ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) (11/13/90)
As promised, I tried some more complex PostScript files over the weekend. FOPL didn't have any problems imaging the files, but I did have some problems with one file in particular. The file in question was the "X Virus Warning" joke 'poster'. When I printed it from FOPL directly to the DeskWriter, the top margin (about 1/4 inch) was lost. That is, the image was higher than it should have been. However, when I had FOPL image to QuickDraw and print on the DW, it printed correctly. Imaging to QuickDraw is a feature I didn't mention previously, because I didn't notice it. One of the 'printers' FOPL supports is 'QuickDraw'. If you choose this 'printer' you can then choose which printer (from the drivers in the System Folder) to print to. I thought this was pretty slick. Unfortunately, if you print to QuickDraw, you can't print in the background. (However, if you've got a spooler, your printing will work with the spooler as from any other application...) This allows for a really convoluted way to print... you could generate PostScript from the LW driver, launch FOPL, image the PS to QuickDraw, send the QuickDraw to the LW driver, turning it into PostScript... repeat as necessary, until something breaks. I didn't try this. The other big problem I had was imaging fonts that weren't in the basic 17. FOPL comes with info for imaging the basic 17 LW fonts. (4 Helveticas, 4 Times, 4 Couriers, Symbol, and (I think?) Helvetica Light and Black.) However, if the PS file you need to print was generated under the assumption that some other font (say, Avante Garde) existed in the printer, FOPL will image this as Courier. I couldn't find a way to get FOPL to recognize my Adobe fonts. If you generate the PostScript yourself, everything is peachy since the font info will be included in the PostScript file, and FOPL can image it. But, well, I bought FOPL mostly because I need to occassionally image a PS file that someone else generated, and if they used a non-basic Font that was installed in their printer, then I'm stuck. I plan on calling the FOPL people and seeing about preserving my investment in Adobe fonts. (An offer that came with FOPL gave me the extended LW font metrics for FOPL for $95, so there is at least one way to get some more fonts for FOPL.) I'm still planning on keeping this package, because I do occassionally need to print PostScript files from other sources. (For instance, the MacOberon documentation just sent to comp.binaries.mac. This didn't look all that great when I printed it, the character spacing wasn't quite right , but I'm not sure if that's a FOPL problem or a problem with whatever the authors used to generate the PostScript. In this case, it imaged the same both to QuickDraw and to the DeskWriter directly.) I still recommend FOPL, however using this package isn't quite a smooth and seamless as I had first hoped. (I was kind of hoping for a replacement driver for the DW that handled PostScript... but I guess that's a pipe dream.) If the FOPL folks have any useful information on my problems, I'll post another followup. Someone just gave me a bunch of PostScript generated by FrameMaker. (demo files, I think) that I'll try imaging tonight. If anyone out there has a file that they'd like tested with FOPL (that was generated with the LW 6.0.1 or later driver, and doesn't expect the extended fonts) they are welcome to mail them to me and I'll try imaging them. (The crossword that tiles the plain, recently posted to rec.puzzles, imaged just fine. I haven't solved the crossword yet, though.) --Bob
ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) (11/14/90)
In article <14110@arisia.Xerox.COM> ebert@arisia.UUCP (I) write: >...the top margin (about 1/4 inch) was >lost. That is, the image was higher than it should have been. However, when >I had FOPL image to QuickDraw and print on the DW, it printed correctly. > >....if they used a non-basic Font that was installed >in their printer, then I'm stuck. I plan on calling the FOPL people and >seeing about preserving my investment in Adobe fonts. I called FOPL today and talked to their tech support. They were very helpful and solved both my problems. The solution to the missing top margin was to edit the STARTUP.PS file in the Freedom Of Press(R) Folder (in the System Folder) and add the line: statusdict begin 90 0 setmargins end after the other line in the file that starts with 'statusdict'. Apparently this sets the top margin, or something like that. (Hey, I know beans about PostScript.) I came up with the '90' after lots of playing around, and didn't check this fix against too many files, but it worked for all the ones I tried. The FOPL tech support people had only just heard about this problem, so the fix they gave me to try was untested by them. I assume they've got it worked out by now. There also is a way to use my Adobe fonts with FOPL, even though there is no font downloader. You need to use an application called unAdobe (I found it on Sumex-Aim) to turn the Adobe outlines into plain old ASCII PostScript. You can then add this text to the PS file that needs the font, and, well, it's just as if the font was included in the PS file. (Because it is.) Actually, the FOPL tech support person said I could just print the font PS files followed by the files that use that font, but that didn't work. Apparently, FOPL throws away previously 'downloaded' fonts when it starts each new file. (I tried with and without the 'force page printing' -- it didn't matter. But that seems reasonable, since 'force page printing' is supposed to be the same as adding a 'showpage' after each file. [Okay, so I'm learning more about PostScript as I go along...] So, I expect another version of FOPL to be out soon with (maybe) some bug fixes, but the package is very usable as it is, and it's even pretty easy to work around 'missing font' problems, WITHOUT spending $95 for some additional FOPL-compatible binary fonts. I continue to recommend FOPL for people that need to print the occasional PostScript file to their non-PS printers. (Especially the DeskWriter.) I also promise that this is the last article I'll post on this subject... --Bob P.S. The FOPL tech support people we helpful, friendly, and polite. Two thumbs up for them. Well, Sherman, at least.
jack@Taffy.rice.edu (Jack W. Howarth) (11/14/90)
Bob,
I tried FOPL on my SE/30 and non-AppleTalk Deskwriter and my reaction is
much the same as the old Saturday Night Live dinner theater skits when Dan
would turn to the audience and say "Now that wasn't very good at all was it...".
The main problem I have with it is speed. The ATM 2.0 runs rings around it.
I can get almost 2 ppm out of my DW with ATM 2.0. FOPL makes that 0.2 ppm.
Effort and money would be better spent upgrading software to do rotated text
right. Igor and MacDraw II both print rotated text fine. I hear that the next
version of SuperPaint will also. Give us rotated QuickDraw text and who really
needs PostScript. In my view any draw program that doesn't do Beziers nicely
in QD is only doing so because they are lazy, not because it can't be done.
Apple should stop worrying about replacing Type 1 with TrueType and put some
serious effort into upgrading the QuickDraw graphics environment and soon...
Jackrcbamhl@rw8.urc.tue.nl (Marc Heijligers) (11/15/90)
Rotated Quickdraw is not enough. Apple should also get rid of those irritating scaling errors. When I make some picture of a graph with arrows, scale it in my wordprocessor, everything seems to misalign! If I do the same job in Postscript, everything goes allright. Well, hope this will fixed, because Postscript on a DW is too time consuming. BTW, have you seen postscript interpreters on Appole's (ghostscript). It shows it's preview almost instantly. Why is no one capable of doing this on a Mac? Marc