[comp.text.tex] Need adivice on dvi-to-ps driver for LJIII + PS cartridge

tchiu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (Tsu-Chih Chiu) (05/17/91)

Hi, 
We are currently using emTeX with an HP LJ III.
A HP postscript cartridge for LJ III have been 
purchased and we are trying to turn the LJ III
to a postscript printer.

Question: Need recommendations on which DVI-2-PS
driver is better for the job?
We would like to include PS figures with TeX output.

Any recommendation is welcomed.

Thanks in advanced.

P.S. Apology if this has already been discussed.

George Chiu

teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) (05/20/91)

In article <13668@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> tchiu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (Tsu-Chih Chiu) writes:
>Hi, 
>We are currently using emTeX with an HP LJ III.
>A HP postscript cartridge for LJ III have been 
>purchased and we are trying to turn the LJ III
>to a postscript printer.
>
>Question: Need recommendations on which DVI-2-PS
>driver is better for the job?

I have exactly the same setup as you, and I use Tom Rokicki's excellent
dvips program, as compiled for DOS by r lang.   This DOS version
supports several emTeX features, such as font libraries and most of 
the same specials (only \special{em:graph xxx} isn't supported, so all
the TeXcad macros for lines at angle still work, for example).  So it
fits into the emTeX environment particularly well.  Also, in general 
terms, it is an outstandingly good dvi-to-PS program, supporting
everything most people can think of.

The only other one I would consider is James Clark's excellent dvitops
program, which is also free, and very good indeed.  But it doesn't 
support emTeX font library files, nor has it yet been upgraded to 
support VF files.  Otherwise, it has given me excellent service in
the past.

Many thanks to James Clark and Tom Rokicki for these excellent programs.

Dominik

habibi@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au (Daryoush Habibi) (05/21/91)

In article <1991May20.095442.6726@ioe.lon.ac.uk> teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) writes:
=In article <13668@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> tchiu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (Tsu-Chih Chiu) writes:
==Hi, 
==We are currently using emTeX with an HP LJ III.
==A HP postscript cartridge for LJ III have been 
==purchased and we are trying to turn the LJ III
==to a postscript printer.
==
==Question: Need recommendations on which DVI-2-PS
==driver is better for the job?
=
=I have exactly the same setup as you, and I use Tom Rokicki's excellent
=dvips program, as compiled for DOS by r lang.   This DOS version
=supports several emTeX features, such as font libraries and most of 
=the same specials (only \special{em:graph xxx} isn't supported, so all
=the TeXcad macros for lines at angle still work, for example).  So it
=fits into the emTeX environment particularly well.  Also, in general 
=terms, it is an outstandingly good dvi-to-PS program, supporting
=everything most people can think of.
=
=The only other one I would consider is James Clark's excellent dvitops
=program, which is also free, and very good indeed.  But it doesn't 
=support emTeX font library files, nor has it yet been upgraded to 
=support VF files.  Otherwise, it has given me excellent service in
=the past.
=
=Many thanks to James Clark and Tom Rokicki for these excellent programs.
=
=Dominik

I use EmTeX and with it comes drivers for HP LaserJet printers and even
drivers for dot matrix printers. The drivers for HP LaserJet do not require
special fonts and can do with the library fonts which is again part of
the emtex package. The drivers for dot matrix printers however require special
fonts and you have the option of choosing low, medium and high resolution.
The documentation for these is included in emtex.

p.s. I only used these drivers once for a friend who needed them. I generally
use dvips and direct the output to a postscript laser printer.

****************************************************************************
Daryoush Habibi
Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
University of Tasmania                  email: habibi@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au
G.P.O Box 252C,                         Fax  : +61 02 202136
Hobart 7001 Australia                   Ph.  : +61 02 202137
****************************************************************************

dhosek@euler.claremont.edu (Don Hosek) (05/22/91)

In article <1991May20.095442.6726@ioe.lon.ac.uk>, teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) writes:
> In article <13668@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> tchiu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (Tsu-Chih Chiu) writes:

>>We are currently using emTeX with an HP LJ III.
>>A HP postscript cartridge for LJ III have been 
>>purchased and we are trying to turn the LJ III
>>to a postscript printer.

>>Question: Need recommendations on which DVI-2-PS
>>driver is better for the job?
 
> I have exactly the same setup as you, and I use Tom Rokicki's excellent
> dvips program, as compiled for DOS by r lang.   This DOS version
> supports several emTeX features, such as font libraries and most of 
> the same specials (only \special{em:graph xxx} isn't supported, so all
> the TeXcad macros for lines at angle still work, for example).  So it
> fits into the emTeX environment particularly well.  Also, in general 
> terms, it is an outstandingly good dvi-to-PS program, supporting
> everything most people can think of.
 
> The only other one I would consider is James Clark's excellent dvitops
> program, which is also free, and very good indeed.  But it doesn't 
> support emTeX font library files, nor has it yet been upgraded to 
> support VF files.  Otherwise, it has given me excellent service in
> the past.

Russ Lang (or at least I think he was the one who pointed it out)
pointed out that dvips runs slower with FLI files than with. Of
course, I personally never bothered with them anyway (since I'm
frequently tweaking my font collections anyway--the disadvantage
of doing contract TeX work is one's needs aren't very stable,
just added my *third* version of TeX to the hard disk. My, I miss
working in an environment where I have the source code). The VF
support is pretty handy, but more if you're used to having it.
dvips does have difficulties living in the MS-DOS environment
since one has effectively ~550K of RAM for program+data on most
normal systems. This means that documents which use large numbers
of fonts cannot be processed--even partially--with dvips (when
possible, I just pull out the PS cartridge and use Eberhard
Mattes' dvihplj). EMS support would be handy. On the other hand,
I've put together some nice DESQview stuff which allows maketexpk
to go ahead and generate PK files on the fly (although since this
happens in a background process, they won't be in the current
output).

Other drivers in the TUG listings for the PC/PS combo are DVIALW
(From the Beebe drivers. The current release is functional, but
not much else), DVIlaser/PS (from Arbortext--commercial. Nicely
featured and available on a variety of platforms, but I find the
necessity to have all fonts listed in a special file annoying,
IMHO), PTI Laser/PS (from Personal TeX--haven't used it, so I
can't comment. PTI's HP driver is pretty nice though so I'd
imagine the PS version is comparable) and DVIPSONE (from Y&Y which
is unique in that it _only_ uses PostScript fonts. for regular
CM-typesetting, one needs to get the Type 1 PS versions of CM).

More information on these and other drivers can be found in the
files in [anonymous.tex.drivers.info] on ymir.claremont.edu.

-dh

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