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From: forbus@uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Volkswriter File Format -> TROFF Fo
Message-ID: <10800021@uiucdcsp>
Date: Sat, 25-Jan-86 14:33:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsp.10800021
Posted: Sat Jan 25 14:33:00 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 27-Jan-86 03:01:38 EST
References: <478@kontron.UUCP>
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Nf-From: uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU!forbus    Jan 25 13:33:00 1986


I know your problem well.  You'd probably be better off making your
translator 100% or, if your PC program allows printer libraries, writing a
printer description for whatever printer you really want to drive with it.

I use Final Word II (a.k.a.  Emacs/Scribe), and have a translator on my
Symbolics machine that does 95% of the translation job.  Getting that extra
5% is sufficiently painful (even in Lisp!)  that I'm going to try making a
DVI driver instead -- FWII can drive Applewriters and Laserjets, so it
should be able to deal with Imagens.

Doing the translation with unix "tools" seems like trying to build a bridge
with Elmer's glue and an X-acto knife, if your formatter has any
sophisticated commands.  I'm afraid we have created a brain-damaged
generation of computer science students, for they seem to not see anything
wrong with formatting papers using assembly language (i.e., TROFF).