Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet! From: prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: re: CBM to VAX to MAC Message-ID: Date: 10 Feb 88 18:24:11 GMT Lines: 40 I have successfully uploaded a GeoWrite 2 file to a VAX and then sent it off to an Apple Laser Writer (the file included graphics). This was done by logging in to the VAX before bringing up GEOS and setting up a text capture situation at the VAX end. Then GEOS was brought up and the GeoLaser application was used (at 1200 baud) to translate the GeoWrite 2 file to postscript and transmit the postscript text to the VAX via the modem. Lastly, leaving GEOS and re-running a terminal program to close out the text capture is required. At this point, if no noise or other communication errors occurred, the Postscript file at the VAX end may be sent directly to an Apple Laser Writer. There are several problems with this scheme: a. Sending a text stream is not a very reliable way to upload data - a protocol such as Kermit or Xmodem would ensure that the file was not corrupted during transmission and alleviate worries about flow control on a busy VAX (or other host). GeoLaser was meant to talk *directly* to the printer. b. The output from GeoLaser contains arbitrarily long text lines and an occasional ^D control character, so one needs a somewhat intelligent capture program on the VAX end to inhibit logoff or flow control. c. To do the same thing with a GeoPaint file, you would first have to import the entire paint image into a GeoWrite 2 file. GeoPaint currently doesn't seem to let you cut more than a screen full of picture to a photo scrap, so there is no easy way to do this. The ideal way to do this would require another application which would directly translate GeoPaint files to either Postscript (or, if you want to put a MAC into the loop, to MacPaint) file. Then upload the file using Kermit etc... There might not be substantial motivation to do this however: while a GeoWrite file will look substantially better when printed on a Laser Writer (because of the use of resident fonts and scaled down non-resident fonts), a GeoPaint file is only going to look marginally better than on a dot matrix printer, since it's resolution will not be improved (i.e. still 80 dots per inch horizontal by 72 dots per inch vertical) even though the Laser Writer can achieve 300 dpi. The Laser Writer does produce blacker, squarer, more uniform dots, which will account for some improvement; and, of course, the Laser Writer can scale a picture down to a smaller piece of paper for improved apparent resolution. Sincerely, Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa