🚀 go-pugleaf

Recently there has been some discussion (from myself and others) about
problems with the HP PostScript cartridge. As promised, one of HP's
online CompuServe reps got back to me with answers to complaints arising
from myself, Don Lancaster, and this net. Here is the reply in its
entirety. Can you say "stonewall", boys and girls? Wait till I send this
to Don Lancaster.

=====beginning of forwarded text================================
Michael,

I had hoped to respond to your inquiries prior to the Christmas
Holiday.  Unfortunately, researching these issues took longer
than expected.  I apologize for any inconvenience this unforseen
delay might have caused for you.

As I was reading through your initial correspondence with Bill Loud and
Mr. Lancaster, I picked up on the following specific issues:

               (1)  Copypage Operator & Duplexing
               (2)  Arc & Setscreen Operators
               (3)  Unix Workstation Printing
               (4)  Complex Paths & Multiple Fonts

I have consulted with personnel from HP's Software Q&A and R&D
departments in order to prepare thorough responses to the issues
raised by Mr. Lancaster.  You will find a response to each of
these issues in the paragraphs that follow.

1.  The fact that the COPYPAGE operator does not store two pages
in memory is not considered to be a bug by HP or Adobe.
PostScript has always defined the COPYPAGE operator as a simplex
operator. It was not designed for multiframe buffers such as
those used in duplex printing.

2.  HP acknowledges that the use of the ARC and SETSCREEN
operators, as demonstrated in SPOTDOTS, does fail with the HP
LaserJet PostScript cartridge.  However, the use of those
operators in SPOTDOTS is unusual and not at all representative of
the intended use of the SETSCREEN operator.

The SETSCREEN operator was designed to allow users to define
their own grayscale pattern, if they want to use patterns other
than the device default.  The last operand that the SETSCREEN
operator uses is a "spot function" that gets called once for each
pixel in the the halftone cell.  The spot function's purpose is
to use the x and y coordinates of the pixel, which SETSCREEN puts
on the stack prior to calling the spot function, to leave a
number between -1 and 1 on the stack. This value determines the
order in which pixels within the cell are whitened to produce any
desired shade of gray.

Given the definition of the SETSCREEN operator and the spot
function, using the ARC operator within the spot function and
calling the SETSCREEN operator repeatedly, as demonstrated in
SPOTDOTS, is unusual. Other than SPOTDOTS, HP is not aware of any
applications or drivers whose implementation of the SETSCREEN
operator has caused any problems with th HP LaserJet PostScript
cartridge.

Even so, HP and Adobe are aware of this idiosyncracy and will
continue to investigate it.

3.  HP has not been contacted by any customer experiencing
intermittent hang-ups when using a Unix Workstation and the
PostScript Cartridge, and as a result, we have not collected any
data on this potential issue.  We are interested in working with
any user who has experienced difficulties of this nature. If you
can contact the customer that subscribes to the Unix
Communication Service, please encourage him to call HP's Personal
Peripherals Assist Group at (208) 323-2551.  A trained technician
can help troubleshoot the problem, and if necessary, contact
other technical resources.

4.  HP has not collected data which indicates that the PostScript
Cartridge will fail when given "too complex a path or too many
fonts in a job."  As is the case with the usage of the PostScript
ARC & SETSCREEN operators, HP has not been made aware of any
applications or drivers, other than those provided by Mr.
Lancaster, whose implementation of complex paths and multiple
font selections have caused any problems with the PostScript
cartridge.

I was not able to determine, from your initial correspondence
whether you had personally experienced this difficulty or not.
If in fact you can duplicate this scenario, your input would be
of great assistance in our effort to track this potential issue.
I need the following information from you in order to initiate an
investigation.

  -  A printed self-test page after resetting your printer

  -  The front panel error message display after running the job
     (if any)

  -  Another printed self-test page after running the job (do not
     reset the printer)

  -  A copy of the file which causes this error condition

You can mail this information to me at the following address:

                    Curtis Reese
                    Hewlett-Packard
                    Boise Division
                    P.O. Box 15 MS516
                    Boise, ID  83707

This information will help me to effectively troubleshoot the
problem.  I will make it a point to contact you within five
working days of the date that the data is received.

Michael, if we have "left a stone uncovered", do not hesitate to
contact me via e-mail.  I look forward to hearing from you.


Sincerely,

Curtis Reese

==========end of forwarded message============================


-- 
l\  /l '     _    Mike Schuster          ...!cmcl2!panix!schuster
l \/ l l l/ (_    NY Public Access       CIS:70346,1745
l    l l l\ (_    UNIX Systems           MCI Mail,GEnie:MSCHUSTER