From: djs@jet.uk (David J Stevenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Calligrapher Postscript drivers.
Date: 16 Oct 92 09:06:17 GMT
Organization: Joint European Torus

In <1992Oct14.125411.22399@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> sjg@phwoof.ph.kcl.ac.uk (Simon Gornall) writes:

>I've have encountered the same bug that was mentioned on Usenet a few days ago
>ie: that letters such as 'O', 'e', 'a' etc are completely filled with no white
>space in the centre when the text has been wrapped around a curve or circle.

>I read the usenet article and was pretty angry that there was no support
>forthcoming from WT, so I rang to complain. The conversation went something like
>this...

>Me:  I am having problems printing with the postscript driver when I use FlexText
>     PAK.

>Him: Yes there is a bug in the PS driver. We'll have to replace your pscript.sys
>     file. Can I have your name ?

>Me:  <blah> 

>Him: I'll send it to your registered address by tomorrow. Ok ? 

>Me:  Fine. Thanks.


>I reckon you can't really expect much more than this.

>Simon.

>>>> A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn <<<
I was that angry poster to which you refer. You got that particular bug fix
only after *I* had spent a very long time on the phone trying to convince
WT that there was a bug, and had to send off test files, printouts etc.
Finally, he admitted there was a bug, and (for this bug, but not for
others) sent a fix.  I would like to see you trying to convince
Mr Johnstone (WT) of any bugs that haven't already been proved to him.

Now you're using FlexText, you will notice that, even though your PostScript
printer has Times-Roman and Helvetica built-in, and you have stated this
in your Postscript PAK font map, Calligrapher does NOT use the built-in
fonts.  Instead it renders FlexText characters itself.  Apart from generating
unneccessarily large PostScript files, you will notice that the chars
are VERY badly rendered.  How smooth do the outlines of O, e etc letters
look?  When you complain to Johnstone he will first say that it's a bug
in the PostScript interpreter, rendering line joins incorrectly.  Then,
when you prove him wrong on this, and prove beyond even his doubt that
the outlines are wrong because Calligrapher used incorrect coordinates
for some of the points on the outline, he will say tough, he's not going
to fix it anyway.

If you get the same version of the PostScript driver that I've got, also
watch out for apostrophes coming out as cent characters (I've fixed this
by patching the driver).  Watch out for inaccurately drawn rounded boxes.
Watch out for fill patterns being drawn at 72dpi even on a pro typesetter.
And have a good laugh trying to print a copyright or Registered Trade
Mark character using either Times-Roman (Holland) or Helvetica (Zurich).

Obviously, some of the bugs listed in the last paragraph are minor, but
the incorrect character outlines is FUNDAMENTAL.  

I have had private E-mail from other Calligrapher users who have suffered
the same lack of support as me.
-- 
+---------------------------------------------------+
| David Stevenson  djs@jet.uk   Tel: +44 235 465028 |
+---------------------------------------------------+
- Disclaimer: Please note that the above is a personal view and should not 
  be construed as an official comment from the JET project.