REQ Simple definition/explanation of 'postscript'?

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geezer

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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Can someone give me a simple description (or definition) of what
'postscript' is? What it does for you? Why used? Software?
Hardware? Both?

Thanks
 
Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

> This is a newbie's question.
> In order print a fancy booklet using postscript printer, I must create a
> document which is compatible with postscript printers. What program(s)
> should I use to create a document file? I assume that Microsoft word doc
> files won't work for postscript printer. Please enlighten me.

Use anything you like. Windows can use any printer it has a driver
for, so it's not an issue using Microsoft Word. Think of it this
way.... when you print a word document it converts it to a postscript
document which in turn is sent to the printer. There are programs that
can think in terms of postscript and offer their own benifits, but
generally speaking you would use it just like you would any other
printer.
 
Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

> It's a language common to printers.
>

It is also a good example of the thought
processes of programmers. Given the difficulty
of printing the same document on different
printers, someone apparently realized that
the problem in display could be solved by
yet another new programming language,
so that the document is a just another
program,

There may have been a precedent in this when
either DEC or the UNIX people (or both) came up with the
idea of a Virtual Terminal that can be mapped
to either a VT10, a VT52, a VT100, or any
number of terminals. With this concept one
wrote editors for the Virtual Terminal and
let the local translators do the hard work --
remember "raw" versus "cooked"?

john slimick
slimick@pitt.edu
 
Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

This is a newbie's question.
In order print a fancy booklet using postscript printer, I must create a
document which is compatible with postscript printers. What program(s)
should I use to create a document file? I assume that Microsoft word doc
files won't work for postscript printer. Please enlighten me. Craig





"John Slimick" <slimick@pitt.edu> wrote in message
news:slrndjj1nu.t9q.slimick@localhost.localdomain...
>> It's a language common to printers.
>>
>
> It is also a good example of the thought
> processes of programmers. Given the difficulty
> of printing the same document on different
> printers, someone apparently realized that
> the problem in display could be solved by
> yet another new programming language,
> so that the document is a just another
> program,
>
> There may have been a precedent in this when
> either DEC or the UNIX people (or both) came up with the
> idea of a Virtual Terminal that can be mapped
> to either a VT10, a VT52, a VT100, or any
> number of terminals. With this concept one
> wrote editors for the Virtual Terminal and
> let the local translators do the hard work --
> remember "raw" versus "cooked"?
>
> john slimick
> slimick@pitt.edu
>
 
Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

On 27-Sep-2005, "zakezuke" <zakezuke_us@yahoo.com> wrote:

> > This is a newbie's question.
> > In order print a fancy booklet using postscript printer, I must create a
> > document which is compatible with postscript printers. What program(s)
> > should I use to create a document file? I assume that Microsoft word doc
> > files won't work for postscript printer. Please enlighten me.
>
> Use anything you like. Windows can use any printer it has a driver
> for, so it's not an issue using Microsoft Word. Think of it this
> way.... when you print a word document it converts it to a postscript
> document which in turn is sent to the printer. There are programs that
> can think in terms of postscript and offer their own benifits, but
> generally speaking you would use it just like you would any other
> printer.

Test the above advice on a small test document first. In some cases
you get the raw postscript page description/layout in text form, and
you can get a few hundred pages of text as output. It only works if
the postscript drivers work.
 
Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

In message <dhc4v4$gel$1@reader2.nmix.net>, Narusato
<Narusato@thuntek.net> writes
>This is a newbie's question.
>In order print a fancy booklet using postscript printer, I must create a
>document which is compatible with postscript printers. What program(s)
>should I use to create a document file? I assume that Microsoft word doc
>files won't work for postscript printer. Please enlighten me. Craig

It will work (subject to the print driver). OK, you have a document in
Word (or preferably OpenOffice.org!) which is in a setup that the
computer can make a displayable version of it on the screen. Your
printer wants a version of the document that it can understand for
printing purposes. So the printer for printing uses a different language
to the computer for displaying. Your printer comes with a printer
driver that turns the Word file into something the printer can
understand. Different printers use different languages, generally
speaking printers that 'speak' postscript tend to be more professionally
geared than those that don't. For a 'newbie' then as long as you have
installed the appropriate printer driver you should be able to just File
and Print from Word as per normal.

If you are trying to do clever things with the pages for a booklet, the
printer driver may help you, or you may have to work it out manually, or
get a third party prog (eg fineprint (I think)) which allows for cunning
options such as printing in a funny order and several pages on one sheet
and the like.

--
Timothy
 
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