heitkoet@GORBI.INFORMATIK.UNI-DORTMUND.DE (Joerg Heitkoetter) (06/12/91)
"The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a program patch and a user with an idea." -- 'The Wizardry Compiled' by Rick Cook Dear InterViewer(s), the first impression on InterViews should not be the last. This is the summary of some first weeks dealing with InterViews. ******************************************************************* This writing is for PostScript users, only. PostScript hackers please beware! Make sure you put on your perill sensitive sun glasses... ******************************************************************* When I tried to print some of the InterViews documents on our local QMS laser, it kept busy thinking -- then printed nothing. I got some suggestions from friendly people out on the net (thanks to all of *you*!!). But nothing made it work. I finally decided to find a user's solution, even if I must admit that learning the language would be *best*. But I just wanted to *print* some manuals, not suddenly find myself learning a new language. However, I downloaded the GNU GhostScript (V2.1) stuff from our local ftp server and installed it configurated with X11/SunView/Epson and LaserJet drivers. (O.K. it's not *that* easy, the one who wrote the Makefiles didn't expect someone to use more than 1 printer in a GS installation...) BUT: GhostScript has no problem displaying all InterViews manuals, though sometimes a *clearpage* is missing, and the pages get stacked on top of each other, forming a messy, blacker getting "shape". Issuing a GS>/laserjet finddevice setdevice makes GhostScript print in memory, dumping a HP LaserJet bitimage in your /tmp directory. All you have to do is switching your QMS (or whatever) to the LaserJet emulation and print out the dumped pages: You finally managed to print the unprintable! ********************************************* p.s. Newer QMS lasers are able to switch to HP emulation automatically p.p.s. You can even print the epson output of GS (after: GS>/epson finddevice setdevice) on your ATARI ST using the epson emulation on your NEC dot matrix printer (like I did). So long, and thanks for all the manuals -joke Joerg Heitkoetter (heitkoet@gorbi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de). //////////////////////////////////////////// University of Dortmund Systems Analysis Research Group Department of Computer Science * LSXI P.O. Box 500 500 * D-4600 Dortmund * Germany ////////////////////////////////////////////