AppleShare PC does not require that a LaserWriter be "prepped" by a Macintosh,
or by sending a prep file from the PC before printing. It is capable of
printing to a LaserWriter without any Macintosh assistance.
Some programs do require features that are only available in downloaded
dictionaries, but these products typically include their own LaserWriter driver
that handles this. If a user writes PostScript code on the PC that requires
features provided by Laser Prep, they can extract the substance of Laser Prep
from a Macintosh, and then download it from the PC along with their code.
Capturing the Laser Prep code on a Macintosh can be done by separating it from
any PostScript file that has been generated, by holding down Command-K at print
time. Here is the procedure:
1) Use the Chooser to select a LaserWriter, and turn off Background Printing.
2) Open a word processor and create an empty document.
3) Choose the Print... command in the File menu.
4) Click OK.
5) Immediately hold down the Command and k keys.
- the k key dumps a PostScript image with Laser Prep
- the f key would dump a PostScript file without Laser Prep
Hold the keys down until you see the Print Status dialog box.
The Print Status dialog box will say "Creating PostScript File." When the
program is through printing, you will find a text file in the current
application's folder called "PostScriptn," where n is a number that increments
from 0 for each print job. If this is your first try, the file should be named
"PostScript0."
Now that you have the PostScript file, you can extract the Prep section by
editing it with your word processor. Cut out the section at the end that
represents the empty print job. It should begin after the file's first blank
line and look something like this:
T T 0 0 730 552 -31 -30 761 582 100 72 72 1 F F F F T T T F psu
(Bill's Macintosh IIx; document: Untitled)jn
...and so on...
What remains can be transferred to the PC, and downloaded from there to the
LaserWriter whenever needed (along with the user's code).