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From: robert@pyr.gatech.EDU (Robert Viduya)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: PostScript compatible printers
Message-ID: <6085@pyr.gatech.EDU>
Date: 20 Jul 88 14:56:38 GMT
Organization: Office of Computing Services, Georgia Tech
Lines: 35

We're looking into purchasing PostScript capable printers for our
terminal/workstation clusters and we have a question about those
printers that say they're PostScript compatible, but don't actually use
the word "PostScript" such as Imagen's line (they call their
implementation "UltraScript").  We've been told that it's because
PostScript has a set of standard fonts that are considered to be part of
the language and that Adobe won't let you call your implementation
"PostScript" without obtaining those fonts from them.  The question is
what other things need to be obtained from Adobe; what other
requirements are necessary in order for a particular implementation to
be called "PostScript" as opposed to "PostScript-compatible"?  Our main
concern lies in the non-standard fonts distributed by Adobe, which are
encrypted by some not-publicly-known means.  The assumption here is that
if a printer supports "true" PostScript, it should know how to decrypt
those fonts.  What about PostScript-compatibles, specifically the Imagen
line?  If we were to buy fonts from Adobe, will we be able to use them
on a PostScript-compatible printer?

Another question I have is about the "eexec" operator.  What exactly
does this do?  I was under the impression that it takes a stream of hex
characters and interprets it as machine code and executes it.  In the
document "Supporting Downloadable PostScript Fonts" from Adobe, they show
this operator being used as part of a downloadable font.  Does this mean
that downloadable fonts available from Adobe can only be used on
printers that are based on a given processor such as the MC680XX
family?  What about other problems such as relocation and register
usage, which could vary from implementation to implementation even on
those that use the same processor?  Am I missing something?  Does the
eexec operator take some kind of portable pcode?

			robert
-- 
Robert Viduya						  robert@pyr.gatech.edu
Office of Computing Services
Georgia Institute of Technology					 (404) 894-6296
Atlanta, Georgia	30332-0275