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From: SCHDAVZ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (Dave Schweisguth)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript,comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: MS-DOS WP 5.1 -> Unix-attached HP LaserJet III w. PostScript
Message-ID: <91175.205539SCHDAVZ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Date: 25 Jun 91 00:55:39 GMT
References: <91168.135650SCHDAVZ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Organization: Yale University
Lines: 42

In article <91168.135650SCHDAVZ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>, I said:
>
>I would like to produce PostScript files with MS-DOS WordPerfect 5.1 which can
>be uploaded to our Unix box (SGI Personal Iris) and printed on the attached
>printer (an HP LaserJet III with HP's PostScript cartridge). I have defined
>the
>printer inside WordPerfect with the driver that came with it (HP LaserJet III
>(PostScript)) and set the output to a DOS file. So far so good.  But when
>uploaded to the SGI, lp, cp, and cat > /dev/plp are all useless. As far as we
>know the problem is not with uploading; other files have been successfully
>Kermited with no trouble. Can anyone describe what it is that 1) the LaserJet
>wants that 2) WordPerfect doesn't provide?
 
Thanks to all those who responded ... and the winner is Nathan Liskov, of the
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, who was the first to suggest that we use
Kermit in binary mode! It works. We can't tell why, though; the offending files
seem to be entirely ASCII. No matter; they print.
 
For the record, the problem was _not_ ...
 
   Failure to use Kermit's text mode (the moral: always try both)
   Very long lines (which were a problem in an old WP PostScript driver; we
     have a current one without that problem)
   Presence of ^D at the beginning of the file
   Absence of the PostScript 'magic number' ('%!') at the beginning of the
     file
   Whitespace in front of the magic number
   Missing PostScript 'header' file (a la Macintosh)
 
... but all these problems were suggested to me, most by people who had
actually had these problems in the past! Evidently we weren't alone in our
difficulties. Thanks again to everyone, and keep on printin'.
 
P.S. ... apologies to the comp.lang.postscript folks, this not being a
PostScript problem at all ...
 _____________________________________________________________________________
/                                                                             \
|   Dave Schweisguth               5386 Yale Station           203-436-2694   |
|   schdavz@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu    New Haven, CT 06502-5386                   |
|                                                                             |
| "If a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth." -- George Bernard Shaw |
\_____________________________________________________________________________/