From: MERC::"uunet!CRVAX.SRI.COM!RELAY-INFO-VAX" 22-MAY-1992 19:21:13.13 To: INFO-VAX@KL.SRI.COM CC: Subj: Postscript symbiont with (fast) tektronix converter. I have just finished creating a much modified version of the LASER symbiont for postscript printers that includes a fast tektronix converter. I have found that most graphic packages produce poor postscript code, so that it is much faster to output in tektronix and then use this symbiont to write to the printer. (It is also much faster than DECPrint's converter.) It also includes automatic detection of tektronix and postscript files. It has much improved error notification code. Errors and printer problems are broadcasted to the user's terminal. Other new features can be found by reading the help file which follows. I'm looking for people to test it. It can be obtained via ANONYMOUS FTP at FRED.PFC.MIT.EDU. Once fully tested, I will then distribute it to this list. Mark --------------------- 1 Postscript This help describes how to print to postscript printers. This only applies to queues not running DEC's software. The two have similarities, but the non-DEC software is faster, particularly when printing tektronix files. Tektronix plots also are printed with a smaller line width, which can be changed to any value, if so desired. The software also attempts to determine if the file is postscript or tektronix rather than requiring the user to specify that information on the PRINT command. You can determine what software your printer queue is running by using the SHOW QUEUE/FULL command. If it shows PROCESSOR=CPS$SMB, then it is DEC, and you should refer to the main help topic PRINT_Parameters. The parameters subtopic describes parameters that are similar to DEC's parameters and are mainly not dependent on the file type, such as PAGE_LIMIT and NUMBER_UP. The forms subtopic describes file dependent parameters such as margins for text files. For parameters which are general to all printer queues, see the main help topic PRINT. 2 Parameters The PRINT command accepts the /PARAMETERS qualifier to specify functions which emulates the DECprint Printing Services software for printers. Format: $ PRINT/PARAMETERS=(parameter[,...]) file-spec If you specify only one parameter, you can omit the parentheses. If you specify two or more parameters, separate them with commas and enclose the set in parentheses. 3 DATA_TYPE DATA_TYPE=data-type-name Specifies the file type. Data-type-name can be ANSI, ASCII (same as ANSI), TEK4014, PS or POSTSCRIPT (same as PS). If you do not specify DATA_TYPE, it tries to determine if the file is TEK4014 or POSTSCRIPT. Otherwise, it defaults to the data type associated with the print queue. If there is no data type associated with the print queue, the data type defaults to ANSI. ANSI is used for printing text. It does not emulate an LN03. 3 MESSAGES MESSAGES=KEEP Specifies what happens to job-generated event messages. Messages are printed on the job log page. MESSAGES=KEEP specifies that messages are recorded in a file named .LASER_LOG. 3 PAGE_LIMIT PAGE_LIMIT=([lower-limit,][upper-limit]) Specifies the numbers of the first and last pages to print. Header, trailer, and burst pages are not included in the count. If you omit the lower limit, printing starts at the first page of the job. If you omit the upper limit, printing continues to the end of the job. You can omit the parentheses if you specify only the upper limit. The maximum value for upper-limit is 10000. The default is to print the entire job. 3 PAGE_ORIENTATION PAGE_ORIENTATION=logical-orientation Specifies the orientation of printed output on the logical page. Logical-orientation can be PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE. The default is PORTRAIT. If the DATA_TYPE is POSTSCRIPT this parameter is ignored. If the DATA_TYPE is TEK4014, the default is LANDSCAPE. 3 NUMBER_UP NUMBER_UP=n NUMBER_UP specifies the maximum number of pages you can print per sheet. This is the number of pages per sheet that will actually print. (A sheet is a physical piece of paper. A page is an image, which you would generally print on a single sheet.) A border is printed around each page. You can disable this by adding the parameter BORDER=NONE. The value n can be from 1 to 16. The default is NUMBER_UP=1. 3 SIDES SIDES=sides-layout-value Specifies whether your job will print on two sides of a sheet, and whether it will print in tumble mode. Sides-layout-value can be: 2, TWO, or Your job is printed on both sides of a sheet. TWO_SIDED_DUPLEX TUMBLE or Your job is printed on both sides of the sheet, TWO_SIDED_TUMBLE and alternating pages are rotated 1800. 2 Forms The following forms are defined for use with postscript printers. Some forms have special parameters associated only with that form, and are listed following the form name. They are passed as follows on the print command: /param=(parameter=value,...) Use the SHOW QUEUE/FULL command to see the default form for your queue. Form Parameters HEADERS Print file with filename and page number headers. ncopies: Number of copies. (default: 1) Note: This produces uncollated copies vs. collated copies produced by the /COPY qualifier. fsize: Font size in points. (default: 10) wide: If true set landscape mode. (default: false) title: If false suppress the page headers. (default: true) ncolumns: Number of columns. (default: 1) linelimit: Max number of lines per page. (default: 77) font: Font type. (default: Courier) Must be specified as follows: font="(fontname)". left: Left margin. (default: 1. inch, .4 for landscape) right: Right margin. (default: .25 inch) (has affect only when used with ncolumns or alternate.) top: Top margin. (default: .61 inch, .4 for landscape) bottom: Bottom margin. (default: .5 inch, .3 for landscape) alternate: If true, alternate left and right margins at end of page for printing double sided output. (default: false) LETTER Same as HEADERS except default title to false. LANDSCAPE Same as LETTER except default wide to true. 2UP Same as LANDSCAPE except default ncolumns to 2. TEK4014 Print a tektronix file. lw: Line width. (default: 1.5 points) PAINT Print a MacPaint image. ncopies: Number of copies. (default: 1) scale: Scale factor. (default: 4, recommended: 1-4) BITIMAGE Print an uncompressed image. ncopies: Number of copies. (default: 1) scale: Scale factor. (default: 1) xsize: Number of pixels in a row. (default: 512) ysize: Number of pixel columns. (default: 512) pxlwid: Number of bits in a pixel, default 1, values: 1,2,4,8 ZETA Print a zeta plot file. ncopies: Number of copies. (default: 1) scale: Scale factor. (default: 1) zFont: false - selects Helvetica font for internal character true - (default) uses Zeta characters penscale: Scaling factor for pen point (default: 1) usepens: false - (default) ignore alternate pen select Example: $ PRINT/QUEUE=ALW/FORM=HEADERS/PARAM=(LINELIMIT=66,FSIZE=14) STUFF.TXT Prints STUFF.TXT with a font size of 14 and a limit of 66 lines per page. 2 Spooling Spooled file names have the following syntax: _FormName._ParameterList where ParameterList is a list of parameters separated by "_". Keywords are separated from their values with "-". Example: $ copy thing.mpt alw:_paint._scale-4_ncopies-5 Mark