From brigc@world.std.com Tue Jan 28 10:52:32 1997 Newsgroups: comp.periphs.printers Path: stc06.ctd.ornl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!uwm.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.erols.net!newspump.sol.net!mindspring!uunet!in3.uu.net!uucp6.uu.net!world!brigc From: brigc@world.std.com (Brig C McCoy) Subject: comp.periphs.printers - FAQ - Part 9 of 11 Version: 3.09 Message-ID: Followup-To: comp.periphs.printers Last-Modified: 1997/01/05 Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about printers and should be read by anyone wishing to post to the comp.periphs.printers newsgroup. Sender: brigc@world.std.com (Brig C McCoy) Reply-To: brigc@world.std.com Organization: Southeast Kansas Library System, Iola, KS Posting-Frequency: monthly Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 05:29:12 GMT Archive-Name: comp-periphs-printers-faq Expires: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 00:00:00 GMT Lines: 208 Subject: 09 Miscellaneous Information _______________ Subject: 09.01 GhostScript GhostScript is a PostScript interpreter written by Peter L. Deutsch from Aladdin Enterprises. There are different license conditions for the different existing GhostScript versions: version 2 (current is 2.6.1) is under the GNU General Public License (GPL), whereas version 3 is under Aladdin GhostScript Free Public License (this means in short terms that you may use both versions for private use as free, but the conditions differ when it comes to use it commercially - see the relevant license and copying conditions). GhostScript version 2.6.1 (or later) and all related files are available via FTP: or any GNU mirror around the world, version 3.01 (or later) is also available via FTP: . _______________ Subject: 09.02 Converting between Emulations _______________ Subject: 09.02.01 Converting PostScript to other emulations This is a typical task for GhostScript (if there is a driver for the emulation you're looking for). By calling gs with the -help option you can get information about the available devices. Here's a non- complete list of emulations supported: epson, epsonc, necp6, laserjet, ljetplus, ljet2p, ljet3, paintjet, bj10e, djet500, djet500c, pjetxl, lbp8 (these are the names used in GhostScript). It's possible to add new drivers to GhostScript if there isn't one available yet. _______________ Subject: 09.02.02 Converting other emulations to PostScript As long as you only have plain ASCII text to print this is easy to do. There are some public domain tools available for this purpose, the simplest one is called a2ps. But when it comes to non-ASCII text (ISO 8859-1 or PC 437) or even printer specific control sequences (or raster graphics etc.) things may become difficult. For converting HP PCL into PostScript there is a tool available (look for lj2ps), but as far as I know it only handles non-proportional fonts (as for HP LaserJet II) and no graphics. There is also a convertor available for HPGL (its name is hpgl2ps), but I don't know more about it. Likewise there exists a filter for Epson to PostScript conversion (epson2ps). _______________ Subject 09.02.03 Other Conversions _______________ Subject: 09.03 Printing T-shirts It is, indeed possible to create iron-on transfers for t-shirts on laser printers. There's at least one company selling the necessary toner cartridges for most standard B&W laser printers. See the Vendor Contact section for more information on BlackLightning. According to them: "The toners come in 15 colors and use a sublimation dye process to produce permanent designs on surfaces containing polyester or similar molecules. Because of the toner cartridge design you can switch colors from one page to the next without any residue problems. You can even print multiple colors on the same page doing multiple passes. Most laser printers have excellent registration for doing this if you follow a few tricks. The print on the page is B&W - the color does not appear until it is transferred to the destination surface. Cartridges cost $140 to $270 depending on the make of the laser printer." | From Bob Zeiss: | I think your section on T-shirt printing needs to be updated. | The Canon T-shirt paper for inkjets has made t-shirt printing | a lot easier. | [Anyone have experience with the Canon product they'd like to | share?] _______________ Subject 09.04 Miscellaneous Internet Resources Here's some pertinent Internet URL's I've found available in recent months: From Hubert van Dongen The inkjet printer homepage. Good, non-commercial site with pointers to lots of stuff. | World Wide Web site previously listed failed 03 Jan 1997. From Kevin Green Penguin's Printer Page - pointers to printer drivers on the net. _______________ Subject 09.05 Paper Sizes From Terje Trane: "In Europe we use this system: "Take a sheet of paper with an area of one square meter cut so that the length of the short side is the long side divided by the square root of 2 . (That's approximately 1.41). Call this size A0. Divide each side with the square root of two and call this A1, continue dividing and you get A2, A3, A4 and A5. Another way of doing this is to cut the A0 in two along the short middle line, then you have two A1 size sheets. Cut them the same way and you have 4 A2-sheets and so on. "I have not seen smaller sizes than A5 used, but the system could of course be extended if you need to. I have also seen used A00 for a size twice the area of A0, and A000 for 4 times the area. "There is also a B-size range that is larger than the A of the same number but smaller than the A of a smaller number (ex. B4 is a size between A4 and A3) that occasionally is used. "Finally there is a C range for envelopes." Metric ISO Paper Sizes - Primarily used outside North America From: The Macmillan Dictionary of Measurement. By Mike Darton and John Clark. Macmillan Publishing, New York, NY. 1994. ISBN 0-02-525750-1 LC 93-47005 Width x Height Width x Height Name inch inch mm mm A0 33 1/8 x 46 3/4 841 x 1,189 A1 23 3/8 x 33 3/8 594 x 841 A2 16 1/2 x 23 3/8 420 x 594 A3 11 3/4 x 16 1/2 297 x 420 A4 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 210 x 297 A5 5 7/8 x 8 1/4 148 x 210 A6 4 1/8 x 5 7/8 105 x 148 A7 2 7/8 x 4 1/8 74 x 105 A8 2 x 2 7/8 52 x 74 A9 1 1/2 x 2 37 x 52 A10 1 x 1 1/2 26 x 37 B0 39 3/8 x 55 5/8 1,000 x 1,414 B1 27 7/8 x 39 3/8 707 x 1,000 B2 19 5/8 x 27 7/8 500 x 707 B3 13 7/8 x 19 5/8 353 x 500 B4 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 250 x 353 B5 7 x 9 7/8 176 x 250 B6 4 7/8 x 7 125 x 176 B7 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 88 x 125 B8 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 62 x 88 B9 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 44 x 62 B10 1 1/4 x 1 3/4 31 x 44 C4 9 x 12 3/4 229 x 1,414 holds A4 flat C5 6 3/8 x 9 162 x 229 holds A5 flat or A4 folded in half C6 4 1/2 x 6 3/8 114 x 162 holds A6 flat, A5 folded in half, or A4 folded in four DL 4 1/4 x 8 5/8 108 x 219 holds A4 folded twice, into thirds "DL was not an original ISO designation, but had to be introduced because people insisted on folding their A4 letters in three - and why not!" A Partial List of North American Paper Sizes From: Aldus PageMaker (Windows Version 5.0a), [Computer Program]. Available Distributor: CDW Computer Centers, Inc., Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Common Width x Height Width x Height Name inch inch mm mm Letter 8.5 x 11 215.9 x 279.4 Legal 8.5 x 14 215.9 x 355.6 Tabloid 11 x 17 279.4 x 431.8 From: HP DeskJet 520 User's Guide, Manual Part Number C2170-90010. Hewlett-Packard Company, 1993. Envelopes Common Width x Height Width x Height Name inch inch mm mm US No. 10 4.12 x 9.5 104.7 x 241.3 _______________ ===== End of Part 9 of 11