RE: eps problems

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Larry,

(1) Acrobat and Acrobat Reader generate their own PostScript for
printing. Minimal work needs to be done to convert PDF to PostScript
for output.

(2) Yes, Distiller eliminates redundancies in the PostScript as well
as all control mechanisms in creating PDF.

(3) The PDF spec is not light reading and really doesn't have a
tutorial associated with it. It's somewhat like reading the Manhattan
white pages.

(4) Actually with many of the newer PostScript printers, such as
some of the new Xerox Phasers, you don't often wait for output from
many mundane "office" applications. Content with complex graphics,
though ...

        - Dov


At 2/6/2003 10:18 AM, larry.kollar@arrisi.com wrote:
>> In fact, except for the EPS-passthrough and some limited PostScript
>> generated by FrameMaker for "housekeeping" purposes, under Windows,
>> the PostScript from a FrameMaker document is indeed generated by
>> the driver.
>
>And thus Reader takes matters into its own bits, so to speak?
>
>> The name "Distiller"
>> came from the fact that the primary job of that piece of software was
>> to "distill" and isolate the graphical essence of the complex PostScript
>> job stream, a majority of which is often control and housekeeping code.
>
>OK, that makes sense. I get the impression, though, that Distiller
>compresses the file in some manner, judging from comparing sizes of
>PS and PDF files (even in books without bitmap shots). I'm not sure
>whether it's a true compression or if it's optimizing the PS in some
>way (or both). I probably ought to *read* that PDF spec I downloaded
>last week. :-D
>
>> ... the controllers of most PostScript laser printers
>> are much slower than the host computers "feeding" them PostScript ...
>
>That's certainly true: even a Mac IIsi will sit waiting on a printer.
>The only app that would make its printer -- a GCC BLP Elite -- churn
>out pages at its maximum 4ppm was OzTeX. TeX, as you probably know,
>rasterizes everything before sending it to the printer, saving the
>printer the trouble....
>
>--
>Larry Kollar, Senior Technical Writer, ARRIS


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