Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!visix!amanda From: amanda@visix.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm Subject: Re: Pass Through Printing (was Re: MacTerminal 3.0) Message-ID: Date: 1 Nov 90 21:36:22 GMT References: <11039@goofy.Apple.COM> <25@uarthur.UUCP> Organization: Visix Software Inc., Reston, VA Lines: 27 In article <25@uarthur.UUCP> rpcfod@uarthur.UUCP (Robert Patt-Corner) writes: >But the immediate issue isn't so much implementing a general purpose all >flavors printing subsystem as implementing a specific and well-defined >characteristic of a single (well OK, two) terminal emulator - the Digital >VT320. Solution two should do a very nice job it seems to me ... the >"PRINTER ON" and "PRINTER OFF" escape sequences define very precisely >where the page to be printed begins and ends. Would that it were so simple. First, though, let's simplify it by dropping all of the line-by-line printing support, so that all we have is Printer Controller Mode. If an application sends an entire page (or document) in one invocation of printer controller mode, life is fine (this is, in fact, what my implementation does). However, there are a number of applications that toggle into and out of printer controller mode, thus giving the user such interesting effects as "one line per page," etc. It all depends on the application. Having been in the position of having had to talk to irate customers, I can assure you that telling them that their VAX software is ill-behaved is not going to make them any happier :). And of all vendors, Apple is liable to get the most flak for putting out something that is only partially functional. I mean, look at this whole discussion :)... -- Amanda Walker amanda@visix.com Visix Software Inc. ...!uunet!visix!amanda -- Good Morning is a contradiction in terms.