Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!ethz!czychi From: czychi@ethz.UUCP (Gary Czychi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Page Rectangles (Reply part one) Message-ID: <6155@ethz.UUCP> Date: 8 Oct 90 12:16:36 GMT References: <10585@goofy.Apple.COM> Reply-To: czychi@bernina.UUCP (Gary Czychi) Organization: ETH Zuerich, Switzerland Lines: 85 (I'm sorry, I have to submit this reply in several parts because I can't figure out how to do it in one part. The whole text is rejected by my mailer because its so long). Part One follows: In article <10585@goofy.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: >In article <6145@ethz.UUCP> czychi@ethz.UUCP (Gary Czychi) writes: >> After playing around with print records and a couple of printers I wonder >> which random methods define the printable area of the page, the 'page >> rectangle'. >> For example: ImageWriter >> ------------------------ > That's correct. The width of the page rect is always 8 inches, > because that is the maximum printing width of the mechanism. The > 8-inch rect is centered on the paper. Top and bottom margins are > determined by the paper-handling characteristics of the printer. Yes, I also found that the page width with all three paper sizes is 8 inches. But take a look at what Sean Parent has to say (below). > > For example: LaserWriter IISC > > ----------------------------- > > margins > > Format Paper Size t,l,b,r printable area > > Inches points points > > > > US Letter 8.5 X 11.0 15,18,15,18 438.912 > > US Legal 8.5 X 14.0 54,66,54,66 432.000 > > A4 Letter 8.3* X 11.7 15,58,15,59 389.760 > > > Does anybody know the reason why the printable area of the > > bigger page is smaller than that of the smaller page?? Why > > is there such a big difference between the left/right > > margins and the top/bottom margins of the legal paper? > > On the SC (as on the Postscript LaserWriters) the constraints are that > the mechanism requires a minimum margin of about 1/4 inch all around, > ... That explains only the margins of the US Letter size paper. They are all about 1/4 inch (1/4" = 18 points). > ... > and the total image area is limited by the size of the printer's RAM. > ... > You are mistaken here about the margins for A4 with the SC. They are > similar to the margins for letter-size paper, i.e. about 1/4 inch all > around (sorry, I don't have the exact numbers). No, I don't think so: When there is enough RAM in the printer to print out a rectangle of 576 x 762 points (= page size of US letter) which totals 438.912 points, then I'm asking you why there's only RAM for 432.000 points (480 x 900 points) for a US legal paper size. and even less points for an A4 paper size (= 389.760 points, 480 x 812). Us Letter paper size/page size: 484.702/438.912 A4 Letter paper size/page size: 500.990/389.760 (!!!) US Legal paper size/page size: 616.896/432.000 (!!!) These figures prove: The bigger the paper size, the smaller the printable area. The above mentioned figures are the exact figures of a print record on my SE/30 with system US 6.0.5. I can send you more evidence if you like. > > --- Footnotes --- > > *A4 letter width is better represented by 8.3" X 11.7" (instead of > > Apple's 8.2" X 11.7"). The correct A4 paper size would be 8.27" X 11.69" > > or 595 points X 842 points (exactly 210 mm X 297 mm). > > I'm not sure where you saw 8.2. We calculate (210/2.54)x72 to get a width > of 595 dots for the paper, and this is the value we use internally. The exact A4 size in the PREC resource of the LaserWriter SC is 1400 X 990 (1/120 inch). Better figures would be 1403 X 992 (1/120"). ---- Part two follows in an instant ---