gordon@analog.com (gordon.cheung@dsp.analog.com) (06/13/91)
Could somebody expand a little bit more on these ps emulators. Is the given example QMS/UltraScript a shareware or commercial product. Are there other programs like it.
erik@westworld.esd.sgi.com (Erik Fortune) (06/13/91)
Ultrascript is a Postscript interpreter for IBM PC's. It can
drive assorted (laser and dot-matrix) printers. A few
people swear by Ultrascript, but I had a lot of trouble with
it.
I recently spent a while trying to get postscript working on
my epson printer, and I wound up settling on "Freedom of
Press" by Custom Applications Inc. I have a 386 running SCO
Open Desktop (UNIX). I run DOS applications in DOS Merge
(DOS under UNIX) -- most DOS applications (including graphics
intensive games) run fine. Here's a summary of my experiences
with postscript interpreters:
Ghostscript (GNU)-- freely available in source (GNU copyleft).
Some love it. It worked fine for graphics, but I wasn't happy with
the quality of the font display. I tried to add a font to it, and
was *very* displeased. I'm not sure if it can handle type 1 (hinted)
postscript fonts but I don't think so.
PS Magic -- distributed (crippled) as shareware. Haven't tried it
though I've seen it on a number of BBS.
Ultrascript PC (QMS)-- I couldn't get it to work (note that my environment
is a little strange). It seems to insist on protected mode, which
doesn't work under DOS merge. It can handle type 3 fonts, but not
type 1. You can run USPC by hand or sneak it in as your printer driver
to make it look like you have a postscript printer invisibly. Would've
driven my Epson at 180dpi.
GoScript (LaserGo) -- It worked pretty well and included a low-res vga
previewer. I ran it by hand, but I think you could also intall it as
a driver -- I'm not sure. Drove my epson in 360x180 mode and looked
fine. I found a bug which made it impossible to use troff without modifying
the ditroff->postscript converter. I had source to the converter and modified
it, so this wasn't too much of a problem. Handles type 3 fonts but not type 1.
I have to put in a plug for LaserGo's tech support, though. They were extremely
helpful and speedy.
Freedom of Press (CAI) -- Works great, handles type 1 fonts and produces great
output on my printer at either 180x180 or 360x360. Doesn't have a screen
previewer but can produce PCX files at 200dpi which is almost as good for my
purposes. Can't be installed "invisibly" as a DOS driver, but I didn't need to.
The one annoyance for me is that you can't run it as a standalone interpreter
(i.e. type postscript at it by hand) so it's a little messier to use it to play around
with postscript stuff. This is very minor and is outweighed about 10-1 by the
ability to handle high-quality (type 1) fonts and the ability to drive my printer at
360x360. At that resolution, many things look almost like laser printer. For
calligraphic or "handwritten" fonts, I think the dot-matrix actually looks better because
the ink bleeds just a little bit and really makes it look more handwritten. The pins
on a dot-matrix are more than 1/360th of an inch so they overlap which means that
dark images (e.g. scanned photographs) don't look as good as a laser -- line art
is fine.
All in all, I'd give FoP an 8.5, GoScript a 7 and Ghostscript a 3. I won't rate PS magic
or Ultrascript because I haven't used them, although I will note that my inability to use
Ultrascript doesn't bode well... FoP's problems (lack of previewer, standalone and
printer driver modes) are relatively minor and can probably be fixed by a "dot release."
Lack of tpe 1 font support (in the other interpreters) is probably a much harder problem
to solve.
Prices:
Ghostscript -- free by FTP
PS Magic -- I don't recall the registration fee, but I have vague memories that it worked
out to be comparable to the commercial interpreters. The unregistered
version was crippleware.
GoScript -- Around $95 dollars for GoScript (with 17 fonts) and $190 for GoScript Plus
(or whatever it's called) which has the full 35 fonts.
Ultrascript PC -- Around $130 with 17 fonts, $230 with 35.
Freedom of Press -- $59 from MicroWarehouse with 17 fonts (Freedom of Press Light). I've seen it
for $55 in other places. With the full set of fonts, it's also >$200, but my FOP
package had a form to order the additional 18 fonts for $95. I did and they
work fine.
Hope this helps,
Erik