Solution to Printing Problems (non-PCL, USB, etc.)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from James Woolley  on Tue, 07
Dec 2004 18:47:44 -0500


> An alternative is the PrintFile software
> PrintFile is recommended by Edward Mendelson on his WordPerfect 5.1 website,
> http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/
> which has some other ideas that may be of use too.

David Kronenfeld brought that site to our attention a year or two ago. An
extremely interesting and profitable page -- but I can't fathom the need for
PrintFile. Without Postscript, PrintFile won't do anything more than handle an
unformatted file, which is pointless. With Postscript -- well, you just print
directly using Ghostscript! What purpose does PrintFile serve?

Moreover, printing Xy files via Notepad or MSWord or RTF or whatever is absurd,
not to mention laborious. Isn't it infinitely better to use native XyWrite
services?

There are exactly five *real* options that honor and print a _formatted_
XyWrite document without some form of "conversion" (numbers of other options
for unformatted docs, e.g. PrintFile, but let's skip those):

1) Buy a PCL printer
2) Buy a Postscript printer
3) Use a software Postscript interpreter (e.g. Ghostscript) with any Windows
printer
4) Print using the XyWin engine with any Windows printer
5) Print using the NBWin engine with any Windows printer

And that's it!

Option 1 is very attractive. In fact, why anybody would buy any other kind of
printer -- and then mope here that their printer doesn't work -- escapes me
completely. What did they expect? Option 2 is relatively expensive. Options
4 and 5 are cumbersome (launch external program just to print) but have much to
recommend them -- its about as native as it gets short of Xy4 itself. Besides,
NBWin is a good program, and they need the money.

U2 has been fully supporting Option 3 for MANY YEARS -- and it works well
(along with U2's "Distiller"-clone frames that make PDFs out of Xy files, or Xy
files out of PDFs, or auto-develop new PS PRiNter files, etc -- all sorts of
things that nobody here has ever experimented with, as far as I know). Option
3 is free, flexible, and enables almost any printer for which a Windows printer
driver exists -- take a look at the long (esp. "user contributed") list of
supported printers at
 http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/AFPL/devices.htm
If your printer isn't listed there (and chances are that some driver would work
for
you even if you can't find your specific printer model), then the fallback is
Ghostscript's Windows GDI generic driver -- as far as I know, the latter always
works. I can print to an Epson Stylus C60 non-PCL USB printer, using U2
facilities -- the output looks great. Moreover, this system could EASILY be
adapted to Xy3. Naturally, since this is true Postscript, there are a zillion
fonts, of a quality (at the high end) superior to anything Microsoft has ever
provided.

My preference (embodied in the U2 frames that manage option 3) has always been
to use Russell Lang's "GSView" GUI interface to Ghostscript, because his
graphical viewer is really sweet, and XyWrite texts look stunning in it. The
U2 framename is "PostGhost". It displays your current page in the GSView
graphical viewer, from which you can easily print (File ==> Print).
Unfortunately, I'm told that Russell has introduced a nag in the unregistered
version. GSView still works, it's still uncrippled shareware, but you have to
endure a delay or something (I dunno -- I've been registered for years).

However, GSView isn't necessary -- you can always print directly by issuing one
command to Ghostscript within XyWrite (hence my question about why you would
need PrintFile to print a PS doc generated by WordPerfect -- I'm gonna write Ed
and ask -- maybe he just doesn't understand Ghostscript).

THEREFORE, I've written two programs that print "hands-off" via Ghostscript
alone: a U2 frame for Xy4, and a freestanding Xy3 program. The U2 command is
"TYP", and has the same syntax (almost) as "TYF" (aka PRINTF):
	typ [sourcefile][,page_range[,O{dd}|E{ven}]]
(With TYF, you could also specify a "target" filename for the TYF command, but
that's nonsensical if you're printing to paper, as TYP does.)

Unlike frame POSTGHOST, TYP does NOT require XyShell (and I intend to rewrite
POSTGHOST too, so that it works without requiring XyShell [KMD.EXE effectively
replaces one of the key functions of XyShell, which is launching programs
outside of XyWrite's memory space]). TYP works with any Win32 OpSys (9x/NT).

You need: a Ghostscript installation, the POSTGHST.PRN printer driver from
XyWWWeb, a couple of filled-in data entries in XyWWWeb.REG (including one new
UserVariable that you must add to REG), and KMD.EXE. Five minutes, maybe ten.
Anybody who has problems with printing should just add this facility... and
forget about their printing problems. It works with non-PCL printers. It
works with USB printers. It works -- period.

A ZIP with U2 frame and associated HeLP frame (which explains installation) is
attached. UnZIP the U2 frame, CAll it into a window, DeFine the whole thing,
command ADD2U2. Then **read** the HeLP frame, install Ghostscript, set
an appropriate printer driver or device in REG, and give it a whirl (test with
a 1-page doc). Or wait until this is integrated into the next version of U2.
If anybody wants the Xy3 version, I'll post that too (after I polish it up -- I
hate working in Xy3 -- no XPL !POWER!).

After you load POSTGHST.PRN, the various available PS fonts are listed in the
XyWrite factory Menu (Format ==> Typeface). Print them out, see what you like
(alternatively, display in GSView, it saves paper). Thousands more are
available externally (Adobe Type 1 fonts).

Note: Postscript printing is somewhat slower than printing to a printer port
using PCL, because Postscript is a much more articulate language than PCL and
sends many more instructions to the printer. It takes longer to spit out a
page. Using a driver specific to your printer is MUCH faster (about 2 seconds
to start printing on my LaserJet) than using the generic GDI (MSWINPR2) driver
(about 30 seconds to start).

Note: If you're wondering about the XyperLinks -- the moded (different colored)
URL addresses -- in the Help file, type "Help" on the CMline, put your cursor
on one of those links, and then hit . Your web browser will open the
web page (or download a file, or whatever) automagically. (XyperLinks do a lot
more too -- that's just one service they perform. For info, see "help
link". Of course, to get these links to pop up in a browser (darn
fast, too), the file location of your browser needs to be set in REG
"Browser_*" UserVariable(s) at Key [ViewURL] -- see "help url".)
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