Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!andante!mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!olson
From: olson@batcomputer.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Generating PostScript files
Message-ID: <5486@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 12 Jul 88 16:54:17 GMT
References: <2393@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> <17000114@clio> <17465@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Reply-To: olson@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (olson)
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 50

In article <17465@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> sarrel@oboe.cis.ohio-state.edu (Marc Sarrel) writes:
>
>I would like to then upload that postscript file from my mac to a unix
>box (either a sun or a pyramid) and then dump it to a postscript
>printer.  We have a DataProducts 308 and a LaserWriter+.  Which should
>I use, Command-F or Command-K?  One of the operators (an undergrad)
>here thought that I couldn't just dump the postscript to the printer.
>He said there was some other stuff I had to prepend to the file in
>order for things to work.Has anybody done this successfully?  What is
>it that I have to prepend?

>another question:  do I have to do anything differently if I use the
>Aldus Prep instead of the Laser Prep?)
>
>--marc

There seem to be two things to be aware of when going mac->unix->laserwriter
1) Some of the "Postscript" that the Mac generates has 8 bits
   Many unix boxes only send 7bits to their printers
   Brian Powell wrote a filter that massages the 8bits in to nibbles
   and reassembles them once the reach the laserwriter.
2) The Mac Laser Prep likes to try to install itself "permanently"
   on the laser writer.  This is fine (even desirable) if you have 
   only Mac's talking to  your Laserwriter, but can cause problems
   (less memory available at very least) if you are using the printer
   with nonMac sources.  A solution get a copy of the laser prep and
   modify it so that it does not install itself permenantly.

(Powell & Hitchens)'s solution was to get a copy of the laser prep, modify it
and store it on the unix box.  Then you use command-F on the mac
to dump postscript without the laser prep, send that up to the unix box
paste the modified header on, filter everything and send it to the LW.
The only hard part is needing all the various  different versions
of the laser prep.

So probably you will have to do something different for Aldus Prep.
Get (Powell & Hitchens)'s stuff.
brian@sally.utexas.edu
and try to figure out where he modified the apple Laser Prep
(say by diff'ing the preps that he supplies with one that you
generated using a command-K)
Dump the Aldus Prep using command-K
and make changes to it simmilar to those made to the apple prep
then use this modified aldus prep instead of the modified apple prep.

We have been using the stuff Powell put together for some time now
with now problems. (Thanks guys!)

Todd Olson
olson@helios.tn.cornell.edu