Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!educ-isis!teexdwu From: teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: How can I offset output from dvips Message-ID: <1990Nov24.212552.20869@ioe.lon.ac.uk> Date: 24 Nov 90 21:25:52 GMT References: <2424@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> <1990Nov24.002116.10704@ioe.lon.ac.uk> <1990Nov24.055535.9979@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Reply-To: teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) Organization: Institute of Education University of London Lines: 43 In article <1990Nov24.055535.9979@Neon.Stanford.EDU> rokicki@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki) writes: > >> I was rather worried that it didn't seem possible with dvips to specify >> the paper size very precisely: just a4, letter, etc. >> What about if I am printing a tiny booklet, say with pages only 3 >> inches wide, and 4 inches high, and sending output to bromide. I don't >> want to pay for an a4 page area of bromide for each of my 3x4 pages. > >Do you have a printer that cuts the paper down to size automatically for you, >and only feeds tiny sheets? Or what? I don't understand what you mean. >What's this `pay for an a4 page area'? Tom, when I send my files over Janet to the Univ. of London's Linotronic, the results come back to me printed on a long, uncut roll of bromide. Like lavatory paper (the final denouement of TeX's anatomical metaphor). The text is normally printed parallel to the long edge of the bromide: ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------- So if I have a tiny print area, but an a4 "page", there is masses of white bromide for which I am still charged. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, my sheets are cut down, although it's not automatic: I usually do it with a guillotine, by hand, although there may be machines that do this. But since it is only once per book, it isn't too arduous. One way round this is to use a tool like your dvidvi to jiggle the DVI pages around so that there are two "pages" per a4 page. But it would be simpler if I could just tell the Linotronic to start a new page after a certain length, i.e., tell it my page width. Dominik