#Mac FontSizer Program
10 messages in this thread
Is there a way to read parts of the 300 dpi page bitmap under PostScript? I
know the bitmap is supposed to be transparent to the programmer, but is it
completely inaccessible? Can you render a letter into a bitmap within the
printer, then send the bitmap back to the host computer? That's what you make
it sound like, what this program does.
Ah, so it is possible to read the bitmap! Does anyone have clues on how to do
this within PostScript?
I'd guess the way to read the real bitmap in PostScript is to use the
'banddevice', 'framedevice' operators? Does anyone have any experience
with these commands?
I haven't really had time to explore the PostScript that LaserTalk used to
read the bitmap. You can examine it if you look at the LaserTalk dictionary
which they use. I don't have a copy at home (where I am now); the program
is at work where I can use it with our LaserWriter.
Do you have any additional information on the PC version of LaserTalk? I've
seen their ads and drooled at bit (not a pretty sight!). Right now I write
some Postscript code in my text editor, copy it down to the laser printer
and run over to my communications package to chat with the interpreter
about it–hardly an ideal "programming environment."
I imagine LaserTalk accesses MacDraw to image the bitmap off the laser.
Would that mean the PC version would have to run under Windows or some
other graphic program? If you get a chance, I'd love to get the company
address and phone for LaserTalk. Thanks for the help.
The PC version of LaserTalk does run under Windows.
Did you mean to say that (Mac) LaserTalk accesses MacDraw to get the image
of the bitmap? Perhaps you meant QuickDraw. Either way, if it works
under Windows on the PC, it must be interacting with the laser printer.
LaserTalk dumps the bit-map of the page in printer memory (or at least the
portion which you have showing on the screen). On the Mac version, you can
open a window as large as you can fit on your screen. If you make the
window too large, however, there is a noticeable delay in painting the
screen the because the info has to be transmitted over AppleTalk, which is
not super fast for that amount of data. Each screen pixel represents one
printer pixel, so the screen image is four times as large as that on the
piece of paper (300 dpi / 72 dpi [resolution of Mac screen] = approx. 4).
I'm not sure what you mean by your reference to "MacDraw", a Macintosh
program.
Use the RM Function to read
these messages.