NewDeal Technical Support Document 272

Specific Printer Notes, PostScript

This document contains notes about using PostScript printers with NewDeal software

Note: You must have NewDeal software to use NewDeal print drivers. NewDeal print drivers will not work with other Windows, OS/2, or DOS programs.

All PostScript Printers

Character Spacing

Custom character spacing will appear on screen, but it may not print out correctly on PostScript printers.

Built-in Fonts and Download Fonts

Certain fonts (Cooperstown, Greenville) come out a little bolder and a little more scrunched together when printing on a PostScript printer, compared to other kinds of printers. This is because we use the Adobe Type 1 fonts built into the printer whenever an equivalent is available (e.g. Times Roman when printing URW Roman). For non-built in fonts (e.g. Cooperstown), we download Adobe Type 3 fonts. There are two functional differences between Type 1 and Type 3. Type 1 is hinted whereas Type 3 is not, so at very small sizes, Type 1 fonts will generally look a little better than Type 3. Also, Type 1 fonts use a slightly different fill rule than Type 3. Type 1 fonts only turn a dot on if the majority of it is within the bounds of the character, whereas Type 3 fonts turn on a dot if any of it is within the bounds of the character.

Page Numbering

When using certain fonts (e.g., Shattuck Avenue or URW Sans) automatic page numbering may not print correctly on every page of the document. It does print correctly if you use URW Roman or URW Cranbrook.

Downloading Fonts

There is a limit to how many fonts you can download to a PostScript printer. If you overflow the amount of memory in your printer, then it will just blink at you and not print anything. The exact amount is hard to quantify, because it depends a lot on how fancy the characters are and how many characters you use from a font. The software will only download outlines for the exact characters that you use, so if you have a document with a single font you can fill the entire page (with normal text). If you use short (one or two words) from a font, you can probably use 15 on a page. If you are using URW Roman, URW Sans, URW Mono or Symbol font (in any style), it should be OK. Our software maps them directly to the PostScript fonts and there is no downloading. If you use any other font, then the characters used on the page are downloaded to the printer. You may have to experiment a bit to find out the limit for your particular printer.

Printing over a Unix network

Printing to file and then using the pc-nfs 'lpr' command to print the file over a Unix network may require that you use the DOS2UNIX command to modify the line-feeds appropriately before printing.

Legal Size

Printing legal size to some PostScript printers, like the IBM 4019 or the Canon LBP 8, may require setting the printer to legal size via the printer's control panel or via a software command. The symptom is that the top three inches of the document will not print, and the bottom of the document will finish three inches before the end of the sheet. The problem may not occur when printing in HP (PCL) mode on the same printer.

Unlisted PostScript Printers

If your PostScript printer does not appear on our list, here are some good bets for driver selections:

PostScript and America Online

The America Online application (PCAO) in version 1.x or 2.x will not print directly to PostScript printers. America Online engineers wrote their own printing routines into the application, which bypass the drivers in our system software. One work around is to copy/paste or drag/drop your text from PCAO into another application like NewWrite or Text File Editor and print from there. Another approach is to save the text to a file and print the file later from other software. You can also use the Session Log feature (in the File menu) to capture part or all of the email and articles you view in a session online.

Large Pages

The HP PaintJet XL printer supports 11 x 17 paper, but our PostScript driver does not send the necessary commands for large paper. If you print to file, you can edit the resulting file by hand by adding, after the bounding box entry:
currentpagedevice /InputAttributes get 0 get
/Pagesize [842 1190]
/imagingBBox null
setpagedevice

Shading and Text

The PostScript driver ignores halftones applied to text.

Tab Leaders

Tab leaders may not print on PostScript printers when using certain fonts. URW Roman works fine, but URW Sans may leave blanks where the leaders should be.

All fonts print as Courier

The NewDeal PostScript print driver assumes that a PostScript printer contains at least a basic set of PostScript fonts. If your PostScript printer does not, then some text in your document may print out in Courier font, even though you've chosen a different font in your document.

If you understand PostScript language, then one work around is to print to file and then edit the printed-to-file file by hand to change the fonts.

Another approach involves using a hex editor to modify the file EPS.GEO, which contains all the PostScript commands used by NewDeal. Warning: This change is not endorsed or supported by NewDeal. It involves using a disk editor (hex editor) to modify a system file in the software. Disk editors are advanced tools which can damage the data on your hard drive if you make a mistake. If you are not confident about your ability to use a disk editor, do not attempt this patch.

This change will force NewDeal to reload the fonts for each page of your document, thereby replacing the Courier font with the correct font in all future documents. To make the change:

  1. First, backup the file EPS.GEO so you can replace it if the patch does not work for you. EPS.GEO is located in \SYSTEM\IMPEX.
  2. Launch your disk editor, open EPS.GEO, and locate the line: 
    {pop /Courier}if
    Edit the line to change it like this: 
    {}            if
    That is, replace "pop /Courier}" with spaces and move the right curly bracket to the left.
  3. Save the file.
If you encounter errors, or if the patch does not work as expected, replace EPS.GEO with the backup copy you made in the first step.
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Last Modified 16 Feb 1999 (Kleine Textkorrektur 15.10.2008)