Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!tank!cps3xx!cpsvax!smithda From: smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (J. Daniel Smith) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: *COMPLETE* Postscript Description (was: Using a postscript printer for previewing?) Summary: Why won't Adobe "tell all"? Keywords: unlisted instructions Message-ID: <5775@cps3xx.UUCP> Date: 13 Dec 89 02:59:36 GMT References: <28@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz> <17433@rpp386.cactus.org> Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP Reply-To: smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (J. Daniel Smith) Distribution: comp Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Department Lines: 39 In article <17433@rpp386.cactus.org> woody@rpp386.cactus.org (Woodrow Baker) writes: >In article <28@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz>, ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mqcc.mq.OZ (Ian Farquhar) writes: >> In article pollack@cis.ohio-state.edu writes: >> >[..] >> Re the showpage hidden ops. Presumably Adobe will publish them when >> >> One option to find these special "unlisted" instructions is to dump the >> ROM contents using the PEEK operator posted a couple on months ago. If > >The Redstone monitor is indeed in the roms. It turns out that on version >38.0 and below, you can download s1-s9 records and alter registers. on ver >[..] >crude, but does work. There is a reference to a peek operator that was posted >[..] >other neat and useful functions available also. I arrived at these quite >independantly of Adobe. Why are we being forced to resort to dis-assembling ROMs to find out all the features of PostScript printers? While it does sound rather mystical and exciting (like the old days of computing), it is a lot of work. Doesn't Adobe know that there are people determined to find this kind of stuff out, and its just a matter of time before all their secrets are common knowledge? I find it a bit silly that people are using ROM monitors to find "secret" PostScript commands when Adobe's "red book" claims to be the complete discription of the PostScript language. I realize that Adobe needs to make a profit and protect its trade secrets, but I don't think this is the way to do it. Just a few thoughts after following a couple weeks on this topic... Dan ========================================================================= J. Daniel Smith Internet: smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu Michigan State University BITNET: smithdan@msuegr East Lansing, Michigan Usenet: uunet!frith!smithda God created the integers; all the rest is the work of man. - Leopold Kronecker =========================================================================