Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 12:09:34 -0300 (EST) From: "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@gns.com.br> To: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: handbook.ascii Message-ID: <199706241509.MAA00861@gns.com.br> In-Reply-To: <199706230645.XAA16529@hub.freebsd.org> from "owner-hackers-digest@FreeBSD.ORG" at "Jun 22, 97 11:45:55 pm"
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> From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> > Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 19:23:43 -0700 (PDT) > Subject: Re: Handbook - ascii form?? > [...] > The various suggestions to repair this text, such as piping it through > col -b, running little sed scripts, and so forth are inappropriate from > the point of view that this document (and the FAQ, which has the same > problems) are supposed to be useful to people running dos/Windows as well > as people who may not yet be familiar with various unix utilities. [..] > From: Joseph Stein <joes@spiritone.com> > Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 20:15:29 -0700 (PDT) > Subject: Re: Handbook - ascii form?? > [...] > which is exactly what will happen on a non-conforming printer that does > not understand how to interpret a 'DEL' character (ascii 008 or ^H) > [...] > > But, have you tried those suggestions? Try outputting the file to a line > printer and see if your results are any better. [...] > Laser-jet printers (in my opinion) are notorious for not interpreting ASCII > 008 correctly. > [...] > > It's flaky hardware (or in the case of Micro$loth, buggy software). > > From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu> > Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 23:37:36 -0400 (EDT) > Subject: Re: Handbook - ascii form?? > [...] > > sed -e "s/.^v^H//g" < handbook.ascii.orig > handbook.ascii > > groff does that to sorta fake the underlining and boldfacing. Gee, talk about missing the point! Annelise is suggesting that the main target of handbook.ascii are Win95 users (with Laserjet/Deskjet printers, obviously). In which I agree. Thus, this file should be targetted at what they have: edit, DOS' more, notepad, Word 7.0 and similar programs. That's the whole point of using a stripped down format: so everyone can read. Now, it seems you are suggesting that handbook.ascii is actually targetted at people who want a stripped down format that won't work on most software/hardware available to Unix newbie's. Is that so? It seems downright stupid that the *handbook*, the first contact with the system, requires knowledge about Unix commands or file formats! > From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> > Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 22:49:59 -0700 (PDT) > Subject: Re: Handbook - ascii form?? > > On Sun, 22 Jun 1997, Joseph Stein wrote: > > > > FFrreeeeBBSSDD HHaannddbbooookk > > > > which is exactly what will happen on a non-conforming printer that does > > not understand how to interpret a 'DEL' character (ascii 008 or ^H) > > There aren't any ^H characters in the file, as far as I can tell. > A hex dump shows all the duplicate letters. Have you downloaded these files using ftp in ascii mode, by any chance? Because the handbook.ascii I have here has all BS characters. -- Daniel C. Sobral (8-DCS) dcs@gns.com.br No doubt Jack the Ripper excused himself on the grounds that it was human nature.
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