compression of image files in PS

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#527

From: Berthold K.P. Horn
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 11:13

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There has been some discussion here of compression of image files in
a PostScript job.  Well, the final release of Windows 3.1 has a PostScript
driver that does this.  PSCRIPT.DRV in the retail version of Windows 3.1
uses a simple run-length encoding scheme to compress image files.  The
decompression is done in PostScript.  `Print' to `File' to see the code and
figure out how it works (of course, what you print should include a
gray-level image for the driver to insert the relevant code).

Your mileage may vary.  With either a fast printer (RISC processor), or a
very slow serial link (19,200 baud) you do get a significant speedup. With a
slow printer (ALW II NT, for example) on a fast link (parallel or serial at
57,600 baud) it will slow you down - in some cases a whole lot.  

I don't know whether the compression scheme can be disabled by setting a
flag in WIN.INI.  Let me know if it can, `cause I switched back to an older
version of PSCRIPT.DRV for the time being...

Berthold K.P. Horn
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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From: bkph@wheat-chex.ai.mit.edu (Berthold K.P. Horn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript,comp.windows.ms
Subject: compression of image files in PS
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Date: 15 Apr 92 11:13:32 GMT
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