Insight Development Corp.
MacPrint, Version 1.2.3
October 29, 1990
Insight Development Corp. is pleased to release version 1.2.3 of our MacPrint software.
LASERJET III and IIID SUPPORT
The LaserJet III and IIID drivers allow you to access the printer's internal fixed size and internal scalable fonts. This gives you greater selection when you need the speed and quality of printing with printer fonts, as well as greater flexibility in the point sizes you wish to use. The scalable fonts can be scaled to any point size from 6 to 999.75 in .25 point increments.
Note: Not all applications will support the use of all of the LaserJet III and IIID's internal font effects (rotation and large point sizes, etc.). Please see the application's user's manual for more information.
Internal fixed size
(plain, bold, italic)
---------------------
LJ Courier, 10 &12 pt.
LJ Line Printer, 8.5
Internal scalable
(plain, bold, italic, bold + italic)
------------------
LJ CG Times
LJ Univers
You can now enlarge or reduce the size of your image, from approximately 10% up to 800% depending on page size. We have also incorporated data compression techniques in order to speed up transmission to the LaserJet III, reducing the total print time for an average page of bit-mapped text.
The screen fonts for the internal scalable fonts are in point sizes 9, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24, each in 4 styles. These take up a total of about 200k of disk space. You may wish to remove the 18 and 24 point sizes of the fonts LJ CG Times and LJ Univers with the Font/DA Mover in order to save over 100k of disk space. The only penalty is that the on-screen appearance of these 2 fonts in larger sizes will be jagged. Nonetheless, they will print smoothly at 300 dots per inch.
In order to print with the LaserJet's internal fonts, select the appropriate LJ font from the application's font menu. Remember that selecting a font from an application's font menu will not format the document in that font unless you have selected (= highlighted or blackened) the text to be formatted. If you have not highlighted any text, only text typed from that point on will be in the selected font.
Some applications, such as MacWrite II, allow you to enter any point size of font, such as "8," "17," "99," etc., by selecting "Other" in the "Font" or "Size" menu, or in some other way. With such applications, you can use the scalable fonts at virtually any point size. Some applications, however, only allow you to choose point sizes from a menu. In applications like these, you will find your choices limited.
FONT MAPPER AND ADOBE TYPE MANAGER
1. A problem sometimes occurs when the Font Mapper is run with Adobe Type Manager. It is recommended that Adobe Type Manager be turned off (either through the control panel or by removing it from the System Folder) when running Font Mapper to create your screen fonts. MacPrint is fully compatible with Adobe Type Manager for normal printing operations, and may be turned on after the screen fonts have been created.
OTHER LASERJET NOTES:
1. LIMIT ON FONTS PER PAGE: Due to hardware limitations, the LaserJet series II and LaserJet+ printers can only print 16 distinct cartridge and/or internal fonts (LJ fonts) per page. Distinct fonts are those that vary by typeface, style, or size. This limitation does not apply if you're printing QuickDraw Graphics fonts.
2. INTERFONT FONT CARTRIDGES BY INTERCON ASSOCIATES: Four Interfont font cartridges by Intercon Associates are documented in Appendix B, MacPrint Font Cartridges. In Appendix B these font cartridges are identified by their Intercon Associates' part number. In MacPrint's FONT MAPPER and in the CHOOSER, these same font cartridges are identified by the font cartridge name. Intercon WPC-PL1-HE is Interfont Humanist 601. Intercon WPC-PL1-DE is Interfont Dutch 801. Intercon WPC-PL1-SE is Interfont Century 701. Intercon WPC-PL1-CE is Interfont Swiss 721 I8. In addition, MacPrint supports another font cartridge from Intercon Associates. This new cartridge is Interfont Swiss 721 E8. This cartridge contains the same fonts as Interfont Swiss 721 I8, but uses the Roman-8 symbol set, rather than USASCII. Currently the Swiss 721 E8 cartridge is only available in Europe.
3. "FASTER, BUT MAY PRINT HIDDEN OBJECTS": A new check box has been added to the print dialog box for the LaserJet series printers, which has the title "Faster, But May Print Hidden Objects." When selected, pages containing lines and rectangles will be printed much more quickly, as the internal drawing capabilities of the printer are used. This approach does not support the recognition of "hidden lines" though, so the resulting page may not look correct under all circumstances. Problems are most likely to arise when using object oriented drawing programs such as MacDraw or Canvas, where overlaying of objects is a common method of creating the final image. This feature is most useful when used with images such as spreadsheets or pages with borders. Those lines are converted to graphic elements that can be transmitted very quickly to the printer, bypassing the much slower (though more precise) bitmap imaging that is done when this feature is not activated.
4. PDP 25-IN-1 FONT CARTRIDGE: The PDP 25-in-1 font cartridge uses different character widths for the portrait and landscape versions of some fonts. There is no satisfactory way for the Macintosh to change font characteristics when a document shifts orientation, so this causes problems with MacPrint. It is recommended that the following fonts not be used from this cartridge in landscape mode: Times 10 pt, Helvetica 8 pt, and Helvetica 10 pt bold. If these fonts are used, the output will not have proper character spacing.
5. PDP 25-IN-1 FONT CARTRIDGE: There are two font cartridges sold by PDP under the same name, both of which are now supported in MacPrint. The original cartridge came with black diskettes in the box and claimed support for "103 fonts and symbol sets." This cartridge does not have many of the characters needed for non-English text, and is supported in the Font Mapper and Chooser lists as "PDP 25-in-1 -- 103 Fonts." PDP now ships this cartridge with blue disks, and boasts "173 fonts and symbol sets." This new version adds a couple of fonts, but perhaps more important, adds support for non-English language text characters. This version of the cartridge may be accessed in the Font Mapper and Chooser as "PDP 25-in-1 -- 172 Fonts."
DESKJET NOTES:
1. LANDSCAPE PRINTING: A late addition to MacPrint 1.1 now allows you to print in landscape orientation on the DeskJet and DeskJet PLUS printers using the Printer Font method of printing. However, due to hardware limitations of these printers, you cannot combine landscape Printer Fonts (DJ fonts) and graphics in the same document. Since QuickDraw Graphics fonts are printed using the printer's graphics mode, this means that you cannot combine landscape Printer Fonts and QuickDraw Graphics fonts in the same document. Therefore, the Page Setup dialog for the DeskJet and DeskJet PLUS printers has changed. If you select landscape printing in Page Setup, you must select either QuickDraw Graphics only or Printer Fonts only. If you select QuickDraw Graphics only, all fonts, including DJ fonts, are printed as bitmapped fonts. Since the DJ fonts do not include the four times font size required for High Quality printing, any DJ fonts you print using the QuickDraw Graphics method will appear in Low Quality. If you select QuickDraw Graphics only and you want High Quality output, you must use a font for which you have the four times size available. The CS fonts supplied with MacPrint are excellent choices, since we have supplied you with large sizes of these fonts. If you select Printer Fonts only, you cannot include graphics in your document; this includes QuickDraw Graphics fonts. You can only use DJ fonts that are available in landscape orientation. Please see Appendix B, page 139, for a list of the landscape fonts available on these printers.
2. LANDSCAPE PRINTING - WHEN THE RECTANGLE RULE FAILS: Normally, if you're using the Printer Font method and you try to print a Macintosh symbol which is not found on the cartridge or internal font you've selected, the character will be printed as a rectangle. However, this rule fails if you're printing in landscape orientation on the DeskJet or DeskJet PLUS because the rectangle is a bitmapped character. Bitmapped characters cannot be printed if you've selected Printer Fonts only. Therefore, if you try to print a character not found on the cartridge or internal font, nothing will be printed for that character.
3. DESKJET PLUS FONT CARTRIDGES: Four new font cartridges have been added to the DeskJet PLUS driver. These new font cartridges (R, T, U, V) will work only in the DeskJet PLUS printer, and are therefore not selectable under any other MacPrint printer driver.