Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!laidbak!att!pacbell!ames!killer!dcs!wnp
From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: Experience with Elan DWB package for PCs
Message-ID: <107@dcs.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jun 88 12:48:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: dcs.107
References: <1248@spdcc.COM>
Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul)
Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 25

In article <1248@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes:
>I would like to know whether Elan's troff package
>for the PC runs acceptably well in a DOS environment.  Acceptably
>well might mean reasonably fast as well as not requiring enormous-
>sized intermediate files in lieu of true pipes: the file size
>expansion of a TBL --> ditroff -> output-filter --> LPR: sequence
>is frightening, given any moderately-sized input file.

Well, DOS implements pipes as intermediate files on disk, and since it
is not multi-tasking, ALL the output of one program is written to disk
before the next program in the pipe starts.

The only whay ELAN could have changed that would be to provide a replacement
for DOS, i.e. a different operating system.

Thus, a pipe as shown in your posting would create temporary files for the
output from tbl, ditroff, and the postprocessor. The best way to handle that
would be to run under some shell which lets you specify the location of
pipe temporaries (like the MKS Toolkit shell) and to specify a ram disk
set up in a few MB of EMS memory.

-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
UUCP:     ihnp4!killer!dcs!wnp                 ESL: 62832882
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