Announcement: Updated Windows PostScript Drivers Available

["Dov Isaacs" <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

On June 22, 2001, Adobe Systems Incorporated posted Version 1.0.4
of the Adobe Universal Windows PostScript Driver Installer on its
web site at:

<http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/pdrvwin.htm> 

It is available for fifteen languages.

Depending upon the version of Windows on which it is run upon, it 
installs and updates the PostScript driver as follows:

	Windows'95, Windows'98, and Windows ME

	-  AdobePS 4.5.1

	Windows'NT 4

	- AdobePS 5.2 (plus AdobePS 4.5.1 for download to
		Windows'95, Windows'98, and Windows Me clients
		of network printers)

	Windows 2000

	- PSCRIPT5 5.2 (plus AdobePS 4.5.1 for download to
		Windows'95, Windows'98, and Windows Me clients
		AND AdobePS 5.2 for Windows NT 4 clients
		of network printers)

These are the same versions of the drivers that ship with Adobe 
Acrobat 5. To create new printer driver instances, users of Acrobat 5
should NEVER use earlier versions of the Adobe Universal Windows 
PostScript Driver Installer than that on the Acrobat 5 CDROM or this 
version. These drivers have features REQUIRED for proper coordination 
of the PostScript driver with Acrobat Distiller 5.

Note that the PSCRIPT 5 5.2 driver provided in this installer is 
NEWER than the driver in the Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 or Service 
Pack 2. Good news - running either of those service packs will NOT 
overwrite this newer version of PSCRIPT 5 with an older version if 
you run this installer first.

This installer should be run to either (1) update the existing 
driver and its instances to the latest version of AdobePS and/or 
PSCRIPT 5 and/or (2) to create new PostScript driver printer 
instances.

In addition to support for Acrobat Distiller 5, AdobePS 5.2 and 
PSCRIPT5 5.2 provide the following new features under "Device Settings"
to users of Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 that were previously only 
available for users of AdobePS 4.4 and later under Windows'9x/Me:

(1) "True gray" support options for both vector graphics and text. 
Defaulted to "no" values, when set to "yes" the "Convert Gray Text to 
PostScript Gray" and "Convert Gray Graphics to PostScript Gray" assume 
that for all text and vector graphics objects respectively, color 
values in which the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) values match are 
really an expression of grayscale as opposed to RGB color. The default
"no" results in those RGB values passed through to the printer or 
Distiller as-is. The "yes" value can dramatically improve output 
quality for black and grayscale text and vector graphics for 
PostScript color printers that do not automatically make assumptions 
about and convert R=G=B values to K values. The "yes" value also 
assists in creating prepress-friendly PostScript and PDF from 
applications that do not generate their own PostScript (including 
Adobe FrameMaker, Microsoft Office, and other popular office suite 
and productivity programs). [I recommend that users always set these
values to "yes" - Dov.]

(2) Add Euro Currency Symbol to PostScript Fonts. Defaulted to a "yes" 
value, this option tries to augment older text Type 1 "device fonts," 
i.e. those text fonts that are printer-resident, with a definition for 
the Euro character when necessary. This option does NOT affect host-
based Type 1 or TrueType fonts that are downloaded to the printer as 
needed.

[Windows 2000 users should be aware of one remaining problem for which 
Adobe is currently working for a "fix." Some, but not all applications
that do not generate their own PostScript or manage their own fonts 
(including Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Word) display text formatted 
in ITC Zapf Dingbats and possibly Carta and other selected symbol fonts 
as "Wingdings" on the screen although the characters have the "widths" 
of the correct font. However, these characters do print correctly on 
paper or in PDF created via distillation. The problem is a bit more 
complex than just a fix to the driver. A workaround of deleting 
references to such fonts from the PPDs of PostScript printers is only a
partially-effective workaround. Again, Adobe is working on a fix for 
this problem.]

	- Dov


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