372 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
372 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
Copyright (C) 1989, 1992 Aladdin Enterprises. All rights reserved.
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Distributed by Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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This file is part of Ghostscript.
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Ghostscript is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
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WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. No author or distributor accepts responsibility
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to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any
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particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing. Refer
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to the Ghostscript General Public License for full details.
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Everyone is granted permission to copy, modify and redistribute
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Ghostscript, but only under the conditions described in the Ghostscript
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General Public License. A copy of this license is supposed to have been
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given to you along with Ghostscript so you can know your rights and
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responsibilities. It should be in a file named COPYING. Among other
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things, the copyright notice and this notice must be preserved on all
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copies.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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*****************************************************
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* This file describes version 2.5.2 of Ghostscript. *
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*****************************************************
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********
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******** An overview of Ghostscript ********
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********
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Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides:
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- An interpreter for the PostScript (TM) language, and
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- A set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that
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implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive
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operations in the PostScript language.
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The Ghostscript language interpreter and library are written entirely
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in C, with some assembly-language accelerators for MS-DOS platforms.
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Currently, Ghostscript is known to run on the following platform
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families:
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- IBM PC and compatibles with EGA, VGA, SuperVGA, or compatible
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graphics under MS-DOS 3.1, 3.3, or 5.0, with or without
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Microsoft Windows 3.0 or 3.1;
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- A wide variety of Unix systems using X Windows version 11,
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release 3, 4, and 5, including Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i,
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Sun SPARCStation 1 and 2; generic 80386 machines running 386/ix,
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ISC Unix, and SCO Unix; H-P 9000/300 and 9000/800;
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DECStation 2100 and 3100; VAX running Ultrix; Sequent Symmetry;
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Convex C1 and C2; Tektronix 4300; SGI Iris Indigo;
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- Sun workstations (Sun-3, SPARC, Sun-386i) running SunView;
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- VAX, VMS with X11R3/4/5, gcc and DEC C compiler (DEC C compiler
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version 3.1 or later is required).
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It is very likely that Ghostscript will run under other versions of
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MS-DOS, and other versions of Unix that support X11, but it has not
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been tested in these environments. Ghostscript does NOT run well on
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PC-compatibles with Hercules display cards: text and graphics output
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interfere with each other.
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Ghostscript has also been ported to the Apple Macintosh and to the
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Acorn Archimedes. For information on the Macintosh port, contact
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Martin Fong (fong@erg.sri.com). For information on the Archimedes
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port, contact David Elworthy (David.Elworthy@cl.cam.ac.uk).
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********
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******** Related programs
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********
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There are two freely available X Windows screen previewers based on
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Ghostscript: Ghostview and GSPreview. For information on Ghostview,
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contact Tim Theisen (ghostview@cs.wisc.edu). For information on
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GSPreview, contact Richard Hesketh (rlh2@ukc.ac.uk).
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A set of patches and additions for Kanji capability for Ghostscript
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version 2.4.1 is available for anonymous FTP from
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ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp:GNU/gs241j11.tar.Z. For more information, contact
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Mr. Norio Katayama (katayama@nacsis.ac.jp).
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********
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******** Documentation overview ********
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********
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All the file names mentioned in the documentation, except for README,
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are in lower case, which is the usual convention for Unix systems.
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On MS-DOS systems, all file names are actually upper-case.
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When you receive Ghostscript, you should start by reading:
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> README - this file.
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> readme.doc - information about problems and major changes new
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features in the current release.
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If you have used a previous release of Ghostscript, you probably
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should also read any more recent sections of:
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> NEWS - a complete, detailed history of changes in Ghostscript
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releases.
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Especially for new users
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------------------------
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If you are a new user of Ghostscript, you should read:
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> use.doc - information about to use Ghostscript.
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If you are going to compile Ghostscript, rather than just use an
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executable you got from somewhere, you should read:
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> make.doc - how to install, compile and link Ghostscript.
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If you run into any questions, or if you are going to be using
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Ghostscript extensively, you should at least skim, and probably
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eventually read:
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> fonts.doc - information about the fonts distributed with
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Ghostscript, including how to add or replace fonts.
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> language.doc - A description of the Ghostscript language, and its
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differences from the documented PostScript language.
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> psfiles.doc - information about the .ps files distributed with
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Ghostscript (other than fonts).
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Especially for developers
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-------------------------
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If you are going to be writing a new driver for Ghostscript, you
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should read:
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> drivers.doc - the interface between Ghostscript and device drivers.
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Odds and ends
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-------------
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> hershey.doc - information about the Hershey fonts, which are the
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basis of some of the Ghostscript fonts.
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> humor.doc - a humorous comment on Ghostscript contributed by a net.person.
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> lib.doc - information about the Ghostscript library.
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> man.doc - a possible Un*x 'man' page for Ghostscript.
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********
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******** Trouble reporting ********
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********
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Aladdin Enterprises doesn't have the resources to respond to questions
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from general users of Ghostscript. If you have problems with
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Ghostscript, and you have access to Usenet news, we suggest you post
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your question to gnu.ghostscript.bug. There are hundreds of
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Ghostscript user sites all over the world, and often another user will
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be able to help you. If you are having trouble with a specific device
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driver, look in the file devs.mak and see if it is a user-maintained
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driver. If so, you may contact the person listed there directly;
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please do not contact Aladdin Enterprises regarding user-maintained
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drivers.
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Aladdin Enterprises does want Ghostscript to be of high quality, so if
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you have been running Ghostscript and encounter a problem, we will be
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glad to investigate it if you meet all the following criteria:
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- You are using the most recent version of Ghostscript.
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- You obtained Ghostscript directly from Aladdin Enterprises,
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or from a GNU distribution site on the Internet.
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- You have installed Ghostscript successfully, and used it
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successfully on other input data.
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- Your problem is reproducible, and you can send us the input
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data that evokes it (by e-mail, anonymous FTP, or PC diskette).
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- Your bug report tells us what hardware, operating system,
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window system, and C compiler you are using.
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Bug reports that include suggested fixes are especially welcome.
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As time permits, Aladdin Enterprises will also respond to e-mail from
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the following classes of users:
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- Beta testers who have actually given us at least one report on
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some beta version supplied to them.
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- People developing drivers that are for, or applications that
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are based on, Ghostscript and that will be made freely available.
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- People who express serious interest in commercial licensing
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of Ghostscript.
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- Commercial licensees.
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Given the choice between the Internet and the UUCP address, remember
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that the Internet is not to be used for general commercial traffic:
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if you aren't sure whether you or your organization can use the
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Internet, use UUCP.
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Aladdin Enterprises owns or has access to the following hardware and
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software:
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80486 PC, MS-DOS 5.0, Microsoft Windows 3.0;
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Borland C++ 3.1 (and several older versions);
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color SuperVGA display; Epson-compatible printer
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(the printer also is compatible with the IBM Proprinter);
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various H-P printers; Canon BubbleJet.
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SPARCstation, SunOS 4.1, cc and gcc, X11R5 and SunView;
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both monochrome and color displays.
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DECstation, Ultrix.
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If your problem turns out to be specific to some other hardware or
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software configuration, it may take longer to track down, since we
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will have to rely on other users to help.
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If you wish to contact Aladdin Enterprises directly, you may reach us
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at:
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Aladdin Enterprises
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P.O. box 60264
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Palo Alto, CA 94306
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voice (415)322-0103
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fax (415)322-1734
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...{uunet,decwrl}!aladdin!ghost
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ghost@aladdin.com
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If you call on the phone, you will usually be talking to an answering
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machine. In this case, please leave a message with your name and
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phone number and the best time for us to return the call.
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********
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******** Things you can do to help ********
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********
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There are some projects that users could do that are somewhat
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decoupled from the main body of the code, and that would help improve
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Ghostscript:
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- Ghostscript needs some good, free, Type 1 (outline) fonts.
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Karl Berry is working on this, but it might go faster if he got some
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knowledgeable assistance. Contact karl@cs.umb.edu if you want to
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help with this.
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- Several people have asked for a program that will take
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PostScript code and reconstruct some reasonable ASCII form of the
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input, if this is possible. Ghostscript's gs_2asc.ps utility does a
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fair job of extracting the strings and their placement on the page,
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but that's only the easy half of the job: a second pass is needed to
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figure out, at a minimum, where paragraph breaks are (based on Y
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positioning), and where spaces go (based on X positioning). Contact
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ghost@aladdin.com if you want to help by doing this.
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- Adobe has donated the specification of the Display
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PostScript C API to the X distribution. Implementing this API for
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Ghostscript might make Ghostscript a lot more useful, since it would
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then be "plug compatible" with Display PostScript in an important
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way. This might not be a very big project. Contact
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ghost@aladdin.com if you would like to help with this.
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- On gray-scale displays, it might be worthwhile implementing
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anti-aliased fonts. To do this, one would modify the renderer so
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that it cached a high-resolution bitmap, and then did the
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anti-aliasing as it copied the bitmap to the device. This would
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allow simulating fractional-pixel positioning, which is one of the
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great benefits of anti-aliased fonts. Contact ghost@aladdin.com if
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this is of interest to you.
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********
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******** Authors ********
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********
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Ghostscript was originally created, and is still primarily developed
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and maintained, by L. Peter Deutsch, proprietor of Aladdin
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Enterprises.
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The following users (in alphabetical order) have contributed
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substantially to improving Ghostscript:
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Hitoshi Aida (for help with the SunView driver),
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William Bader (for several drivers and bug reports),
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Karl Berry and Kathy Hargreaves (for helping create the fonts
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distributed with Ghostscript),
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George Cameron (for a DeskJet 500C driver),
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Phil Conrad (for originating the PPM utilities and the PCX and
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GIF drivers, and lots of bug reports),
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Michel Dagenais (for major help with the DeskJet driver),
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Gershon Elber (for improvements to the BGI driver),
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Mike Ferrara (for help with the LaserJet driver and HP-UX),
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J Greely (for help with the PostScript-to-ASCII filter),
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Paul Haeberli (for the ideas behind better color selection
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and trapezoid fill algorithms),
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Richard Hesketh (for GSPreview),
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Thomas Hiller (for the Trident TVGA driver),
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Frans van Hoesel (for improvements to the DeskJet driver),
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Alfred Kayser (for a DeskJet 500C driver and beta testing),
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Richard Keeney (for help with the SunView driver),
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Eleftherios Koutsofios (for help with the SunView driver),
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Markku Koppinen (for a better circle-to-curve algorithm),
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Russell Lang and Maurice Castro (for the first working Microsoft
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Windows driver),
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Ian MacPhedran (for a sixel driver),
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Jim Mayer (for help with the DeskJet and LaserJet drivers),
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Richard Mlynarik (for a nearly overwhelming volume of
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improvements and suggestions),
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Ulrich Mueller (for the LN03 driver),
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Daniel Newman (for major help with VMS and the CCITT Fax filters),
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Roque Donizete de Oliveira (for testing and debugging,
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and a 'man' page),
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Marc Paquette (for the original PaintJet driver),
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Hal Peterson (for major help with BDF fonts),
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Tom Quinn (for the Canon LBP-8II driver),
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Jerry Roylance (for help with statusdict),
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Dave St. Clair (for the color Epson/Fujitsu driver),
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Jan Sanislo (for two subtle but vital fixes),
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Clemens Schrimpe (for help with accented characters),
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Mike Smolenski (for the Sony drivers),
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Snoopy (for major help with Hershey fonts, and many other
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contributions),
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Karsten Spang (for the Tektronix ink-jet driver),
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Andreas Stolcke (for help with the SunView driver),
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Chris Strozyk (for getting the URW fonts made available),
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Michael Sweet (for help with the high-density Epson driver),
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Tim Theisen (for help with the X Windows driver, and for the
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Ghostview previewer that is built on Ghostscript),
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Gregg Townsend (for the low-resolution dithering algorithm),
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Christian Tschudin (for fixes to the virtual memory package,
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and for the original BubbleJet driver),
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Jos Vos (for the original PBM/PGM/PPM driver),
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Allan Wax (for the AT&T 6300 modification to the BGI driver),
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David Wexelblat (for the high-resolution 9-pin Epson driver),
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Elizabeth Zwicky (for some very challenging examples).
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The following people have also helped out by beta testing, by
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reporting bugs, or in other ways:
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Vikas Aggarwal, Michael Almond,
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Malcolm Bennett,
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Jim Collins,
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Peter da Silva, Art Dederick, Paul DuBois,
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Toerless Eckert,
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Mark Friedman, Richard Foulk,
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Glenn Geers, Dave Goldblatt, Dirk Grunwald,
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Lars Haakedal, Adam Hammer, George Hartzell, Mike Hoffmann,
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Brad Jones, Terry Jones,
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David Keppel,
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Anthony Lee, John Lundin Jr., Lee McLoughlin,
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Stergios Marinopoulos, Herb Martin, David Maynard,
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Doug McDonald, Rich Murphey,
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Russ Nelson,
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Peter Phillips,
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Mark Rawling, Philippe Robert, Tomas Rokicki, Wolfgang Rupprecht,
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Bill Schelter, Bakul Shah,
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Erik Talvola,
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Amanda Walker, Peter Wan, Carsten Wiethoff, Carl Witty,
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Frank Yellin,
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Jamie Zawinski.
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If your name appears on the above list and I've forgotten a
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particular contribution you made, or if it doesn't appear at all,
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please forgive me: just remind me, and you will be properly
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acknowledged in the next release.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated.
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