I'll embed comments since it'll be easier to direct my responses. ---------------------------------------- Glen Batchelor IT Director All-Spec Industries phone: (910) 332-0424 fax: (910) 763-5664 E-mail: webmas...@all-spec.com Web: http://www.all-spec.com Blog: http://blog.all-spec.com ----------------------------------------
> -----Original Message----- > From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users- > boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Bob Rasmussen > Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 1:10 AM > To: U2 Users List > Subject: [U2] Print Wizard on Linux (was Re: Code 128 Soft Font) > > On Wed, 19 May 2010, Glen B wrote: > > > > > Bob, > > > > Let me also extend an offer to help with general development off- > hours, if > > you're willing to work with GPL libs for open development. > > ... > > Thanks for the offer. But you haven't said what Print Wizard features you > want, exactly. > I need a markup-based PS/PDF generating solution that accepts embedded PS/EPS as well as JPEG/GIF images. Barcode markup will be a nice addition, but not required since I can generate PS and PCL content myself. > Let me give you the scope of things. I just did a full build of > printwiz.exe; that is, just the main program that does all the dirty work. > It's 550,432 lines of code! It has a PCL reader, a PDF writer, a PDF > reader (coming soon), graphics file input routines (some purchased), an > interface to Windows faxing, Windows sockets, and Windows scanning, SSL, > CDO, MAPI, SMTP, the Windows spooler, FTP, HTTP, and Windows printer > drivers (yes, we do use those for most printing output). It has some user > interface, notably the print previewer, but not a lot. It can read files > in formats PCL-5, PCL-6 (some), JPG, TIFF, BMP, WMF, EMF, SPL, TXT, PWML, > HTML, PDF, Unicode, and more. It deals with input and output of TrueType > fonts and does fine-grained manipulation on them. It prints in most world > languages. Let's break a few things down and compare: PCL input and output is covered under Ghostscript, though some complex PCL6 stuff may be buggy. Find a bug and report it at this point. It will get fixed. Generic PCL3/4 stuff should be solid at this point, but I would verify with the devs. The XPS/GPDL code has been out for a while now. PDF/PS/EPS input and output are covered under Ghostscript. ImageMagick can handle image generation, manipulation, and conversion to a ton of formats. Ghostscript can output a variety of raster and vector image formats, but the input formats are limited since the application is vector based. I've not found a situation where I couldn't convert between multiple standard formats with ImageMagick and Ghostscript at my grasp. Faxing is a no-brainer with Hylafax or Hylafax++ using TIF or PS files. Most faxing applications will accept either format so Hylafax was just an example of a typical app that is installed. Most *nix servers that communicate with the world, or the employees in the office, run a local MTA so an embedded SMTP client will not be needed. Send it with the "mail" or "sendmail" command so that the admin has more control over how the mail is processed. FTP? If you absolutely have to, but most *nix admins I know of mock the user when that acronym is suggested. SCP is far superior in a ton of ways including speed and security. HTTP? Erm, how exactly are you suggesting that? You serve stuff through IIS? If so, lighttpd or Apache can be there depending on requirements. If you've embedded an HTTP server, don't bother on *nix. There are plenty of http servers you can hook directly or indirectly into. Windows printing drivers? While some obscure printers are problematic in CUPS configuration, I've never had an issue making programmatic paper/drawer/slot/etc selections when a PPD was available and installed properly. I'm willing to bet the *nix admin(s) running the equipment selected printers better suited to CUPS than Windows, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The other formats you mention like WMF and SPL are pretty pointless here. Text is a given, along with TIFF, JPEG, and BMP. HTML and PWML are where your expertise and experience with rendering content from mark-up could really help make a great Linux product. Not having table support, though, is a huge missing feature. If I misread the tech guide, please correct me. Having CSS control in HTML would be just awesome. Instead of changing the HTML attributes to make layout and small design changes, I would just need to update the styles. I've not seen an HTML->PS tool that properly and consistently renders the HTML and one of the reasons I've wanted PrintWizard on Linux. > > And it's not in C, it's in Delphi. > > Now if you're interested in a very small subset of its capabilities, there > might be hope. Several years ago I ported it to Kylix, which is the Linux > equivalent of Delphi. I restricted it WAY down to just outputting PDF > files. It was moderately painful. More to the point, it was dependent on > Kylix and several libraries it used, which I think even today would be > less stable and future-proof than Windows. I don't know if Kylix is > currently supported. > I would probably redevelop it in C so you can dynamically link to the various libraries. I'm not sure how extensive your PWML handling code is, but I'm willing to bet there's an HTML parsing lib out there that can make the transition relatively painless. Getting from point A to point B on *nix is not going to be the same as on Windows, so your current architecture will be out the window. > Then there's the question of the business case. It would have to generate > some serious revenue. I won't go into numbers at this point, but I have a > long to-do list. > > So what do you need, and what's it worth to you? > > Regards, > ....Bob Rasmussen, President, Rasmussen Software, Inc. > > personal e-mail: r...@anzio.com > company e-mail: r...@anzio.com > voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time) > fax: (US) 503-624-0760 > web: http://www.anzio.com > street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc. > 10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9 > Portland, OR 97223 USA > _______________________________________________ > U2-Users mailing list > U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org > http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
