Commodore Free 32/Commodore_Free_Issue_32_2009_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/overview

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 10KB | 327 lines

*************************************
Postscript Output From Geos
*************************************

Originally printed in one of the
early issue of Commodore free but
reprinted here due to requests about
Postscript printing

Clear professional printed output is
a requirement for any computer
systems; especially one Supporting a
word processor. There is a way using
just the standard version 2 of the
Commodore Geos operating system to
print to any Postscript laser
printers, the process has been
available for some time, but the cost
of a postscript printer may have
deterred some people from trying.

Quickly looking on eBay, many of
these postscript printers are being
disposed of very cheaply by there
owners, eager to upgrade to the
latest standard, or better models. If
you are looking for a printer ensure
its not a winprinter and works from
dos and Linux Expect to pay anything
from a few pounds to 50 I managed to
save an old LaserJet 4v PS (PS
standing for postscript) and all it
cost me was a car drive to collect.
(this must be the only stroke of luck
I ever had) remember some models
needed and extra Postscript
interpreter to work and are sold as
compatible you need to check it Will
print postscript output and the
cartridge is installed, otherwise you
could be looking at more expense.

POSTSCRIPT PRINTERS
Of course if you don't want to go to
the expense of buying a postscript
printer we can use the one connected
to your P.C. any printer will work
with this method. True the process is
a little more complicated and needs a
copy of the Geos postscript file
(created in the DISK section) copying
to a "foreign" computer platform.
Once copied to the foreign platform
we can then print the file using
whatever printer we have, postscript
or none postscript, inkjet, laser
almost anything..

GEOS
If you don't have a copy of Geos
already you need to buy or even
download the free Geos version files
from  www.cmdrkey.com, this version
cant use any of the commercial add on
software but does allow the use of
public domain applications and has a
built in word processor. At the time
of writing the full download link was
http://cmdrkey.com/cbm/geos
/geos1.html
select the version best for you, both
the 128 and 64 Versions can be
downloaded as individual parts or
disk images in d64 or d81 disk
formats. For the tutorial I have
downloaded the full version as a 1581
disk image.

Once the files are downloaded use
whatever method you are comfortable
with to extract the D64 or d81 image
to floppy disk or disks (depending on
the version selected). While we are
in the download mode I suggest you
should also head over to
http://members.shaw.ca/cue64/ and
download "Jim Collette GEOS software"
this has been given out as Public
Domain, and again at the time of
writing the direct link was
http://members.shaw.ca/cue64/collutil
html you should find two disk images,
while the software is free I suggest
downloading both files, again they
will need extracting from d64 images
to real disks. Of course you can use
these on an emulator if required but
nothing is as good as real hardware.

SETTING UP
Using Geos is quite painful with 1
disk drive so my system has 2 drives
connected, although It's possible to
run from 1 disk I would suggest a
minimum specification be 2 disks. If
you are out shopping a mouse would
also be an advantage, although Geos
will work with a joystick, but you
may find most of the time you will be
pulling out your hair out trying to
navigate with a joystick.

So here is my suggested minimum setup
Drive 1 1581 Drive (or 1541)
Drive 2 1541 Drive
Mouse 1 commodore mouse

First thing is to load Geos and set
the relevant preferences, so tell the
system you have a mouse and what size
and number of disk drives you will be
working with. This isn't a Geos
tutorial but C= + I (commodore key
and I ) will bring up the input
preferences use the cursors to move
around and return to OK. You also
need to look in the Configure and
select the number and type of drive,
ensure you save the settings.

You can purchase a Geo cable from
www.cmdrkey.com directly. (of course
good luck as Maurice is Years behind
with orders)On the Geos disks are
some fonts named LW_fontname these
need to be used in place of the
standard GEOS fonts as they are apple
laserwriter fonts (scalable fonts
built into all postscript printers,
these will produce the crisp output
we need) The other (none LW) fonts
are bitmaps see the diagrams below
the fonts supplies with Geos are
LW_roma
LW_cal
LW_greek
LW_Barrows.

The BSW font below is a bitmap notice
how blocky this is compared to the
other postscript fonts .

The Lw fonts are substituted for the
printers own internal scalable
postscript fonts.

Some more LW fonts are downloadable
from
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub
/cbm/geos/graphics/fonts/postscript
/index.
html
Also I found some from here
http://cmdrkey.com/cbm/genie/
GEOSFonts Listing.html find the files
named 13369 and 13368

Geos also contains some LW fonts, but
remember only the first 8 fonts are
available so you will need to
rearrange or delete some of the
bitmap fonts for Geos to be able to
use the LW fonts. Most magazines just
use 4 fonts for the entire
publication so I will go out on a
limb and suggest 4 fonts is enough
for anyone, remember you can use
bold, italic, outlined and underline
sub and superscript to enhance the
document as well as font sizes. Using
too many font variations make a
publication look tired and amateurish

PATCHING
This procedure will outline how to
patch GEOS so you can create
postscript file to transfer them to
another system and print files from
the "foreign" system. Also how to
Patch geos to print directly using a
Geo cable. Are we sitting
comfortably; good then we can begin!

Start Geos, now from the disk B of
our collete utilities you need to run
the file "ps.patch (disk)" as shown
below, If using the Geocable you need
to run the PS_PATCH (GC) the process
is more or less identical for both of
the versions.

The application will then start to
run and display a splash screen

Once the utility has initialised
itself (here we are using the print
to disk PS.Patch (disk) )you need to
go to the patch menu and click to
drag down the menu.

This gives 2 options one is to patch
Geo publisher printer output and the
other is for Geolaser, as we are
using the Free download of Geos we
cant use Geo-publish so we must use
the Geo-laser option, this will allow
printing to a postscript file from
the standard Geos applications, the
postscript file will be saved on the
disk from where the original document
is loaded, so ensure you have a disk
with enough room.

Select the Disk where the Geos system
files are to patch

The system will run and after a few
seconds, you should see the complete
dialogue box Appear. Now we just need
to test the patch to ensure
everything worked OK

One thing for the disk version is
that we need to download a copy of
Ghostscript (or similar) to allow
viewing of postscript files check out
the link. Versions of Ghostscript are
available for a Variety of machines
Apple-mac, Amiga, Linux, os2 and
Windows pc amongst others. Ensure you
download a copy of Ghost View this is
needed to view the files on screen,
and makes the process easier
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/{$de}ghost/ once
downloaded read the Documentation and
get to know the programme.

I am working on a Windows PC so I
would do the following after the
installation of ghostscript and
ghostview

Testing Geolaser patch disk output
Start the Geowrite application and
write something inspirational to
print out

Save the text and close GEOwrite we
don't print from this we have to use
Geolaser, Run GEOlaser application it
will initialise and provide us with
an options box

Don't change the settings as we are
printing to a file and not a Serial
printer so they don't make any
difference. Then click OK

Work begins formatting the original
document to a postscript file, this
is quite a lengthy process even for a
few lines of text, if your working on
something a page in length I suggest
making a good cup of strong tea and
maybe a short-ish book or magazine.

The postscript printed files now need
Extracting from commodore disks to a
pc compatible format so use whatever
process you are comfortable with to
do this procedure.

Start the Ghostview application and
drag the geos postscript file onto
the ghostview screen as shown below a
preview will appear of the text

From the File menu you can even
convert the file to a PDF for
distribution on the internet. Of
course clicking File and print will
print the Text to your PC{SHIFT-*}s attached
printer, whatever make or model you
have, that is of course assuming you
have installed the required printer
driver for the model.

GEO CABLE
Of course you will need a special
cable for this option called a Geo
cable they are available from Maurice
Randel www.cmdrkey.com, the cable
connects the Commodore 64 to any
standard Centronics printer
interface. The process is simpler as
your file will be sent directly to
the printer as a postscript document.
The printers processor will interpret
the commands and format the page,
then print out a sharp quality
document direct to your postscript
connected printer that could have
been produced from any machine.

Another other useful website
Foreign characters output from Geos
http://web.mit.edu/randy/www/antigrav
/laserpatch.html

Writer Commodore Free
Written originally for Commodore
Scene magazine (c)2006 (updated 2009)

=====================================