PostScript Printers

[ph...@rice.edu.uucp]

>Patrick Baur
> We are searching for laser printers with PostScript which can also
> emulate other printers, eg. HP's DDL.

Ummmm, that's Imagen's DDL. Perhaps you are thinking about HP's
laserjet language. Although HP was the first to say "we will market a
printer that supports DDL"......Is such a printer out yet? I wasn't
even aware that the DDL standard had been published yet.

DDL is supposed to be the successor to PostScript---more powerful and
versatile. This would make a DDL emulation in PostScript hard, I would
think. The real tragedy here is that, even if DDL is better, no one
will ever find out because the computing world has gotten so hooked on
PostScript (for better or worse). It's the "BASIC" syndrome all over
again.

William LeFebvre
Department of Computer Science
Rice University
<ph...@Rice.edu>

["Alan_D._Proch...@xerox.com.uucp]

re: "DDL is supposed to be the successor to PostScript---more powerful

and
versatile. This would make a DDL emulation in PostScript hard, I would
think. The real tragedy here is that, even if DDL is better, no one
will ever find out because the computing world has gotten so hooked on
PostScript (for better or worse). It's the "BASIC" syndrome all over
again."

It is the same as our problems of trying to get Interpress accepted,
which is also a more powerful and complete pdl than PostScript, but
everybody is hooked on the latter. Perhaps in a few years when the high
res printing marketplace grows out of its puberty it will be able to
deal with more than one pdl in public use, or even change standards.
Until then, it looks like it will be whoever can get the most
(reasonably stable) visibility the soonest.

cheers.

Alan Prochaska

[a...@cc.uofm.cdn.uucp]

The real tragedy here is a company that sells boxes and keeps
font creators, users, and software developers in the dark on
how to make full use of them.