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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!dalcs!silvert
From: silvert@dalcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: PROFF... has anybody improved it yet??
Message-ID: <2510@dalcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Apr-87 06:09:10 EST
Article-I.D.: dalcs.2510
Posted: Tue Apr  7 06:09:10 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Apr-87 06:27:51 EST
References: <657@sask.UUCP>
Reply-To: silvert@dalcs.UUCP (Bill Silvert)
Organization: Marine Ecology Lab.
Lines: 35
Keywords: bidirectional printers, Itoh
Summary: There are lots of printers out there

In article <657@sask.UUCP> long@sask.UUCP writes:
>However, [proff] is just pitiful when trying to do BOLDFACE or
>UNDERLINE.  I know tht backspace is a handyway to do things so that
>they work on anything, but it is painfully slow, especially when I
>know that my printer is being slowed to a tenth of its speed.
>
>Since I have the source to PROFF, I intend on getting into it, and
>enabling it to do the things it does do CORRECTLY, and to maybe
>add somemore features, like ITALICS, etc.  I am going to set this up
>to work with an EPSON FX-80 compatible printer, (the industry
>standard for an ST??).

1. the Epson is pretty common, but should not be viewed as a standard.
   This is evident from the number of alternate printer drivers that are
   coming out now.  Also, many "compatible" printers such as the SMM804
   are not fully compatible.  If proff gets locked into a single
   hardware device it will be a step backward, not forward.

   You should aim for the inclusion of a configuration file, such as
   that which comes with 1st-Word, or the Degas drivers.  These are not
   difficult to write.

   Keep in mind that proff is not restricted to the ST.  I have it
   running under Unix, which means that I can run off proff-formatted
   documents on the high-speed printer at work.

2. alas, the backspace feature does not work on every printer!  My C.
   Itoh ProWriter cannot backspace in bidirectional mode, and probably
   many bidirectional models have the same problem.  All the more reason
   for configuration files.
-- 
Bill Silvert, Modelling/Statistics Group
Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
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