Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!rebel!dscatl!lindsay
From: lindsay@dscatl.UUCP (Lindsay Cleveland)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: POSTCRIPT/UNIX
Message-ID: <18566@dscatl.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jun 89 19:46:17 GMT
References: <30.2495ED6B@eastern.FIDONET.ORG>
Reply-To: lindsay@dscatl.UUCP (Lindsay Cleveland)
Organization: Digital Systems Co,  Atlanta, Ga
Lines: 60

In article <30.2495ED6B@eastern.FIDONET.ORG> Mark.Williams@eastern.FIDONET.ORG (Mark Williams) writes:
>
> 
>I need some help please.
>Can POSTSCRIPT be utilised in a UNIX environment?  Specifically I want to 
>know how to program POSTSCRIPT into a software package to print out 
>reports etc...to a POSTSCIPT compatible printer (like the new PAGE 
>Printers from IBM)....
>I am trying to gather some info in this area and would appreciate to be 
>set straight as to POSTSCRIPT'S power AND limitations within a UNIX 
>environment or at the very least as an interface with a UNIX system.
>                                                      /\/\ark

I don't know if this really answers your question, but here goes...

UNIX has no bearing on this situation since Postscript files are
really just ASCII text!  

I have little desire to learn Postscript as such.  So I use
"ditroff" for device-independent work.  Then the output is run
through a filter to convert it to whatever is needed (Postscript,
LaserJet, Imagen, ...)

We use the "eroff" package from ELAN, which has all of the above.
There are WYSIWYG packages, but I have been using *roff
packages for some time and find that with "MM" macros I can
generate the text in one concentrated stream of thought, and not
worry at all about how it is to be placed on paper..."MM" takes
care of all that.

Just for a worst-case example:
   1. Compose a document using my favorite editor on a laptop DOS
        computer onto a 3-inch micro-disk.  Input format is for the
        "mm" macro package of nroff/troff.
   2. Back at the home office, process the text:
          doscp /dev/microdisk:memo.doc /tmp/memo
          eroff -dps -mm /tmp/memo
   3. Everything is now queued for the Postscript printer...but it
        is not available today because the sales department is
        using it in a demonstration 300 miles away!  Time for "Plan B".
	There is a Postscript printer attached to a DOS
	computer in a friend's office two floors down.
   4. Make a DOS 5-inch diskette with the raw Postscript data:
	  troff -Tps -mm /tmp/memo | eps >/tmp/raw.ps
	  doscp /tmp/raw.ps  /dev/floppydisk:
       (note: 'eps' is the filter to process "ditroff" output into
              Postscript language.  Other filters are available for
	      LaserJet and Imagen printers)
   5. Run the floppy disk down the elevator to the DOS computer:
	  COPY A:RAW.PS LPT1
   6. Make points with the boss as I present him my beautiful memo
	while the other guys are still grubling about the printer
	being taken away!

Cheers,
  Lindsay

Lindsay Cleveland         Digital Systems Co.   Atlanta, Ga
  gatech!dscatl!lindsay     (404) 497-1902
                         (U.S. Mail:  PO Box 1149, Duluth, GA  30136)