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From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: how to print with troff on a UNIX pc?
Message-ID: <14134@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 12 Oct 90 14:53:19 GMT
References: <74@docwrk.UUCP>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 22

In article <74@docwrk.UUCP> srh@docwrk.UUCP (Steven R. Houser) writes:
>x T post
>Why does my printer just print this instead of interpreting it?

Why shouldn't your printer print text files sent to it?
You're asking the wrong question.  If you referred to the Documenter's
WorkBench manuals before trying to use the Documenter's WorkBench
software, you would have known that the output from troff must be
postprocessed by a device-specific utility.  I note that you told
troff to use the font information for device "post", which I assume
is some sort of PostScript device.  While any troff postprocessor is
supposed to be able to handle troff output that was prepared for any
device, the font usage will be suboptimal unless the device specified
to troff matches the one that will be used to display the output, and
many troff postprocessors do not properly handle mismatched devices,
fonts, etc.  (While that's a bug, it's a common fact of real life.)

Troff postprocessors for H-P LaserJets are available from a variety
of sources, for example Elan Computer Group's EROFF package.

There is much more that could be said about the care and feeding of
LaserJets in a UNIX environment, but you really need a resident guru.