@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca> Sender: Reply-To: adonis1@nwnexus.UUCP (Adonis Corporation (Doug Kent)) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.; Seattle, WA Keywords: Linotronic, FrameMaker In article <904@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca> jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin) writes: >Problem: > >I sent a four-page corporate newsletter to a Lino shop for film output. Two >out of four pages came out fine. But the two pages that contained scanned >images (300 dpi, 256 grayscale, HSD Scan-X Professional scanner) could not >print out! The shop has a Lino L300 with RIP4. The first page was about 3MB, >second page and third page about 40KB each, fourth page about 3MB. As you've >probably guessed, the first and fourth pages contain the scanned images. I >selected the Lino printer from the print panel, and then use the "Save" >option to save everything to Postscript. > >The newsletter was created using FrameMaker 2.0b. Images (two) were scanned >in using the HSD Scan-X Professional scanner at 300-dpi and 256 grayscale. >The scanned images were saved in TIFF and imported into FrameMaker. >The pages were "printed" into separate files (i.e. page1.ps, page2.ps, etc.). >The files were then FTP'ed to my 386SX PC (ASCII transfer). The big files >were compressed using PKZIP (LZH algorithm) in order to fit them onto several >1.44MB floppies to take to the Lino shop. > I don't know much about tiff formats or how they are converted to ps, but I do know that I've had a problem transferring eps files from my pc to my NeXT. I use kermit in either binary or text mode and the file is unreadable on the NeXT. My suspicion is that the eps file is comprised of both text and binary information, the combination of which cannot be handled by just text or binary transfer modes alone. I also wonder whether the eps format is different for the pc than for the NeXT (there is some binary information at the very beginning of the file for instance which I don't expect to be there on the NeXT). At any rate, I wonder if you have a similar problem where text or binary transfer modes just don't cut it. I'd be interested in hearing the resolution to your problem! -Doug Kent Independent NeXT Developer