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From: korn@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Printerdrivers producing Postscript ??
Message-ID: <12759@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sat, 29-Mar-86 00:10:36 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.12759
Posted: Sat Mar 29 00:10:36 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Mar-86 02:29:28 EST
References: <279@daimi.UUCP> <2063@uwmacc.UUCP>
Reply-To: korn@ucbvax.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 33

In article <2063@uwmacc.UUCP> sumacc@uwmacc.UUCP (Rick Keir) writes:
>> ... I've been told that 
>>Apple's own driver, the LaserWriter produces kind of
>>Postscript but not "the real thing". 
>
>This is *not* true.  The LaserWriter printer is a "real" Postscript
>printer;  the Laserwriter driver produces "real" Postscript.
>

I'm sorry, but what you said here is *not* true.  The LaserWriter printer
is a real PostScript printer, true enough; but the LaserWriter printer
driver that a macintosh uses doesn't produce TRUE PostScript code.  Rather
it produces a half-way code that the faster 68000 on the LaserWriter 
completely decodes, according to the instructions in a file called
"LaserPrep", which the mac always downloads previous to printing the
first time.  The exception to this is Aldus Pagemaker, which has yet
a third coding scheme-->this is why there is a file called Aldus Prep.

One could argue (read "flame") that the two taken together constitute
"real" Postscript.  My answer:  you take the file generated by your
mac (and created on disk by holding down command-F while printing) and try to
find each and every instruction listed therein in a Pagemaker manual.

What is unfortunate is that there isn't (yet...) a program that will take
the *Prep file and the command-f'd output and come up with the true
Pagemaker code that one could very easily modify (as, to my knowledge, there
is no manual outside of apple that explains all the commands they use
in their pseudo-pagemaker language).

Well, 'nuff said.

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Peter Korn	korn@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU     {dual,decvax,sdcsvax}!ucbvax!korn