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WordPerfect And General Postscript Informatio
DocumentID: 645289
Revision Date: 29-Feb-96 8:19:04 PM

The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS

Problem

Solutions: Postscript printers are named Postscript because they understand a certain language, not because they contain scalable fonts. People often refer to the HP Laserjet III or the Canon LBP 4 as postscript printers, but they are not. (They are laser printers which contain scalable fonts.) All postscript printers use the same adobe language and WP sends the same prologue (See below) for every postscript printer. This is why WP users are able to use the Postscript Additional disks with any postscript printer. The hardware, however, is not always the same. Menus, sheet feeders, dip switches, and memory can differ greatly.

Postscript printers do not understand straight ASCII text. ASCII text must be received in the context of the postscript language. For example, if a customer wants to print banners with a postscript on a Novell Network they cannot because the device driver resides within the application. The banner is never translated into postscript. Banners are usually ASCII text and put the printer in an error state. Anything that follows the banner will be ignored by the printer until it is reset by another program. Users will want to answer No to the Banner option. This will keep the job from getting stopped in the queue and eventually dumped.


Postscript Cartridges
There are now several cartridges on the market that, when plugged into the cartridge port on a printer, change the way the printer receives and processes information into the postscript format. WP now has several drivers that support laser hardware in conjunction with postscript language.


Fonts
Most postscript printers (and postscript cartridges) come standard with 35 scalable fonts. Adobe sells over 130 additional typefaces which can be used in WP with our Postscript Additional drivers. Special characters in the Zapf Dingbats font can be accessed using character set 12.


Changing Attributes
Attribute methods are contained in the prologue (See below). Customers often want to change the attribute methods on their printer. This information is contained in the prologue. Operators can show the customer where the prologue is, but the user is responsibility for changing it. The testers recommend that we do not change the prologue unless there is a simple fix stated in folio. It is often better to wait for an update to the driver
and then send that to the customer.

Postscript attributes are usually set the way they are because the majority of users want them that way. If a customer doesn't like the WP attributes, we can write up an Enhancement Request to change it.

One feature of postscript printers (and some laser printers like the Canon LBP4 which contain "scalable typefaces") is the ability to print white text over a shaded or black background. This can be achieved by using one of the following options:
1.      Set Gray Scaling to 100% (or some dark setting) under graphic options, make a box, set print color to white, type text
2.      Set print color to white, make a fat graphics line, advance up into it, type text.

On some postscript printers (or scalable lasers), one also can achieve a variety of text patterns using print colors other than white.


Printing in WordPerfect and at DOS
Both the printer and the program must be set to send and receive data in the postscript language. If a postscript driver is selected in WP and the printer is a laser printer or a postscript printer in laser mode, the prologue will be sent to the printer as a 3 or 4 page text file that begins something like this:

%!PS- Adobe
/wpdict 120 dict def
wpdict begin
etc. etc.

Customers may fix this problem by using the menu or dip switches to set the printer to postscript batch mode. To use the postscript printer in Laser mode, the proper laser driver must be selected in WP and the printer must be set in laser mode.

If the printer is in postscript mode and still will not print, check the following items:
1.      Check the port
2.      Check the XON/XOFF setting. Try setting it to the opposite of the current setting.
3.      Check the Timeouts (See Below)

The IBM 4216 model 30 requires additional software to run properly in postscript mode. Memos for changing the format of the software can be found Folio.

To print text from DOS to a Postscript printer the follow commands would be used:

copy con com1 (com1 may be different)
/courier(or any internal font) findfont
25 scalefont
setfont
100 700 moveto
(test) show
showpage
^D
^Z

The second line of this command controls the typeface. The third line controls the size of the font and the fifth line controls where the test prints on the pate. The actual text that is to be printed is written within the parentheses on the sixth line.

An easier way to test a printer to see if it is receiving data is by using the SHOWPAGE command. If received properly the SHOWPAGE command should form feed a blank page. SHOWPAGE is sent to the printer as follows:

Copy con com1 (com1 may be different)
showpage
^D
^Z

Timeouts
Timeouts control the wait time on a printer. The wait time is the amount of time (in seconds) the printer will receive data before dumping a job. This is a common cause of lost data. To avoid this loss, set the timeouts to infinite. Two of the most common postscript printers are the Apple Laserwriter and the NEC LC-890.

Change timeouts on the Apple Laserwriter by sending this file to the printer at DOS. The easiest method for changing timeouts is to create a DOS Text File called TIMEOUT.PS. Include the following commands in the file:

serverdict begin 0 exitserver
statusdict begin
0 60 0 setdefaulttimeouts
end
showpage
^D

Send the file to the printer from DOS by typing COPY TIMEOUT.PS COM1. A blank page will feed showing that the info was received.

Note: This timeout setting does not work on all postscript printers. The NEC printer uses the printer menu's for changing timeouts.

Other printers like the IBM 4216-20 need the timeout information in the WP.PRF file (time_out_job=0 and time_out_wait=0.) Place the line after the standard_print=postscript line.


Ehandler.PS
If the printer is printing at a DOS level, but not in WP there could be a difference in the setup between printer and WP. If a postscript printer receives incorrect data, it will not print. The only way to tell is to copy the error handler file (EHANDLER.PS) to the printer.

The EHANDLER.PRS file is copied when installing a PostScript printer. Users may send the file to the printer with COPY EHANDLER.PS COM1. After sending the file sent the desired print job. A sheet will print listing the first error message that stopped the file. Look in Folio for an explanation of the errors. Some possible errors are:
-Timeout Errors
-Problems with graphics printing
-Errors not finding the correct font
-Virtual memory errors (VM Errors) (out of memory)
-Stack overflow errors. Usually requires an STR.
-Syntax errors. Usually requires an STR.


The Prologue
Postscript drivers have a different PTR menu than other drivers. There are fewer menu options listed because many of the commands, such as Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, Attribute methods, and Initialize and Reset are contained in the prologue. One can go into the .ALL file to modify a procedure in the prologue variable by taking the following steps:

1.      Enter PTR, retrieve the .ALL file, press Enter on the Postscript driver
2.      Cursor to Printer Commands and press Enter
3.      Cursor to Initialize at Start of Print Job and press Enter to get to the expression side
4. Press Alt-F8 to edit the Global String Variables
5.      Cursor to prologue, press Enter then Ctrl-Enter. This will take the user to the edit window.

OR

1. Enter the PTR program and retrieve the .ALL file
2. Highlight the desired printer and press Alt-F8
3. Highlight prologue and press Enter
4. Press Ctrl-Enter. This will take the user to the edit window.


Other troubleshooting techniques
1.      If the user is printing over a network, try printing locally.
2.      If there is a logical connector or switch box, try printing locally.
3.      Is the output being redirected through a mode command?
4.      Most postscript printers print a Status Sheet which has default information on it.
5.      Folio contains information about Apple Talk and TOPS. Additional software and hardware is needed to hook to an IBM compatible and an Apple PC computer at the same time.
6.      Are banners turned off on the Network AND in the program?
7.      Can you duplicate the problem? (The NEC Silentwriter is located in the 1W wing of building G and an Apple Laserwriter IINTX in the 68000 group located in 1E of building G.)
8.      If special characters aren't printing in 5.1, it is likely that the customer has an old ROM which didn't support the characters mapped in PTR. Customers may want to un mark the characters so they can print graphically.

Answer:

Details:


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