Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Apple: Please fix Postscript on mac Message-ID: <71200007@p.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 13 Jun 90 18:52:00 GMT References: <70500007@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Lines: 55 Nf-ID: #R:m.cs.uiuc.edu:70500007:p.cs.uiuc.edu:71200007:000:2751 Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies Jun 13 13:52:00 1990 I received the following information about system 7.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, ALL of the recommendations you made have already been incorporated into LaserWriter v. 7.0a9, and will be present in the final release. Also, the driver no longer requires a separate Laser Prep file, and furthermore does not permanently install the LaserPrep stuff in printer RAM but uploads it each time, eliminating driver conflicts on a network. -------------------- There will be a "Postscript[TM] file" radio button in the laserwriter dialogue. When you click on this radio button, an SF dialogue appears so that you may name the file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This may NOT be a good thing, for the following two reasons: (1) It should be possible to generate a postscript file BY DEFAULT. People who use remote printers or service bureaus never want their mac to look for a laserwriter. For these people, they'd like to hack on the laserwriter icon using ResEdit, or configure postscript through the chooser, so a file is always generated. (2) We really want to upload the postscript file ASAP, using a realiable protocol (kermit). If the postscript goes into a file, the upload script cannot FIND the file if user picks some random filename, or if the file is directed to a random directory (as it is now). Will there be a way of naming the file "Postscript0", "Postscript1",... by default, like in the old days [perhaps if the user types nothing for the filename]?) Will there be a way to predict the destination of the file (as there is now...) I am trying to make life as simple as possible for my users. Right now, they must do two things: (A) check the "disk file checkbox" [this step can go away if Apple is will do (1) above]. Our laserwriter resources are hacked to send postscript to the top-level directory. (C) double-click a Red Ryder script, and possibly log into a mainframe. I don't want the user to have to select a file to upload, the file is implicit. But if the user can give any name he wants to the file, then he will be forced to reselect the name he chose when printing. Our script uploads, prints, deletes the local file, and logs out, voila. Ideally, this would all happen seamlessly. Can Apple provide a way for the laserwriter driver to hand off its output to another running program (or my own custom-written login / file transfer / logout software?) I hope Apple gets this stuff right. Don W. Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois 1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801 ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies