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From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: nroff problems
Message-ID: <6197@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 29-Jul-87 21:03:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.6197
Posted: Wed Jul 29 21:03:01 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Aug-87 01:05:21 EDT
References: <774@PSUECLB>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 34

In article <774@PSUECLB> duh@psueclb.BITNET writes:
>The problem is that nroff doesn't put form feed characters in.

Standard nroff never outputs form-feeds; it uses new-lines to advance to
the next page.  Normally this wouldn't much matter, but if you're using a
sheet feeder, usually the feeder needs about an inch of extra paper travel.
You can get around this problem by telling nroff (or perhaps a macro package)
that your paper length is an inch longer than it really is, and adjusting
the top and bottom margins (header/footer traps) appropriately.  Yes, it's a
pain.

>        Also, one of the appendicies is full of equations, and uses the
>eqn program.  With eqn, I get zillions of "Floating Exception" errors,
>and I can't figure out why.  I tried neqn, and it worked.

I don't know what is wrong with your eqn, but you should always use
neqn with nroff (eqn with troff).

>  But, the
>escape sequences it put in to do upward and downward cursor movements
>don't work on our laser printer (DEC ln03), or line printer (DEC lg02).

Nroff looks up control codes from a table for your terminal.  If you
don't specify it, nroff assumes your terminal type is "37" (Teletype model 37).
Specify the correct type with the -Tterminal-type option to nroff.  It may
happen that your LN03 or LG02 don't correspond to any entries provided with
your nroff, in which case you need to come up with them somehow.  The most
useful generic terminal type is -Tlp (-Tlpr on some systems), which assumes
output will be for a generic ASCII line printer.  Generic Diablo daisy-wheel
emulators (perhaps your laser printer?) work with -T450.

The final thing to be aware of is that some nroff output, especially
equations, uses half-line and reverse vertical motions, which not all
printers support.  In such a case, filter the output through "col".