PostScript printing without Transcript?

[Davy Chan]

In article <4185 at brazos.Rice.edu>, mmsac!david at sacto (David Kensiski) writes:
**>In Sun-Spots v8n132, rwl at umree.ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little) writes:
**>
**>> The 2 obvious things one might miss from the Transcript package
**>> ("LaserWriter Interface Kit") are ptroff & the raster-to-PS filter.
**>> Anything else essential?
**>
**>Well, the obvious thing that is missing is enscript, the filter that
**>generates PostScript from a flat ASCII file.  There may be a PD version of
**>enscript out there, but without it, all you will be able to print are
**>PostScript documents.

Yes, there are a lot of freely distributed programs that convert ASCII to
postscript (lwf and pps just to name two).  Also, there are freely
distributed programs that provide the raster->PS or sunview screendumps to
PS (eg. pbmplus which does a heck of a lot more graphical conversions than
you could shake a stick at!).  Being from a University background ("first
you ask for money to buy the machine and now you expect ME to provide
money for you to buy SOFTWARE !!?!?"), I've grown to first look at freely
distributed software before going proprietary.  I've been running my
Vaxen's and Sun Server on FD software for the past couple years.  I don't
miss not having the Transcript package (lwf and pps takes care of ascii
and TeX & xfig takes care of my desktop publishing needs.

It has to be said that proprietary software might make your life easier by
eliminating a couple of in-between steps for format conversions but I feel
a lot more secure when I have the sources to look at and tweek if there's
something I don't like or understand about PS software.

(Yes, I'm a GNU person!)

Davy Chan
chandave at pyrite.som.cwru.edu [129.22.48.4]
		or
chandave at skybridge.scl.cwru.edu [129.22.32.1]
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