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From: mikec@wam.umd.edu (Michael D. Callaghan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: SoftPC and printing
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.000118.28414@wam.umd.edu>
Date: 2 Apr 91 00:01:18 GMT
References: <465@heaven.woodside.ca.us>
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In article <465@heaven.woodside.ca.us> glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) writes:
>
>I am curious about printing from applications running under SoftPC.  Can
>you print to the NeXT printer?  Does it work at all?  Do different
>applications work with different levels of success?  I presume that if
>the app generates PostScript then you're likely to be able to print, but
>some apps generate fairly printer-specific code that might not run on
>the NeXT printer.
>
>Just curious if anyone has tried this, and what level of printing support
>the folks at Insignia claim.
>
I played with a demo version of SoftPC at the NeXT booth at a recent
DC Computer Show. Apparently, SoftPC can do one of three things with
any IBM printer port:
	1: Redirect it to /dev/ttya
	2: Redirect it to /dev/ttyb (kinda obvious, really)
	3: Pipe it to ANY UNIX command you can type in its window.

#3 is the nice one. I've already found lj2ps, and it compiled perfectly
under the  NeXT. I have yet to try it, but the README file says that it
converts PCL4 text files to PostScript. No graphics, but most of my
printing is all text.

If you're running Windows 3.0, you can specifiy PostScript, and pipe
the printer output to lpr.

I hear that there is an Epson FX --> PostScript (including graphics)
in existance somewhere. That would be perfect, since pretty much everything
in the IBM world can print to an Epson FX printer. If anyone knows
where it is, please let me know.

I also plan to purchase an Epson printer with a serial interface, just
as a catch-all printer. 


-- 
MikeC
_________________________________________________________
Michael D. Callaghan, MDC Designs, University of Maryland
mikec@wam.umd.edu