Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!rpp386!woody
From: woody@rpp386.cactus.org (Woodrow Baker)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: ruler.ps - an inch/point ruler of your very own
Summary: interesting though
Keywords: floating point, custom Postscript processors
Message-ID: <17684@rpp386.cactus.org>
Date: 17 Jan 90 18:52:54 GMT
References: <21772@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <1990Jan14.180821.18711@trigraph.uucp> <100@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz>
Organization: River Parishes Programming, Plano, TX
Lines: 23

In article <100@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz>, ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mqcc.mq.OZ (Ian Farquhar) writes:
> In article <17662@rpp386.cactus.org> woody@rpp386.cactus.org (Woodrow Baker) writes:
> >In article <1990Jan14.180821.18711@trigraph.uucp>, bruce@trigraph.uucp (Bruce Freeman) writes:
> >> The great thing about points is that there are so many of them to the inch.
> 
> 
> It is also interesting to ponder that if you REALLY wanted to speed up
> PostScript, then it might be best to develop a processor that is
> optimized for it.  Such optimizations would include:
> 
> 	String comparison instruction
> 	Bit-blit operators
> 	Floating point instructions
> 	Graphics primitives etc.
> 
> Such a RIP could be highly pipelined to increase throughput.  It could
> JUST be done in a couple of VLSI chips with today's technology.  After
> all, the Amiga already has a chipset with hardware line draw, area fill
> and a highly sophisticated bit-blitter in a low-cost machine.
> 
hmmm, I wonder what a PS interpreter written to use the Amiga chipset would
do?  Maybe someday someone will write a PS interpreter for the Amiga.  It
would seem to be a better machine to do it for than the mac....