Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!udel!princeton!burst!blackman
From: blackman@burst.Princeton.EDU (Scott Michael Blackman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: StyleWriter printer
Message-ID: <8074@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 9 Apr 91 21:58:04 GMT
References: <5675@vela.acs.oakland.edu> <51273@apple.Apple.COM> <1991Apr9.071355.7799@incom.incom.de>
Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University
Lines: 29

In article <51273@apple.Apple.COM> shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) writes:

>For your information: the StyleWriter comes with an INIT for the MAC which
>does TrueType.  It does -NOT- have -ANY- fonts built-in (ie, in ROM in the
>printer itself).  To drive the printer you send it bitmaps and it prints stuff.

It would seem to me, then, that TrueType for the Mac works on the same
principle as ATM (Adobe Type Manager), except that it is implemented in
the system software (7.0) instead of through an INIT that patches the Font
Manager/(and Print Manager?).  The StyleWriter INIT is a patch
to make the printer work on a non-System 7.0 (non-TrueType system).
It would also appear that the same font quality could be achieved using
ATM, as long as the printer is a standard QuickDraw printer.

Anyway, back to IIgs:

Since there has never been a real reason not to implement ATM on the
IIgs (well, speed is a "real" reason, and we don't have a standard "outline
font" format, like TrueType or ATM's outline fonts), there is
still no reason NOT to implement a StyleWriter driver.  If, in fact,
this driver is written, it could be adapted fairly easily to a
fully-ATM-like patcher, which would print to ImageWriters (and screen,
and ...) as well.

Does this sound sensible?

Scott Blackman
blackman@phoenix.princeton.edu
I wrote HFSLink.  Any bugs?