Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!Taffy.rice.edu!jack
From: jack@Taffy.rice.edu (Jack W. Howarth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Deskwriter Help III
Keywords: upgrade suggestions
Message-ID: <1990Dec17.015359.16318@rice.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 90 01:53:59 GMT
References: <7453@alvin.mcnc.org>
Sender: news@rice.edu (News)
Organization: Rice University
Lines: 52

In article <7453@alvin.mcnc.org> omo@mcnc.org (Julie E. Omohundro) writes:
>
>I'd like to buy some Christmas presents for my HP Deskwriter,
>and would appreciate suggestions!
>
>
>SuperLaserSpooler - does it slow down printing much?
>

Not on an SE/30 at least. The background printing seems to work quite well with SLS 2.02.

>More HP Quickdraw fonts.

Not worth it. The extra fonts are currently a freebie with DeskWriters. Plus they aren't postscript outlines so ATM can't use them.
>
>Adobe Type Manager - which I really don't understand.  It improves the
>appearance of postscript screen fonts, right?  Does this mean it won't
>help the appearance of the screen fonts I have on my Deskwriter (given
>that they're Quickdraw?)  Does it affect the appearance of the fonts
>that are printed?  Do anything else?  I don't use many fonts, but I'd
>like to be able read the smaller type sizes on my screen better.

The Mac prints using bitmaps of fonts that are appropriate for the resolution of the output device. Since bitmaps are orignally designed for the screen (72 dpi)
when printer at higher resolutions a multiple of that point size is sent. The
Imagewriter II gets 2 fold, the Imagewriter LQ 3 fold and LW IISC/HP DW's get 
about 4 fold. When the Mac tries to get a bitmap of a particular size and that size doesn't exist a copy is generated by scaling from the nearest available size. ATM intercepts that function and looks to see if it can generate a bitmap from
PostScript outline fonts. ATM 2.0 is really fast at least on a SE/30. HP rates the 300 dpi printing on a DW as 1 page per minute. With ATM 2.0, I can actually get close to 2 ppm.

>Freedom of the Press or Ultrascript - I gather both of these allow you
>to print postscript fonts on a Deskwriter.  That would be nice, but...
>I'm not *that* unhappy with the quality of the Quickdraw fonts, and
>I wouldn't be willing to trade speed (especially if my spooler is going
>to slow me down too) for better quality. Do these things slow down
>printing?  Have any other disadvantages?  Do they affect screen fonts?
>Any reason to buy one over the other?  FOP Light is the cheapest and
>has 17 fonts--more than I'll ever use.  Do you only get more fonts with
>Ultrascript or the regular FOP?  Or do they offer other features, too?
>I often need to print out files on Mac systems other than my own.  Is
>a postcript font (say Times) printed on a Deskwriter with one of these
>packages *exactly* the same as a postscript font printed on the Apple
>laser printers?
>
FOP is a real kludge. It only really works in the background when using a serial DW and that requires that Appletalk be enabled which means that you must use your modem port for the printer. That means no modem unless you have a ADB modem.
The program is sloooow. I mean 0.2 ppm compared with 2 ppm under ATM 2.0. The
17 fonts in FOP are actually only the original LW fonts not the LW Plus set.
That is Helvetica, Times, Courier and Symbol. The fonts are NOT Adobe PostScript
outlines and will not be exactly the same at small point sizes


Bottom line... buy ATM 2.0 with the ATM PlusPack and SuperLaserSpool 2.02.

                             Jack Howarth