Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!linus!agate!bionet!arisia!ebert
From: ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Freedom of Press Light and the DeskWriter
Message-ID: <14110@arisia.Xerox.COM>
Date: 12 Nov 90 17:13:44 GMT
References: <1990Nov12.140009.11574@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Reply-To: ebert@arisia.UUCP (Bob Ebert)
Organization: Xerox Sunnyvale System Software Unit
Lines: 56

As promised, I tried some more complex PostScript files over the weekend.  FOPL
didn't have any problems imaging the files, but I did have some problems with 
one file in particular.

The file in question was the "X Virus Warning" joke 'poster'.  When I printed
it from FOPL directly to the DeskWriter, the top margin (about 1/4 inch) was
lost.  That is, the image was higher than it should have been.  However, when
I had FOPL image to QuickDraw and print on the DW, it printed correctly.

Imaging to QuickDraw is a feature I didn't mention previously, because I didn't
notice it.  One of the 'printers' FOPL supports is 'QuickDraw'.  If you choose
this 'printer' you can then choose which printer (from the drivers in the System
Folder) to print to.  I thought this was pretty slick.  Unfortunately, if you
print to QuickDraw, you can't print in the background.  (However, if you've
got a spooler, your printing will work with the spooler as from any other
application...)  This allows for a really convoluted way to print... you could 
generate PostScript from the LW driver, launch FOPL, image the PS to QuickDraw,
send the QuickDraw to the LW driver, turning it into PostScript... repeat as
necessary, until something breaks.  I didn't try this.

The other big problem I had was imaging fonts that weren't in the basic 17.
FOPL comes with info for imaging the basic 17 LW fonts.  (4 Helveticas,
4 Times, 4 Couriers, Symbol, and (I think?) Helvetica Light and Black.)  However,
if the PS file you need to print was generated under the assumption that
some other font (say, Avante Garde) existed in the printer, FOPL will image this
as Courier.  I couldn't find a way to get FOPL to recognize my Adobe fonts.
If you generate the PostScript yourself, everything is peachy since the font
info will be included in the PostScript file, and FOPL can image it.  But, well,
I bought FOPL mostly because I need to occassionally image a PS file that
someone else generated, and if they used a non-basic Font that was installed
in their printer, then I'm stuck.  I plan on calling the FOPL people and
seeing about preserving my investment in Adobe fonts.  (An offer that came
with FOPL gave me the extended LW font metrics for FOPL for $95, so there
is at least one way to get some more fonts for FOPL.)

I'm still planning on keeping this package, because I do occassionally need
to print PostScript files from other sources.  (For instance, the MacOberon
documentation just sent to comp.binaries.mac.  This didn't look all that great
when I printed it, the character spacing wasn't quite right , but I'm not sure if
that's a FOPL problem or a problem with whatever the authors used to generate
the PostScript.  In this case, it imaged the same both to QuickDraw and to the
DeskWriter directly.)

I still recommend FOPL, however using this package isn't quite a smooth and
seamless as I had first hoped.  (I was kind of hoping for a replacement driver
for the DW that handled PostScript... but I guess that's a pipe dream.)  If
the FOPL folks have any useful information on my problems, I'll post another
followup.  Someone just gave me a bunch of PostScript generated by FrameMaker.
(demo files, I think) that I'll try imaging tonight.  If anyone out there has
a file that they'd like tested with FOPL (that was generated with the LW
6.0.1 or later driver, and doesn't expect the extended fonts) they are welcome
to mail them to me and I'll try imaging them.  (The crossword that tiles the
plain, recently posted to rec.puzzles, imaged just fine.  I haven't solved the
crossword yet, though.)

			--Bob