From mimsy!dftsrv!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hoptoad!gnu Sun Jan 1 23:50:55 EST 1989 Article 1554 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!dftsrv!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hoptoad!gnu >From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) Newsgroups: comp.windows.news,comp.lang.postscript Subject: RE: NeWS and DPS Message-ID: <6139@hoptoad.uucp> Date: 1 Jan 89 01:55:46 GMT References: <66472@ti-csl.CSNET> Organization: Grasshopper Group in San Francisco Lines: 28 Xref: mimsy comp.windows.news:1071 comp.lang.postscript:1554 After reading much of the DPS preliminary manual, my evaluation of the situation is that Adobe has largely reimplemented NeWS, but changed all the names of everything so that applications will not port between them. Clearly there are design differences in spots, and Adobe has made some performance hacks at the language level, where Sun didn't feel the need; but there is a strong fundamental similarity of design. Why Adobe chose to change all the names is less clear. Possibly a straight case of NIH (not invented here) combined with pretensions of control of the language. Possibly they, or their major customers DEC and NeXT, deliberately wanted to fragment the market to reduce its openness (ability of customers to move to competitors' equipment without breaking their software). I doubt DEC would shed a tear if PostScript on screens never quite took off, since that would leave their inferior X window system winner by default. What to do about it has me torn. In some ways I think Sun and other NeWS vendors (like me) should move to the DPS names, providing a compatability package for old NeWS applications. In other ways I think the NeWS community should thumb its nose at Adobe, let them remain incompatible, and beat them fair and square in the market instead. If they get away with making us play catch-up this time, they'll repeat it forever -- the standard IBM-style Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt game. -- John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid,amdahl}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com Love your country but never trust its government. -- from a hand-painted road sign in central Pennsylvania From mimsy!haven!purdue!decwrl!adobe!bezanson Wed Jan 18 17:21:13 EST 1989 Article 1616 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!haven!purdue!decwrl!adobe!bezanson >From: bezanson@adobe.COM (Brian Bezanson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: help printing MAC postscript files Keywords: postscript, UNIX Message-ID: <219@adobe.COM> Date: 16 Jan 89 18:00:42 GMT References: <4024@mtuxo.att.com> Reply-To: bezanson@adobe.UUCP (Brian Bezanson) Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View Lines: 26 Xref: mimsy comp.sys.mac:27268 comp.lang.postscript:1616 When you take a file generated by a command-F or command-K in the print dialog, it will produce proper postscript code for your application, but the command-F version doesn't include Apple's dictionaries, and the command-K version sometimes isn't too clean. So how do you print those files? My suggestion, based on what has always worked for me, is to use several different applications to do a command-K file of a very simple document (i.e. one word in MacWrite, one line in MacDraw, etc...) Then edit the files to remove the application specfic code. What you are left with are several copies of the LaserPrep prolog. Compare these files against each other. If they all seem to be identical, then I'd assume you have a good copy of the header. Then send this to your Unix machine, and prepend it to each command-F Mac file you send. Technically you should only need to download this dictionary/header info once to the laserprinter, but I'd suggest for the few extra seconds to send it in case someone has purged/reset the laserprinters memory. Hope this helps. If you have any problems with the above techniques, send me some email and I'll compile a list of areas people have problems in. I'd like to work with someone at Apple and create the definitive guide of bringing your Mac/Apple LaserPrep generated files to other machines for downloading to PostScript(tm) printers. Good luck. ------------------------------------ Brian Bezanson Adobe Systems Inc. bezanson@adobe.com From mimsy!dftsrv!ukma!cwjcc!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!sequent!ccssrv!ccsrd11!rob Wed Jan 18 17:24:16 EST 1989 Article 1631 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!dftsrv!ukma!cwjcc!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!sequent!ccssrv!ccsrd11!rob >From: rob@ccsrd11.UUCP (Robert Sleator) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: help printing MAC postscript files Keywords: postscript, UNIX Message-ID: <221@ccsrd11.UUCP> Date: 17 Jan 89 19:07:00 GMT References: <4024@mtuxo.att.com> Reply-To: rob@ccssrv.UUCP (Robert Sleator) Organization: Control-C Software, Inc., Beaverton, OR Lines: 36 Xref: mimsy comp.sys.mac:27373 comp.lang.postscript:1631 The LaserPrep file (the PostScript prolog prepended to most Mac files sent to the LaserWriter) contains code which is more or less equivalent to: statusdict /product get % returns string with product name << is this equal to the string (LaserWriter) (e.g., are you a LaserWriter ?) >> {eexec}{flushfile} ifelse % if LW do eexec, else do flushfile . . . << a bunch of hex >> . . . %%EOF << begining of script part of file, which contains your text >> The problem is that when you save this file with Command-K there is no ^D next to the %%EOF comment. If you then run the file on a printer other than a LaserWriter it executes the flushfile rather than eexec, and flushes to the end of the job. The solution is to edit the file and insert a control-D next to the %%EOF comment (and make sure that the "exitserver" line is not commented out). Alternatively, if you don't want the prolog downloaded permanently, you can comment out the exitserver line and delete everything from the first line that resembles this: currentfile ok userdict /smooth known not and{eexec}{flushfile}ifelse down to the %%EOF line. This should be mostly hex. NOTE: The above applies to version of the LaserPrep file before version 67. Version 67 may not have this problem. It does contain a couple of new examples of non-portable code, though. From mimsy!tank!uxc!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!ames!haven!vrdxhq!bdmrrr!rlgvax!smadi Sat Feb 11 01:50:37 EST 1989 Article 1794 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!tank!uxc!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!ames!haven!vrdxhq!bdmrrr!rlgvax!smadi >From: smadi@rlgvax.UUCP (Smadi Paradise) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: v17i080: Fancy-printers for common languages. Summary: Posted to comp.sources.unix Keywords: pps slide Message-ID: <1104@rlgvax.UUCP> Date: 8 Feb 89 20:37:56 GMT References: <1470@fig.bbn.com> Reply-To: smadi@rlgvax.UUCP (On Paradise) Followup-To: comp.sources.d Organization: a guest of Computer Consoles Inc, Reston VA 22091 Lines: 17 The Pps fancy printer for PostScript devices which has just been posted in comp.sources.unix (Volume 17, Issue 80; Archive-name: pps). Pps handles C, awk, sh, lisp, mail, PostScript and English; adding more languages is simple. Pps is almost as fast as plain text-to-PostScript filters, so some people here use it daily for source-code listing. Most of the work is done by the printer: Unix just separates the input into tokens, using different lex(1) programs for each language. Slide does the same, but ``expands'' the output to fit over a full page. This is useful for making overhead projection transparencies. Both pps and slide run on Sun, Vax, Gould, CCI, RT and other BSD machines; they used to cope with SVR2, but that was a long time ago. On (a guest of uunet!rlgvax!smadi) Paradise From mimsy!tank!ncar!unmvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!sm.unisys.com!far-side.sm.unisys.com!dinh Sun Mar 5 19:09:40 EST 1989 Article 1921 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!tank!ncar!unmvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!sm.unisys.com!far-side.sm.unisys.com!dinh >From: dinh@far-side.sm.unisys.com (Dinh Le) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: local variables implementation Message-ID: <5673@sdcrdcf.sm.unisys.com> Date: 24 Feb 89 03:03:29 GMT Sender: news@sm.unisys.com Reply-To: dinh@sm.unisys.com (Dinh Le) Organization: Unisys Santa Monica Lines: 48 I have problems implementing local variables in postscript and wonder if there are solutions (good or bad). Here is a description: Using C-prolog, I wrote a LOGO compiler using postscript as the target language. Most commands in LOGO can easily be simulated by postscript; however, I have a hard time trying to simulate local variables declara- tion in a LOGO procedure and the return function inside a LOGO procedure. For example, if I have the following procedure procedure hilbert (size level parity) begin if level = 0 then return; left(parity * 90); /* turn the turtle left by deg */ hilbert(size level-1 -parity); forward(size); /* forward turtle by size units */ right(parity * 90); /* turn the turtle right by deg */ hilbert(size level-1 parity); forward size; hilbert(size level-1 parity); right(parity * 90); forward(size); hilbert(size level-1 -parity); left(parity * 90); end I've used following solution for local variables implementation, but it doesn't work /hilbert { /hilbertdict begin /size exch def /level exch def /parity exch def ... end } def Can someone spot the mistake(s) and suggest a solution for local variable implementation? Is there a nice way to implement the return function which exit from a postscript procedure? Thanks for any hints, 'Dinh From mimsy!tank!ncar!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!adobe!greid Sun Mar 5 19:12:44 EST 1989 Article 1926 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!tank!ncar!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!adobe!greid >From: greid@adobe.com (Glenn Reid) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: backspacing letters Message-ID: <525@adobe.UUCP> Date: 25 Feb 89 01:24:23 GMT References: <1281@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> Sender: news@adobe.COM Reply-To: greid@adobe.COM (Glenn Reid) Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View Lines: 58 In article <1281@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> beaty@handel.colostate.edu.UUCP (Billy Bad Ass) writes: >i'm trying to modify a font so that the control-H backspaces along with >printing nothing. this will allow me to print UNIX man pages and the >like without having to search the file for control-H's. here is how >i'm trying using the example on pp 99-100 in the "red book". i can get >'normal' letters to backspace, like the '/one' in the following >example; how do i specify control-H in the place of the '/one'? if >there is an easier way to get control-H to backspace, please let me >know at the following address Steve, I tried to get mail through to you on this, but it bounced several times, and since you've posted teh question, I'll just post my answer.... It just so happens that my brother and I put this backspace font together for a project he was working on, and it seems to work pretty well, although some of the naming is probably less general than it should be. Enjoy, Glenn Reid Adobe Systems ----------------------------- cut --- %! %Title: backspacefont.ps /backspacefont { /Courier findfont dup length dict begin { %forall 1 index /FID eq { pop pop } { def } ifelse } forall currentdict /UniqueID known { %if /UniqueID UniqueID 16#800000 xor def } if CharStrings length 1 add dict begin CharStrings { def } forall /backspace { -600 0 setcharwidth } bind def currentdict end /CharStrings exch def /Encoding Encoding 256 array copy def Encoding 8 /backspace put currentdict end definefont } bind def /CourierBack backspacefont /CourierBack findfont 48 scalefont setfont 100 600 moveto (ABC\b\b\b___DEF underline\b_\b_\b_\b_\b_\b_\b_\b_\b_) show showpage From mimsy!eneevax!haven!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!phoenix.cambridge.ac.UK!CET1 Sun Mar 5 19:17:26 EST 1989 Article 1943 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!eneevax!haven!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!phoenix.cambridge.ac.UK!CET1 >From: CET1@phoenix.cambridge.ac.UK (Chris Thompson) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: How long can a PostScript name be? Message-ID: <9FF0514456347C20@UK.AC.CAM.PHX> Date: 28 Feb 89 16:04:07 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 20 Thanks to Glenn Reid for his reply to my query, because it has told me something I didn't know about PostScript: you can apply the "length" operator to a name and get the length of the string necessary to hold the results of cvs'ing it. One couldn't have guessed this from the red book, I think. The "length" operator is documented as working on arrays, dictionaries, and strings. It doesn't explicitly say that those are the only things it works on, but one is probably led to assume that, as "typecheck" is one of the errors documented as possibly occurring. In actual fact, experimentation with a LaserWriter (PostScript version 38.0) suggests that "length" can be applied to absolutely anything, although the results aren't always as interesting as they are for a name. All types except arrays, dictionaries, names and strings seem to give the result 1. Chris Thompson JANET: cet1@uk.ac.cam.phx ARPA: cet1%phx.cam.ac.uk@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk From mimsy!tank!ncar!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!nih-csl!crtb Fri Mar 31 02:05:24 EST 1989 Article 2082 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!tank!ncar!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!nih-csl!crtb >From: crtb@nih-csl.UUCP (chuck bacon) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Debugging PostScript Keywords: debug postscript Kermit ehandler Message-ID: <936@nih-csl.UUCP> Date: 28 Mar 89 15:14:47 GMT Organization: NIH-CSL, Bethesda, MD Lines: 35 The easiest way I know of to debug PostScript programs is to use Kermit on a PC. Process the words wherever you like, get the .ps file to the PC, and use Kermit to Transmit the file. Details: 1. Wheedle, deal and steal as needed, to gain access to the printer's serial port via a PC-to-printer link. This is so valuable that any other substitute, even Glenn Reid's errorhandler.ps, fades in comparison. 2. Run MS-Kermit, and optionally ask it to log the session. The log file will contain the echo of the downloaded .ps file as well as error messages. 3. With Kermit in `connect' mode, talk to the printer, and get it to echo and talk back with the `executive' command. Precede with a ctrl-D to assure that the printer isn't intentionally ignoring you. 4. Now that you can see what you're typing and the printer responds, learn the use of '=', '==', 'print', 'pstack' and related debugging commands. Enter some simple program by hand, to verify you're really in touch, for example: /FontDirectory {pop ==} forall will type out the names of all 35 (or howevermany) fonts. 5. With the printer's prompt waiting, back off into MS-Kermit, and tell it to transmit myfile.ps where myfile.ps is an ordinary postscript file. You'll see it echoing. The trick is that MS-Kermit by default waits for the CR before sending each next line, so there's no danger of a data overrun. 6. When you see a PostScript error message rolling up your screen, hit ctrl-S or ctrl-C and see what it says. The error message will appear right after the input line which triggered it. 7. If you've lost PostScript (it's decided to ignore you until EOF), you'll have to debug by scrolling Kermit back and guessing. Failing this approach, do load Glenn Reid's ehandler.ps (which appears in comp.lang.postscript every once in a while), and celebrate as it not only prints onto the paper an error message, but also prints the image which otherwise would have been lost. It's wonderful! --But, it interferes a bit with the interactive debugging technique unless you're on a truly liberal paper budget. Chuck Bacon, crtb@alw.nih.gov (Internet), crb@nihcudec (Bitnet)-- crtb @ dxi.nih.gov, crtb @ alw.nih.gov, crb @ nihcudec (Bitnet), (301)496-4823 From mimsy!tank!eecae!shadooby!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!smann Sat May 13 04:31:52 EDT 1989 Article 2398 of comp.lang.postscript: Path: mimsy!tank!eecae!shadooby!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!smann >From: smann@june.cs.washington.edu (Stephen Mann) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Pscal Keywords: holidays Message-ID: <8193@june.cs.washington.edu> Date: 12 May 89 03:02:10 GMT Distribution: na Organization: U of Washington, Computer Science, Seattle Lines: 371 Here's a version of Pscal that has holidays hacked in. The program is a Unix C-shell script that sends PostScript directly to a printer. Documentation appears in the header comments of the script. Steve -------- #!/bin/csh -f #+ # # NAME: # pscal # # SYNOPSIS: # pscal [-Pprinter] [other printer flags] month year # # DESCRIPTION: # `Pscal' is a PostScript program to print calendars. # # The file $home/.holiday is read and used to print short messages # on specified days. The .holiday file should consist of lines of # the form # month:day:message string # Messages should be 20 characters or less, with no more than 4 # messages per day. No spaces should appear from the beginning # of a line until after the second colon. # Month and day should be numbers in the obvious ranges. # # OPTIONS: # Any argument whose first character is '-' is passed on to lpr. # # AUTHOR: # Patrick Wood # Copyright (C) 1987 by Pipeline Associates, Inc. # Permission is granted to modify and distribute this free of charge. # # HISTORY: # @Original From: patwood@unirot.UUCP (Patrick Wood) # @Shell stuff added 3/9/87 by King Ables # @Made pretty by tjt 1988 # @Holiday and printer flag passing hacks added Dec 1988 # @ by smann@june.cs.washington.edu # # BUGS: # `Pscal' doesn't work for months before 1753 (weird stuff happened # in September, 1752). # # A better format for the dates of holidays would be nice. # An escape to allow holiday messages to be raw PostScript would # also be nice. # The holiday messages should be handled more intelligently (ie, # the messages should be clipped to the day). # set printer="-Pps" # set default printer set flags top: if ($#argv > 0) then switch ("$argv[1]") case -P*: set printer="$argv[1]" shift argv goto top case -*: set flags = ($flags $argv[1]) shift argv goto top case *: if ($?month) then set year="$argv[1]" else if ($?year) then echo "usage: $0 [-Pprinter] month year" exit 1 else set month="$argv[1]" endif shift argv goto top endsw endif if ($?year) then else echo "usage: $0 [-Pprinter] [-flag1 -flag2 ...] month year" exit 1 endif if ( -e $home/.holiday ) then set noglob set holidays = \ ( \[ `grep ^$month\: $home/.holiday | awk -F: '{print $2,"(",$3,")" }'` ] ) else set noglob set holidays = (\[ ] ) endif lpr $printer $flags <