Archive-name: NEXTSTEP-Printing-FAQ Last-modified: Fri Aug 27 01:27:51 EDT 1993 Version: 3.0 Every four weeks (depending on the phase of the moon) a number of postings are made to comp.sys.next.announce which are a compilation of answers to frequently asked questions in the comp.sys.next.* Usenet newsgroups. The FAQ list is broken into sections and posted separately. These sections focus on various aspects of NEXTSTEP and NeXT machines. Items that appear within sections are not in any particular order, and get added and removed over time. Posting the sections separately allows people to find the sections interesting to them quickly. Within each section each question will be preceded by a "Subject:" field, allowing news readers to break up the file into separate questions. Each question has its own unique number. The FAQ is kept on-line at several ftp sites, including: cs.orst.edu sonata.cc.purdue.edu srawgw.sra.co.jp [133.137.4.3] Many FAQs, including this one, are available via FTP on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which this FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-nameline above. Questions marked with a "+" are new to this issue, and questions with changes since the last issue are marked by a "!". Submissions, corrections, comments, input, etc., should be directed to Nathan Janette . Disclaimer: We are not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this posting. If you have any corrections, additions, questions, or answers to add to this list, please send email to: This compilation is meant primarily as a service to the comp.sys.next community. Newsletter editors wishing to excerpt from this work for publication should consider using local electronic bulletin boards to disseminate this information rather than preparing hardcopies. This allows for readers to access the most recent information, and perhaps save a couple of trees. We do not collect any royalties, charge any fees, or compensate anyone in connection with this endeavor. TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------------------ H1. What printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with NEXTSTEP? H2. What fonts can I use with NEXTSTEP? H3. How can I save my printable documents to a postscript file? H4. How can I print only the even or odd pages of a document? I wish print on both sides by feeding the paper through twice. H5. How do I get banner pages on my printer output? H6. How do I get [la]TeX files to print correctly on non-NeXT printers? H7. What if I have a PostScript font has not been ported to NEXTSTEP? H8. What color printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with NEXTSTEP? H9. How can I make the Page Layout default to A4 in all applications? H10. /usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/pstf: syntax error at line 31: `end of file' unexpected? H11 How to get TeX with NEXTSTEP to make proper fonts for a 600 dpi laserwriter? H12 How to get printer description files (PPD)? ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H1. What printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with NEXTSTEP? Adding supported postscript printers is rather simple: 1. Get a serial cable (e.g., Macintosh to LaserWriter Plus), but check whether that works with your printer 2. Configure using Print Manager 3. Configure printer communication according to manufacturer's recommendations. (9600 baud software flow control). A sample printcap entry needs to be loaded into the netinfo database. You can use either "niload printcap . < myprintcap", or use NetInfoManager to change the br and lp properties of your LaserJet. Using the default baud rate and /dev/ttya will also work, for most print jobs. LaserJet_III: \ :note=LaserJet_III:ty=HP LaserJet III PostScript: \ :sd=/usr/spool/NeXT/LaserJet_III:lp=/dev/ttyfa: \ :lf=/usr/adm/lpd-errs:af=/usr/adm/lp.acct:br=19200:rw:fc#0000374: \ :fs#0000003:xc#0:xs#0040040:mx#0:sf:sb:if=/usr/lib/transcript/psif: \ :of=/usr/lib/transcript/psof:gf=/usr/lib/transcript/psgf: \ :nf=/usr/lib/transcript/psnf:tf=/usr/lib/transcript/pstf: \ :rf=/usr/lib/transcript/psrf:vf=/usr/lib/transcript/psvf: \ :cf=/usr/lib/transcript/pscf:df=/usr/lib/transcript/psdf: HP printer configuration: auto cont = off (doesn't matter) I/O = serial serial=rs-232 (for LJ III only) baud rate = 19200 (or whatever baud rate you have in ni database/printcap) robust xon = on (doesn't matter) dtr polarity = hi startpage = off (doesn't matter) language=english ret = med (you choose for LJ III only) Note that if you modify the printcap this way you cannot reconfigure this particular printer entry with PrintManager. If you are using NEXTSTEP 2.0 and you use remote non-next printers, there is a bug that can be simply corrected by doing "dwrite system PrinterResolution 1" for each user trying to access non-next printers on the network. This not a problem in later NEXTSTEP versions. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H2. What fonts can I use with NEXTSTEP? Properly packaged Type 1 or 3 PostScript fonts will work with NEXTSTEP, but certain conversions may be necessary to get them to work. Freeware and shareware fonts are available on various ftp archives. There are utilities with NEXTSTEP to download fonts into postscript printers. Freeware and shareware Type 1 and 3 fonts in files Fonts-1.0-free.tar.Z and Fonts-2.0-sw.tar.Z. Each file unpacks into it's own directory. Within each directory is a ReadMe.rtf and a Makefile. See the ReadMe.rtf for more font descriptions and installation instructions. (You may also find comments in the Makefile of interest.) These packages were prepared by Doug Brenner . The same directory contains fonts Shalom (Hebrew and Yiddish in Old Style, Stick and Script typefaces, by Jonathan Brecher, shareware) and CyrillicGothic (san serif, by Jay Sekora). These were packaged by Jacob Gore to work with the Installer application. WSI-Fonts for NEXTSTEP #1 Abstract Software POB 25045 Seattle, WA 98125-1945 Voice: 206 361 5080 info@abstractsoft.com Fonts may be purchased from Adobe (800 USA FONTS) or from The Font Hotline, a new division of RightBrain Software. For more information: RightBrain/The Font Hotline Voice: 415 326 2974 Some fonts in Type 1 format for NEXTSTEP are also available from Y&Y: Y&Y, 106 Indian Hill, Carlisle MA 01741 USA Voice: 800 742 4059 Voice: 508 371 3286 Fax: 508 371 2004 71172,524 on CompuServe 71172.524@compuserve.com from InterNet ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H3. How can I save my printable documents to a postscript file? Select PRINT from the main menu, then select SAVE from the resulting print panel. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H4. How can I print only the even or odd pages of a document? I wish print on both sides by feeding the paper through twice. We must recommend against re-using laser printed paper in your printers. The reason is that the toner which is used is not very robust, in that when heated again (which happens when you print) it can come off the other side of the paper. This causes a mess to accumulate in your printer, and probably some pretty rude things to happen. [From: sanguish@digifix.com] psutils from comp.sources.misc is a much better solution, and includes alot more capabilities, plus it is being updated constantly. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H5. How do I get banner pages on my printer output? There is a sample banner prologue file in /usr/lib/NextPrinter that is sent to the printer before or after the print job depending on what printer attributes are set in NetInfo. Sounds gross, but it isn't. Start up NetInfo on your printer machine. Go to the printer directory, and open up your local printer by double clicking it. Select the append property from Directory menu. Replace the name with BannerAfter (or BannerBefore if you want the banner page printed first). The select the New Value option, and put in the name of the banner prologue file. If you do not wish to do fancy customization of the file, simply put the path to the NeXT sample banner file: /usr/lib/NextPrinter/banner.pro Save out the netinfo modifications. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H6. How do I get [la]TeX files to print correctly on non-NeXT printers? If you are printing to a non-NeXT printer from NeXT TeX using dvips, make sure you specify the correct resolution (300 dpi, usually), either on the command line with -D300, or in the /usr/lib/tex/config.ps file with a line that looks like : D 300 If you are printing from within TeXView, you will have to choose CustomResolution and enter the correct number (300, usually) because of the way DefaultResolution defaults to 0. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H7. What if I have a PostScript font has not been ported to NEXTSTEP? Many PostScript fonts port to NEXTSTEP with little effort. The easiest case is a font generated by Fontographer version 3.2 or above (a comment near the top of the file should say which program generated the font). This version of Fontographer can generate fonts "for NEXTSTEP". This means that no hacking of the font is needed, but you may need to make some adjustments to make it appear in your font panel. Suppose you were porting the font family Shalom, which consists of three faces: Old Style, Stick and Script. Here is the procedure to follow: 1. In a working folder of yours, create folders called: Shalom-OldStyle.font Shalom-Script.font Shalom-Stick.font Note that the font family name is to the left of the hyphen ("-"), and the typeface name is to the right and with no spaces in it. 2. Copy the outline font file for each typeface from wherever it is into its folder, and give it the name of the folder minus the ".font". For example, if you are doing this in a Terminal window: cp /Floppy/ShalomOldStyle.NeXT Shalom-OldStyle.font/Shalom-OldStyle cp /Floppy/ShalomScript.NeXT Shalom-Script.font/Shalom-Script cp /Floppy/ShalomStick.NeXT Shalom-Stick.font/Shalom-Stick If you are working in Workspace Manager's File Viewer, double-click on the big fat F icon to open the font directory as a folder, then you'll be able to rename files in it. 3. Do the same thing with the font metric files, but make the suffix ".afm": cp /Floppy/ShalomOldStyle.AFM Shalom-OldStyle.font/Shalom-OldStyle.afm cp /Floppy/ShalomScript.AFM Shalom-Script.font/Shalom-Script.afm cp /Floppy/ShalomStick.AFM Shalom-Stick.font/Shalom-Stick.afm 4. If there is a "read me" file with the font, or any other documentation, copy it into the .font folder too. For example, each of the Shalom font folders contains files ReadMe, CheatSheet.wn and Sample.wn specific to the typeface. 5. Edit the outline and font metric files to make them fit the NeXT AppKit's Font Panel, which is what most NextStep applications use to let you choose your font. a. Editing the outline file, e.g., Shalom-OldStyle.font/Shalom-OldStyle: The original used "ShalomOldStyle" as the font's name, full name, and family name. We want the name to be "Shalom-OldStyle", the full name "Shalom Old Style", and family name just "Shalom". First, find the lines: /FullName (ShalomOldStyle) readonly def /FamilyName (ShalomOldStyle) readonly def and change them to /FullName (Shalom Old Style) readonly def /FamilyName (Shalom) readonly def Then, replace all remaining occurrences of the string "ShalomOldStyle" with "Shalom-OldStyle". b. Editing the AFM file, e.g., Shalom-OldStyle.font/Shalom-OldStyle.afm. Find the lines: FullName ShalomOldStyle FamilyName ShalomOldStyle and change them to FullName Shalom Old Style FamilyName Shalom Replace all remaining occurrences of the string "ShalomOldStyle" with "Shalom-OldStyle". Repeat this procedure for the remaining typefaces. 6. You now have a font family ready to be installed. If the font family is to be used by your account only, place it in ~/Library/Fonts (creating it if necessary): mkdirs ~/Library/Fonts mv Shalom-*.font ~/Library/Fonts buildafmdir ~/Library/Fonts If everybody on your system should have access to this font family, place it (as superuser) in /LocalLibary/Fonts: su mkdirs /LocalLibrary/Fonts mv Shalom-*.font /LocalLibrary/Fonts buildafmdir /LocalLibrary/Fonts exit That's all you need to do for fonts generated by Fontographer version 3.2 or above. This will work with all applications that use AppKit's FontPanel. FrameMaker does not, so other changes may need to be done to keep FrameMaker happy [does anybody have something to add here?]. Fonts generated by Fontographer version 3.1 or below don't work in Display PostScript as they are, because they use a memory management trick that screws everything up in a multitasking environment like DPS. However, there is a simple, though kludgy, way to make them work. The problematic trick uses a dictionary with a name like "Fog3.1" ("Casa1" in Casady & Green's fonts) in which most of the font resides. The problem is that Fontographer puts that whole dictionary into dictionary 'userdict' and expects it to stay there. DPS, however, clears out 'userdict' between tasks, including the task that loads the font and the task that uses it. This makes the font useless on the screen, and printable only by prepending the outline font file to the file you want to print and sending the result to print in one task. The fix is to move the troublesome dictionary from 'userdict' into the font dictionary itself (unlike 'userdict', the font dictionary does stick around between tasks). Perform the following changes in the outline font file (the font CyrillicGothic is used as the example): 1. Find the line "%%EndProlog". It will be followed by the line like this: /$CyrillicGothic 23 dict def $CyrillicGothic begin Write down the number before 'dict' (in this case, 23). You will need it in the following step. Delete the dict definition, making the line look like this: $CyrillicGothic begin 2. Go back to the beginning of the file. near the top of the font program, find the following lines: userdict/Fog3.1 known{{currentfile( )readstring {(%%%)eq{exit}if}{pop exit}ifelse}loop}if userdict begin/Fog3.1 45 dict def Fog3.1 begin and replace them with these: /$CyrillicGothic 24 dict def $CyrillicGothic begin/Fog3.1 45 dict def Fog3.1 begin The number before 'dict' (in this case, 24) is one greater than the number you wrote down in the previous step. 3. Find the line that defines procedure BuildChar: /BuildChar{Fog3.1/BuildChar get exec}def and change it as follows: /BuildChar{1 index begin Fog3.1/BuildChar get exec end}def 4. Go to the end of the file. The last line looks like this: /CyrillicGothic findfont/EFN get Fog3.1 begin{RF}forall end Delete it (or comment it out by placing one or more "%" in the beginning of it). The AFM file requires one adjustment. Change the line EncodingScheme AppleStandard to EncodingScheme AdobeStandardEncoding This concludes conversion of a font generated by Fontographer version 3.1 or lower to work with NEXTSTEP. You may still need to make the changes described for version 3.2 and above, to make the font fit the NEXTSTEP font panel. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H8. What color printers (laser or otherwise) may be used with NEXTSTEP? The (no longer sold) NeXT/Canon SCSI color printer, of course! [heinz.in-berlin.de]: With Dots Color, the HP DeskJet 500C can print in color *today*, under NEXTSTEP 2.1, and it costs significantly less than $1000 (in Germany at least). You can get more information from d'ART Software GmbH Virchowstr. 17-19 W-2000 Hamburg 50 Germany Voice: +49 40 380 23 0 Fax: +49 40 380 23 290 software@dart.de ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H9. How can I make the Page Layout default to A4 in all applications? Add "NXPaperType A4" in the "GLOBAL" preferences. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H10. /usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/pstf: syntax error at line 31: `end of file' unexpected? [Richard Tilley writes:] Using lpr -t, or lpr -d causes this problem. eg: [...] cat /usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/pstf [...] Christopher Lane has pointed out 3 (three!) errors in the distributed NEXTSTEP 3.0 lpd.comm file The last change is my own. It worked for the 1 (one!) dvi file I tried. tilley%diff lpd.comm.DIST lpd.comm 11,12c11,12 < while "x$1" != x do < case "$1" in --- > while test $# != 0 > do case "$1" in 16c16 < -h) HOST=$"; shift;; --- > -h) HOST=$2; shift;; 17a18 > esac 21c22 < PRSERVER="/usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/prserver -p $PRINTER -n $USER -h HOST -f -" --- > PRSERVER="/usr/lib/NextPrinter/Server/prserver -p $PRINTER -n $USER -h $HOST -f -" 27c28 < psdf) psbad $FILTER $PRINTER $USER $HOST | $PRSERVER;; --- > psdf) dvips -f -D 400 -r | $PRSERVER ;; ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H11 How to get TeX with NEXTSTEP to make proper fonts for a 600 dpi laserwriter? [From: Dr. T. L. Marchioro II ] If you upgrade to a 600 dpi laserwriter then the version of TeX that ships with NEXTSTEP (either 2.X or 3.0) does not know about 600 dpi fonts, i.e. does not know how to make them and will instead use scaled 400 dpi ones (which look significantly worse at 600 dpi than they do at 400 dpi). Some simple modifications to a few Metafont files and rebuilding the metafont bases are all that is needed. What to do to get the 600 dpi stuff working is as follows: 1. Edit /usr/lib/mf/inputs/next.mf and add a laserjetIV mode. Simply copy the entire imagen mode, change the name to laserjetIV, and change the pixels_per_inch to 600. Save the changed file. 2. Build a new mf.base file by executing the following commands: inimf "plain; input next; dump" (as superuser): cp plain.base /usr/lib/mf/bases/mf.base 3. Edit /usr/lib/tex/ps/config.ps and change the `D 400' line to `D 600' (you may have `D 300' or something else if you've set up a different printer.) 4. Edit /usr/bin/MakeTeXPK (as superuser), adding the lines elif test $BDPI = 600 then MODE=laserjetIV right before the second `else' in the file. That should do it! You might have to (depending on how you configure NEXTSTEP for the LaserJet IV) select `custom resolution' and set the gadget to 600 in the TeXview print panel, and save Preferences. These instructions are written for an HP Laserjet IV, but they should also work for a QMS printer just fine. Finally, if you have one of these printers and work in a "mixed" environment with perhaps 400 dpi and/or 300 dpi printers that you also print to on a regular basis then you might want to consider getting Type 1 PS version of the Computer Modern fonts instead. They obviate the need for the instructions above, and the savings in disc space will be considerable since having printer fonts for several printers takes lots of room, and the file sizes for 600 dpi are quite large (the files grow roughly as D logD, where D is the resolution). These fonts are made by Blue Sky Research, and work beautifully. Y & Y software is a reseller for BSR and sells a "NEXTSTEP specific" version of them which comes with appropriate instructions and installation scripts. ____________________________________________________________________________ ~Subject: H12 How to get printer description files (PPD)? [From: peter@beast.math.ualberta.ca (Peter Karbaliotis)] Adobe has a mail server and ftp site where you can get .PPD files. They are: ps-file-server@adobe.com (put "send help" inUse of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455, line 559. the mail body) and ftp.mv.us.adobe.com respectively. ____________________________________________________________________________ Editor: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu -- Nathan Janette Voice: 203 432 5065 Systems Manager Fax: 203 432 3923 Brunger Lab Internet: nathan@laplace.csb.yale.edu Yale Univ Dept MB&B/HHMI "I'm a NeXTstep Man, I'm a NeXTcube Guy"