Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!ssbn!bill From: bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted Subject: Re: Sources for HP Laserjet TROFF or NROFF Keywords: LASERJET TROFF NROFF Message-ID: <1222@ssbn.WLK.COM> Date: 11 Sep 89 22:01:34 GMT References: <118@quame.UUCP> <169@ssc.UUCP> Reply-To: bill@ssbn.UUCP (Bill Kennedy) Distribution: na Organization: W. L. Kennedy Jr. and Associates, Pipe Creek, TX Lines: 58 In article <169@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes: >In article <118@quame.UUCP>, bryan@quame.UUCP (Bryan A. Woodruff) writes: >> I am looking for a RELIABLE method of using TROFF or NROFF with [ ... ] > >I recently got jetroff from PC Research. The initial version [ ... ] >-- >Phil Hughes, SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155 (206)FOR-UNIX > amc-gw!ssc!fyl or uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl or attmail!ssc!fyl I want to add my $.02 regarding jetroff. I purchased Elan and eroff is quite nice. I prefer their font cartridge support to jetroff. If you don't already have a ditroff, you'll need to find one, I'm sure that Rick Richardson (uunet!pcrat!jetroff) can point you at one that you can afford. In many, even most respects I prefer jetroff but I still like and use eroff. My recommendation is twofold. If you are spending your own money and you don't have a lot of it, buy jetroff from PC Research. If you are spending school or company money, get both eroff from Elan and jetroff. You will find that they compliment each other very nicely. That will give you the best of both worlds. Also, if portability is an issue, jetroff wins again because it comes in source form (or at least mine did). Elan has ported their product to all of the popular *NIX platforms but you need to buy it all over again if you decide to switch equipment. When I bought eroff I knew that I wanted both 80286 Microport V/AT and AT&T 386 UNIX so they gave me a generous discount on the second license. If I decided today that I wanted it for the 3B2, I doubt (nor would I expect) they would be as generous. With jetroff I can be squeaky clean and send him another $50 for the new platform or just rip him off since I have the source. I'd opt for the former because he has been absolutely SUPER with support for a product that didn't make him as much money as he deserved. Elan's support has been efficient and effective. I've not been notified of enhancements or updates, but every question I've asked (phone or email) has been handled quickly and accurately. Textware has also been mentioned in this discussion and before I comment, let me make it clear that I don't have it. I do know some people that do and at least one of them has stopped using it because the documentation is non-existant. I've heard no complaints regarding the funtionality of Textware but I've heard nothing but bad about the (lack of) documentation. In the early stages of jetroff's life Rick was distributing updates faster than I could apply them. Since I have an LJ-II, none of the fixes were for anything I considered serious, but the LJ+ and clone owners would feel differently. In conclusion, since I mentioned documentation, if you're spending someone else's money Elan is a big win. You get everything that AT&T put out for the DWB 2.0 and many enhancements and helpful examples written by Elan. Rick has documented jetroff, but he doesn't tell you much about DWB. Both is the best buy if you have the $$. BTW Phil didn't mention that he's in the publishing business, consider that when you weigh his remarks. I didn't know an em from an en, but Phil _has_ to know his stuff. -- Bill Kennedy usenet {attctc,att,cs.utexas.edu,sun!daver}!ssbn!bill internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM or attmail!ssbn!bill