Re: Final Days (Goscript offer for Notabene, XyWrite)

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

Thanks, Daniel, for the timely reminder that LaserGo's
generous GoScript 32 offer to xyW/NB users expires
in a few days (details available at either developer's
Web site). I hasten to note that one needn't read
so much as a FAQ, let alone a whole book, to print
with a PostScript driver, nor modify the xyWrite PS driver
in any way except to add width tables and other data
if one acquires new Type 1 fonts. An xpl tables generator
at the www site below makes that easy for xyW3 users and
I continue to hope that a xyW4 user will write a counterpart.

I've referred before to GS32's thorough documentation, so
was dismayed to see it described as a "small 20 page manual."
My GS manual is 172 (!) pages. Guess it became a casualty
of the waning interest in software PS occasioned by guis+
Adobe Type Manager and TT fonts. Otoh, I don't doubt that
all you need to know to preview or print with GS32 fits
in 20 pages.

PostScript is in serious need of demystification for Wintel users
(Mac users take it for granted), otherwise software PS would be
commonly understood as the ideal solution to the dilemma posed
by a driver-challenged app and a new printer. The resources
cited, both online and in print, do nothing toward that end:
They would be of little value to anyone not planning a career
as a software engineer with a specialty in programming drivers.

Fear not: You emphatically need not be able to program PS
to print from xyW. If you *do* happen to want to get into
PS programming, you can't beat the xyW engine+GS32's interactive
mode+the PS bible, the Adobe "PostScript Language Reference
Manual/Second Edition" (Addison-Wesley). But that's purely optional. 	--a

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