DVItoLN03 Version 4.1 1st October 1991 ========= =========== ================ Changes in the V4.1 release are the introduction of two new qualifiers: /[NO]VERBOSE - the default for this may be set up at a site as either state; with /NOVERBOSE, most terminal output is suppressed, apart from the name of the input file, the total bytes of down- loaded fonts, and progress indication as each page is output. /PAPER_SIZE - the default for this should reflect the setting of the paper size selection switch on the rear of the machine. The program requires knowledge of the physical paper size to handle pages which mix landscape and portrait orientation material. This distribution contains the following files: 00README.TXT - the file you are reading Files for building the program: DVITOLN03.CH - a change file for DVItoLN03, for revising V4.0 of the Web to V4.1 DVITOLN03.CLD - VMS command language definition for the DVILN03 command DVITOLN03.EXE - a ``load-and-go'' executable, for VMS V5.4-2 DVITOLN03.OBJ - object code, for linking uder different versions of VMS DVITOLN03.WEB - the WEB source of DVItoLN03 (V4.0) Files for generating the documentation: CHANGEBAR.STY - for those without this: style option for changes DVILN03.HLP - on-line (DCL) help for DVItoLN03 DVILN03.LN3_PUBLISH - file ready to be COPYed to your LN03 DVILN03.TEX_PUBLISH - the ``local guide'' for DVItoLN03 (in LaTeX) LOCAL_GUIDES.BIB - a BibTeX database used at RMCS --- needs BibTeX V0.99c GRAPHICS.STY - a local LaTeX style file for graphics inserts OPENCLOSE.SIX - a Sixel dump of the screen of a terminal, scaled 2:1 OPENCLOSE.SMALL - the same dump, but scaled 1:1 TEXPRINT.COM - command procedure implementing the TEXPrint command (Note that LOCAL.MF is no longer included; better collections of mode_defs have been published, and are available from good archives everywhere.) DVILN03.HLP is a standard (DCL) help file, for inclusion in SYS$HELP:HELPLIB.HLB or your local specialized help library. ******************************************************************************** * This bit is IMPORTANT: many of the reports that the author receives that * * ``DVItoLN03 doesn't work properly'' are because the sites have not set up * * the LN03 device correctly. The only place this is specified is in the user * * manual, and if your printer isn't already set up correctly, it won't PRINT * * unless you send it with PRINT/PASSALL. And even then, it won't come out * * correctly if the DIPswitch on the printer is set to AutoWrap! * ******************************************************************************** You should produce a copy of our local guide. If your LN03 is not spooled, then simply COPY the file DVILN03.LN3_PUBLISH directly to YOUR LN03. Please note that this file includes LOTS of eight-bit characters, so you may need to fetch it again in binary mode if your FTP connection has stripped off the 8th bit. If your LN03 is set up as a printer queue (as the local guide recommends), the safest bet is to PRINT it /PASSALL until you've found out how to set up the queue compatibly; one important caveat is that the terminal line MUST be set up /NOWRAP (see the local guide). Everything is explained, I hope, in the local guide. As supplied, DVILN03.TEX_PUBLISH assumes that you have a working copy of the previous version (V3.1-1 or later) of DVItoLN03, but it does not use any of the special facilities provided by this new release. If you are currently using a different driver, you will have to modify the line at the start of DVILN03.TEX_PUBLISH that reads > \let\iffulldoc=\iftrue %%% Change to \iffalse if you don't have DVItoLN03 to say instead > \let\iffulldoc=\iffalse %%% Change to \iffalse if you don't have DVItoLN03 and then LaTeX it and pass through your existing driver. The guide should be edited to suit YOUR site; I have attempted to flag all site-specific details in DVILN03.TEX with the string SYSDEP, on, or near to, the relevant line(s). Ensure that you define the macros \sitename and \contact; all queries at any site should be channelled through the latter individual, and if he/she cannot resolve them, then I shall be delighted to (attempt to) help. However, the real meat is in DVITOLN03.WEB; this is a WEB version of a DVI-to... driver for the DEC LN03/LN03-Plus laser printers. This program has been revised to V4.0 and is now capable or reading EITHER packed or expanded raster files, virtual fonts, missing fonts (!), landscape/portrait orientation (mixed on one page, even!). It also supports the DEClaser~2100 and~2200 (otherwise known as the LN05 and LN06). Packed (.nnnPK) files are used in preference to .PXL files (if both are available), and are sought in directory given by the /PK_FONT_DIRECTORY qualifier; the .CLD file provided specifies this as TEX_PK:. PXL files are sought in the directory given by the /PXL_FONT_DIRECTORY qualifier, and, at RMCS, are kept in separate subdirectories of TEX_PXL_ROOT:, which is a concealed device specified as the value for this qualifier. Details are given in the user guide, including rearranging the allocation of font files to different directory structures. The program no longer looks in TEX$FONTS: for .TFM files, but instead in whatever is defined as the default for the /TFM_DIRECTORY qualifier; this allows TeX administrators to abandon use of logical names with dollars in them, as recommended by Digital. This implementation of DVItoLN03 has the following advantages over certain other DVItoLN03 programs (these are not in order of importance; the new features are at the end of the list): i) It IS written in WEB, as opposed to C and other such kludgy languages. ii) It downloads to the LN03's font memory the rasters for only those characters actually used in the document. As such, it does not run out of font memory just because you've used a few characters from each of a large number of different fonts. iii) It HAS a capacity for SIMPLE graphics inclusions. These have to be in a format the LN03 understands (DEC sixels), and are copied verbatim into the output file generated. iv) It works in landscape and portrait orientations. v) It makes use of the ``proper'' VAX/VMS DCL interface for commands. vi) It CAN print glyphs whose rasters are too large to be downloaded to the LN03 as a font file (by performing a sixel graphics dump of the bitmap); obviously this slows things down considerably! vii) It CAN handle the invisible fonts used by SliTeX; each such character is actually downloaded as a null character locator, ans is imaged by the appropriate amount of whitespace. viii) Either packed or unpacked font files (or both) may be provided in either flat or rooted directory structures; if logical names are used to specify these locations (as in the .CLD file provided), the files may be spread over a number of different directories or volumes. ix) The error messages are improved over earlier versions of the program, and are now all indexed in the woven (WEAVEd?) WEB. They are also all listed in the users' manual. x) The program can now handle fonts with more then 128 characters, up to TeX's limit of 256. Therefore, it can now process documents which use Silvio Levy's Greek fonts. xi) Retention of the log (.TYP) file may now be forced, suppressed, or allowed to be determined by the success of the processing. xii) Minor revisions and corrections have been made, in particular, it now correctly understands the physical limitations to the imaging area. xiii) Correct some log reports; report files read (except font files); provide the /OUTPUT qualifier, to permit utilization of a scratch directory or direct spooling to the output device. xiv) Support for Flavio Rose \special commands, for drawing changebars, was added by Robin Fairbairns at Laser Scan of Cambridge, UK. xv) TeX Font Metrics (TFM files) are no longer sought in the hard-wired directory TEX$FONTS:, but are instead controlled through the /TFM_DIRECTORY qualifier. xvi) Support for Virtual Fonts; the .VF files are sought in whatever is specified as the value of the /VIRTUAL_DIRECTORY qualifier; users can speed processing fractionally by specifying /NOVIRTUAL_DIRECTORY if it is known that no virtual fonts are used in the document. If virtual fonts are never used at your site, make this the default. xvii) Fonts for which the program cannot find any rasters no longer cause the processing to be abandoned; solid rules of appropriate dimensions are subsituted for each missing glyph. xviii)Landscape and portrait mode material may be mixed within a document, and even on a single page, through \special{landscape} and \special{portrait}. However, some suitable style option still needs to be written to make this feature useful. xix) Qualifiers /LEFT_MARGIN and /TOP_MARGIN now take a dimension (eg 1in) rather than being required to be entered in pixels; the additional called PX (pixel) has been added to TeX's normal set. xx) Support for the new DEClaser 2100 and 2200 printers has been provided by Karsten Nyblad of the Danish Telecomms Research Lab. Users can select the paper source tray, separately for the first and subsequent sheets, and also the printing mode (simplex or duplex). There is even a duplex mode for the ordinary LN03 (no, it doesn't really print two-sided) which, by interspersing blank sheets at appropriate points, produces a single-sided master suitable for photocopying directly to a double-sided document. xxi) Last, but definitely not least, the program has been speeded up, in both the font mapping and the imaging phases, so that overall it runs approximately 25% faster than V3.1-4. The program assumes that the LN03 has sufficient font memory --- for most meaningful documents you will need at least one RAM cartidge (part number LN03X-CR); the program WILL work with just the RAM in the basic printer, but you will probably have to restrict yourself to printing documents 3--4 pages at a time: very messy! Not having one personally, I don't know what memory requirements apply to the new DEClaser printers. Known deficiencies: none (I hope). Possible future work: Make the program accept binary files (DVI, TFM and fonts) that are not in the default organization used by TeXware under VMS (512-byte fixed- length records). This would make importing such files from other operating systems, such as Unix or MS-DOS, easier, since at present such files have to be padded out to some multiple of 512 bytes, and moreover with some appropriate characters, which differs from file to file. Any other suggestions??? Contact ======= If anyone is experiencing difficulty in installing DVItoLN03, they are welcome to contact the author --- B Hamilton Kelly Royal Military College of Science Shrivenham SWINDON UK SN6 8LA Swindon (++44 793) 785252 [Direct line] or via JANET: tex@uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs INTERNET: tex%uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Bitnet: tex@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk Good Luck! Brian HAMILTON KELLY