Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!gatech!bloom-beacon!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpcea!hpfcdc!hpfcmp!rjn
From: rjn@hpfcmp.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: HP Paintjet ?
Message-ID: <1000002@hpfcmp.HP.COM>
Date: 14 Feb 88 01:19:55 GMT
References: <124@rna.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Ft. Collins CO
Lines: 21

re: "...using a paintjet ... and I love it"

> ... the Starbase graphics library includes a program called PCLtrans, which
> will convert a Starbase bitmap file to PCL (the format the Paintjet uses).

In consideration of {potential} PaintJet users not using an HP-UX (HP9000)
system, we should mention that the 'pcltrans' utility does not use the
on-board dithering of the PJ.  It executes entirely on the HP9000 host and
employs a modified Floyd-Steinberg error-diffusion scheme supplied with the
'Starbase' graphics library only on HP Series 300 and 800 systems.

The chap who wrote pcltrans modified F-S for color, altered the propagation
distributions and is playing some games with quantization error.  I don't
know if the resulting scheme is considered proprietary or not.  Perhaps he
will comment.

Bottom line:  if you gotta write your own PJ device handler anyway, it is
possible for the industrious programmer to obtain remarkable results on what
is basically a 3-color 180 dpi printer.

Bob Niland   ARPA:rjn%hpfcrjn@hplabs.HP.COM   UUCP:[ihnp4|hplabs]!hpfcla!rjn