Re: "Kerning?"

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from "..."  Tue, 18 Feb 1997 18:11:20 -0500 (EST)

For AT#, see III+ manual p. 6-97.

I'm trying to get a handle on PS. I don't doubt that it is the superior
language. But PCL did have some strengths. In Xy4, no WiDth tables, for
example; XyWrite reads widths into memory, all you do is point at the directory.
No more FOnt definitions in Xy4 PCL (whew). Easy to use your own homemade
bitfonts (I have many, mostly for SEAsian languages).

But, I want to give PS a go. I installed Alladin Ghostscript and GSView.
I got it working, barebones. It took a few minutes to realize that I've got to
use TYF here (right?).

I don't understand several important things. First, if you know of some manual
pages that cover XyWrite's interface with PS, I'd appreciate the reference. I
can't find any written info. But even if there were manual pages, isn't printing
via Ghostscript significantly different than printing directly to a PS printer?
Is this emulation -- or isn't it? When people speak of PS-capable printers, do
they mean that the printer just has PS fonts in internal memory? (Is that the
main difference? My printer acquires its PS by downloading it from the computer,
whereas "PS printers" already have the fonts in memory -- something like
that maybe?)

What is the function of XyWrite file ADDPS4.EXE?

Now, if I don't have a PS printer, and therefore don't have the various fonts
mentioned in the PRN file (let's take TIMES as our example), and none of the .PFB
fonts distributed with Ghostscript is labelled TIMES, then -- how is a
correlation established? And suppose the Ghostscript version of TIMES is
not exactly the same as the internal "PS printer" version of TIMES? I suspect
that's why pages which I'm printing  FlushCenter are not coming out perfectly
centered: because the WiDth tables aren't exactly right? Is there a way that
I can get the WD tables to be exactly correct? E.g., are correct tables
distributed as part of the Ghostscript package (for the fonts in GS403FN1.ZIP,
the mandatory GS font package)?

When you speak of Prolog, is that similar to what appears in Xy printer files
as the "fb<" statement?

This will get me started anyway... Should I be using POST47, POST35N, or
which POSTx.PRN file do you recommend? Thanks in advance.

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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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