Re: printing with postghst (was U2 version 119)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Judith Davidsen  on Sat, 14
Jan 2006 16:02:15 -0500


Is the copy of POSTGHST.PRN that you are using dated 9/6/2005? Please look.

> Responds "UNZIP is not recognized as an internal or external
> command, operable program or batch file." So I resorted to using
> PKUNZIP from Windows Explorer and this time it worked.

Then try:
 UNZIP32 -v postghst.zip
That will just read the directory of the ZIPfile, and not do any actual
extraction -- simply to prove that UNZIP exists! I keep forgetting that the
version of UNZIP that I bundled with U2UTILS.EXE is one that supports Long File
Names, namely UNZIP32.EXE...

> Suggestion: include in the instructions the information that
> XYWWWEB.REG doesn't express the tildes in the paths above (and
> there's no point trying to hammer the tildes in, since TYP
>  will then return the information that Windows can't
> find c: \Progra~~~~~~~~~~1\etc.)

I'd happily include that if I knew what it meant. "Doesn't express the
tildes"? Doesn't display them? Expanded mode, Judith. In expanded mode you
see all the tildes -- no need to wait until there's a system error. You canNOT
edit any file containing programming (guillemets or deltas) in anything other
than expanded mode. Never. Ever. There should ONE tilde only in those paths,
not ten.

>> so command on the CMline:
>>  SETP 1

>> You should run this instruction in STARTUP.INT so that it executes
>> automatically, always, hands-off, when you launch.

> How? What? Where?

SETP 1, in STARTUP.INT. Like this, with *real* functions:
 BX setp 1Q2 ;*;

>> Wait a few seconds

> More like a minute.

Well, maybe 25-30 seconds. If Ghostscript has a driver for your printer, then
you'll shave that wait time down to about 8-10 seconds.

>> Format ==> Typeface menu because they have an up-and-down arrow
>> after their names (BOOKMAN, CHARTER, TIMES, etc -- the "standard 35"
>> Postscript fonts). When you print your own files (always using
>> the TYP command), embed one or more
>> of these fonts in your file --
>> or make one of them XyWrite's default font.

> Again, how? where?

How where *what*? How to make a font XyWrite's default font? With the UF
UseFont default, in SETTINGS.DFL. E.g. "DF UF=TIMES" or whatever font you like
best. The same command you issue manually wqhen you want to use a font in a
file: UF FONTNAME. You'd see this if you toggled into expanded mode.
(How long have you been using XyWrite??)

> Glitch? On files of my own, the time lag between ordering TYP
>  and the beginning of printing ranges from 90 seconds to 3
> minutes for files ranging from 6KB to 10KB. During this wait, all
> other programs are pretty much hung (forget a quick hand of
> spider solitaire during the wait or checking to see if any new
> emails have arrived--you can't go there). Can something be done
> to close the gap between order and execution?

You know... One of the regrettable things about these long back-and-forths is
that they leave the wrong impressions for EVERYONE! For example, we had a huge
discussion rooted originally in your claim that STore and ABort and other
commands in U2 119 were broken. After 49 (I counted 'em!) 49 messages from
various and sundry people in that thread, and one whole week (Jan 2-9), your
incorrect setting in DFL got fixed. But what didn't get fixed was the
ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION that STore and ABort don't work -- not unless someone was
a very careful and truly *indefatigable* reader of that thread.

I mean, you CAN hammer in tildes. Yes indeed. You can. And see them too. As
many as you want. But you need to understand the basics of XyWrite. Expanded
mode is really basic.

> Glitch? Once begun, printing stops for a second or so and starts
> up again, maybe two or three times during the printing of two pages.

If you've never used GSview, you may need to Configure it (one time only).
Launch it (from your Windows Start button) and configure it. "Easy Configure"
is fine. Then close GSview again.

OK, CAll the same 6 or 10Kb file in XyWrite. Have you got a valid font
embedded in this file? (Don't say "How? Where?" The command is UF -- but use
the menus instead, it's easier.) By "valid font", I mean a Postscript font!!!
Since you haven't been using Postscript hitherto, the font that you are using
with this file is the WRONG ONE. So use Postscript TIMES, for example. Enter
this font into the file at the very TOP of the file, in a Size that you like
e.g. 12 point, by using the XyWrite menu system: Format ==> Typeface (now you
need to be in Draft mode). KILL any other font spec that may be in that file
(use a copy of this file, if you care about it, lest you mess up the original.)
*Expanded mode* to search for a UF spec! If you don't like the looks of
expanded mode, well -- get used to it. Any other mode of looking deliberately
insulates you from an understanding of how formatting works. Postscript fonts
are identified in this menu by up-and-down arrows after their names!

Then command:
 POSTGHOST

You should see the file in GSview. Yes? It should look good, REAL good.
Formatted and beautiful. I see it darn near instantly -- under one second
after pressing . I see a 75 page, 400Kb file in about two seconds
(almost all of which represents the time it takes for XyWrite to format a
Postscript version of the file). Assuming you got this far, then up on
GSview's Toolbar, click File ==> Print. When the Print dialog appears, check
(lower left) "Print Method ==> Windows GDI printer" (that setting will stick
subsequently). Then click OK, and time it: how many seconds until your
printer begins to spit out paper? This is the "normal" time it takes. If it
takes very long, then something is screwed up -- it shouldn't be more than 35
seconds or so, and thereafter it should spit pages fairly smoothly. Mine does.
But it isn't a Winprinter either.

What did you say you're printer was? A Canon? Is it a laser printer, inkjet,
what? There might be a Ghostscript driver that works with it... Ah, a Brother
MFC 210C... Zilch. That's a great printer to own if you don't intend to use
it with XyWrite. In the XyWrite world, it's nearly useless. But! Only 69
dollars after rebate.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------