Item Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] FW: forms packages <plug> for QueryCalc
Stan writes:

> Strangely, the only time I've been at a loss for an answer while setting up
> a printer was during a Linux install, where I told it I was using Postscript,
> and the software then asked me questions about the printer that I couldn't
> answer ... which it didn't do when I said I had a PCL printer.  Other than
> that one instance, I agree: it's usually easier to setup a Postscript printer.

I've been a happy user of PostScript printers for some time, but strictly
as a user--I've never tried to write PostScript code.

In line with the deep printer-language discussion in (the previous) thread...

Circa 1990 I saw a note about the existence of a PostScript virus.
That was scary by itself.  (And I have know idea about the validity
of such a thing.)

Worse still, Apple says (in a tech note that provides some PostScript code):

        PostScript code, if not entered correctly, can place
        the LaserWriter into a condition requiring service.

Talk about scary!  That's like saying, "You can program this computer,
but if the program has a serious bug, you'll have to bring in the computer
for service."

Does anybody here understand the real meaning of this warning,
and its associated implications?

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
  [log in to unmask]

P.S.  Modifying Wirt's PostScript code (re: the "Dick Watts & the HP 3000"
      poster) to use my name, and printing the results, was a cinch.
      That single example is a heck of an inspiration for learning
      PostScript.