Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 09:45:05 -0800 (PST) From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: Josef Grosch <jgrosch@superior.mooseriver.com> Cc: allen campbell <allenc@verinet.com>, grog@lemis.com, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ps2pdf (was: newbies mailing list) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980303093430.5689A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> In-Reply-To: <19980303021013.27656@mooseriver.com>
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On Tue, 3 Mar 1998, Josef Grosch wrote: > On Tue, Mar 03, 1998 at 01:04:34AM -0800, Annelise Anderson wrote: > > > > > > On Mon, 2 Mar 1998, allen campbell wrote: > > > > > > > IMHO, HTML is the best choice for this documentation. HTML is > > > > I think HTML is great for reading on the screen (with Netscape or > > Internet Explorer) and printing. But the handbook comes in 340 or so > > HTML pieces. It is in this condition useless to me, although I know > > other people like this sort of thing. So I usually read a latin1 > > version with "less," if there's something I need to look at. > > > > John Fieber suggested once breaking the handbook into chapters (he > > had 22 sections; 6 or 8 appealed to me) but the chapters were > > available only on his server. > > > > I printed out the copy of the handbook that came with 2.0.5 (it was > > ascii and had no control codes like ^H in it) using a little dos > > program called pcbook.exe. This is one of those programs that makes > > booklets; you take the paper out of the Laserjet and turn it over and > > print the other sides, and then fold it, and it gets the page numbers > > right. Actually I still use this version of the handbook because it's > > convenient, even though it's out of date. > > > > [ DELETED ] > > > It is in fact very easy to produce a postscript version of either the FAQ > or the handbook. Just cd in the directory with the sgml source and > > sgmlfmt -f ps [handbook|FAQ].sgml > > And out comes a postscript file. When I print a copy of the handbook I go > looking for a HP laser printer that can print on both sides. It's really > nice if you have a pack of pre-drilled laser paper. This is precisely the point where the exercise collapses. Since the FAQ and handbook are available in postscript versions (it is not even necessary to apply sgmlfmt), any further attention to this problem is unnecessary, because EVERYONE HAS A POSTSCRIPT PRINTER. In fact most dos/win users (remember, the target market) don't have postscript printers and may not even have Laserjets. (I have available to me in one way or another 9 or 10 Laserjet printers (five at home and five at the office) and not one of them prints postscript. The next step is to advise installation of ghostscript and apsfilter. My experience with these is that the print quality is extremely poor in comparison to what Laserjets do when using built-in fonts and so forth. However, I don't know how to install these on a dos/windows machine and then print a postscript version of the handbook. Maybe this is the only solution; I really don't think it should be. If this is what people are expected to do, the source of these programs and their installation and how to run them should be clearly explained. I don't think people should have to install new software to print basic documents. Annelise To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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