Re: Printers and Postscript (PS)

[Daniel Say say@xxxxxxxx]

" One problem that we XyWrite users have to face is the lack of drivers for new
" printers. A way around this seems to be the PostScript solution, although it
" comes at a price.
"
" I've been looking for a good but cheap PostScript printer for use in a low
" volume environment, and have come across the Lexmark Optra K 1220, released in
" June 1998, about $750 at CDW. Comes with PostScript Level 2 emulation built in,
" automatic sensing of PCL or PostScript data, and saves resources (such as
" downloaded fonts) when switching between PCL and PS. And, OS/2 Warp support.
"
" Anyone have any experience with this printer and Xy4DOS? Any other sub $1,000
" PostScript printers that are worthy of a look?
"
" Many thanks . . .
"
" Tom Hawley
" tjh@xxxxxxxx __________
================
	And here I thought the solution was to use the
	many Postscript interpreters,

		Ghostscript
		Alladin Ghostscript
		Gnuscript
		GoScript from LaserGo

	to print a file that is in PS format to any printer.

	XY load hpld8ps.prn
	tyf ,file.ps
	Run Goscript -dotmatrix file.ps

	and carry on from there.

	Postscript can be manipulated directly as it is a
	programming language with 'English' terms and commands,
	but much of what people do is straight text with a few
	drop caps, font changes etc. All this is in the
	current set of Postscript drivers that come with XYmanyform.

	The output is a PS file that you could send directly to
	a PS printer, or interpret with the programs above to
	any printer: dotmatrix, bubblejet, deskjet, laserjet etc.

	The interpreter has a driver for the printer. Postscript
	printers have the interpreter built-in.

	The printer above sounds good, but what is the current
	memory package. Most printers like that now need several
	megabytes of memory (8 Megs?) for the bytes sent as
	PCL or as PS. The increased resolution (dots per inch)
	means more bytes are needed.

	Reviews of Postscript printers should work out the same
	as 'ordinary' printers without the interpreter inside.

	The danger I'm seeing is that printers are becoming
	Windows-only: they can only be set from Windows, they can
	only be driven by Windows95/98.

					Daniel Say
					say@xxxxxxxx