Synergetic Data Systems Inc Session 6 Post Script

Synergetic Data Systems, Inc. Session 6 Post. Script® vs. PCL Printing Post. Script is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated Presented by Allen Miglore Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Why Post. Script? • Through version 6, Un. Form supported PCL 5 and PDF output formats. PCL 5 was the language standard for laser printers. • Starting in 2005, HP reduced support for PCL 5 by eliminating scalable PCL fonts from some new printer models. All PCL text was rendered in Courier. • SDSI chose to develop a Post. Script driver. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Post. Script History • Post. Script was developed in the 1980’s by Adobe, for use in the printing and typesetting industry. – The Apple Laserwriter was an early consumer printer with Post. Script. • Post. Script 2 and 3 were released in the 1990’s. • Post. Script is widely supported on laser printers today – often Post. Script 2. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Post. Script vs. PCL 5 • Post. Script is a programming language – PCL 5 is a page description language • Post. Script is verbose, large print streams – PCL 5 is concise, smaller print streams • Post. Script is extendable to support any device capability – PCL 5 has a defined specification of device capabilities Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Key Un. Form Differences • Print stream size increase means longer transmission times to printer • Device capabilities are controlled by commands that differ by printer (duplex, tray, and bin control) • Image support differs (eps and jpeg) • Base fonts are similar, but Un. Form also supports Type 1 soft fonts Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Device Capability Example • In PCL 5, a tray selection command was always ESC +”&l#H”. The Un. Form tray 1 command always sent ESC+”&l 1 H”. • In Post. Script, trays are given names, which vary by printer, and a tray name is given Post. Script code, which varies by printer. • *Input. Slot Upper/ Tray 1: "<> setpagedevice" Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

PPD Files • Since printer control varies by model, a configuration file is necessary. Vendors publish Postscript Printer Definition (PPD) files for their printers. • A PPD file is simply a map of capability names to the code sequences that are sent to the print stream. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

PPD Files Contain Code • Vendor PPD files give capabilities names rather than codes. – Upper or High. Capacity rather than 1 or 5 • For Un. Form, PPD files describe: – Trays as *Input. Slot name: code – Bins as *Output. Bin name: code – Duplex as *Duplex name: code Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Un. Form Reads PPD Files • Example: a tray command will cause Un. Form to lookup the code associated with the *Input. Slot definition of that tray. • Any two PPD files will likely have different names for the same capability – None will have codes like PCL (1, 4, 5, etc. ) • PPD files can be customized to match rule file names for tray, bin, and duplex. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Locating a PPD - Internet • Look in the drivers or software sections of the manufacturer’s web site • Look in the linixprinting. org web site: http: //linuxprinting. org/ download/PPD Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Locating a PPD - Windows • Install drivers for the printer – If there’s a choice, be sure to include Postscript drivers • Search for *. ppd • Copy/paste the ppd file for your model Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

PPD Files are Always Used • Un. Form comes with two default PPD files – pcl. ppd – traditional PCL escape sequences – ps. ppd – based on hp 4000. ppd, customized to show traditional tray and bin codes • The pcl. ppd file supports the traditional PCL coded sequence, plus named sequences modeled on ps. ppd. • The ps. ppd file supports both as well, showing how customization can be used. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

PPD File Selection • Un. Form supports PPD files with the –m model command line option. – -m hp 4000 uses ppd/hp 4000. ppd • Without a –m option, Un. Form uses pcl. ppd or ps. ppd, depending on the driver in use. • Rule sets can have model-specific sections: if uf. model$="hp 4000" … end if Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

During Printing… • Un. Form loads the specified (-m model) or default ppd file at the start of the job. • When Un. Form encounters a tray, bin, or duplex command, it looks up the code: – tray upper looks for the pattern “*Input. Slot *upper*: ” and inserts the related code. – tray 5 looks for the pattern “*Input. Slot *5*: ” Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Correcting the Mismatch • Un. Form rule files traditionally use PCL code numbers for printer control. • PPD files use names rather than PCL codes to identify printer control features. • To solve, edit PPD file to provide PCL codes as synonyms, or change commands to use PPD names. See ps. ppd. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Image Differences • Color Post. Script printers support EPS and JPEG files. • Monochrome Post. Script printers support only EPS, and error on JPEG files. • Scaling is supported by the printer. • The attach command is implemented as an image command scaled to the full page. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Image Name Substitutions • If an image has a. pcl or. prn extension, and the image mode is not color, Un. Form will automatically look for a. eps file. • If an image command has a. rtl extension, or the image mode is color, Un. Form will automatically look for a. jpg file. • Color image mode is indicated by -ci or -color command line options, or a “color” image command option. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Image Conversion • Image Magick can produce EPS or JPEG if eps= and jpeg= [images] lines are configured. • The Windows Support Server can produce EPS or JPEG images as well. • The web site image conversion utility can produce EPS and JPEG images, if you want pre-created files. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Post. Script Fonts • There are three standard built-in fonts, plus two symbol fonts, in every Post. Script device. The three standard fonts come in normal, bold, italic, and bold-italic. – Courier, Helvetica, Times-Roman • Other fonts can be provided using Type 1 soft font files. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Internal Font Mapping • Un. Form is designed to select fonts by a PCL font number. In ufparam. txt, names are mapped to numbers in the [fonts] section. • For Post. Script, font numbers are mapped in the [psmap] section to a font name found in the psfont directory: – 4101=Times-Roman, Times-Bold, Times-Italic, Times. Bold. Italic Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

The psfont Directory • Each Post. Script font has a. afm file, and non-internal fonts have a. pfa or. pfb file. • The. afm file stores character size metrics • The. pfa/. pfb files are soft fonts that can be downloaded with jobs that use them. • A Type 1 font will provide the above files. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Type 1 Font Example: MICR • In ufparam. txt, in the [psmap], is this line: MICR=15002 • In the psfont directory are these files: MICR. afm MICR. pfa MICR. pfb • A text command using font 15002 will produce MICR output. Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20

Questions • Answers Intelligent Tools SDSI Technical Conference 2007 ■ Sacramento, CA USA ■ October 18 -20