[sdiy] Front panel labeling

[Don Tillman]

   Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 08:36:05 -0800
   From: Casey J Crane <apogeesunset at juno.com>

   Thanks for all the response to my front panel label question. Don
   Tillman suggested I use "Raw Postscript" What do I need for that ?
   Special software ?

   So, Basically, what is postscript ?

PostScript is a "page description language", the language that most
laser printers use to print stuff.  The technology is owned by Adobe,
but most of it is based on work from Xerox PARC (like almost all
modern computer technologies).

PostScript is a very simple stack based language.  (If you use an HP
calculator you're half way there.)  The syntax is a little hard to
read, but no compiler is needed.  The exciting thing about it is the
set of functions that are available for doing all sorts of 2D graphics
operations on paper output and the fact that you can build up and
customize these operations for your needs.  Line drawing, filling,
rotation, translation, scaling, colors, curves, regions... everything
you need, because that's what the printer uses to print everything
you normally print.

Best way to learn is to pick up a copy of the "PostScript Lanaguage
Tutorial and Cookbook" and the "PostScript Language Reference
Manual".  (These are somewhat old, they may have been replaced with
something with a similar title.)  The physical books are nice to have,
but you can also download a free copy of the reference manual from
Adobe.  
  http://www.adobe.com

Just use your favorite text editor to write the PostScript code (I use
Emacs with PostScript mode!) and ship it to your printer.

To save trees while you try things out I highly recommend a program
called "GhostScript" which will do a screen display.  
  http://www.ghostscript.com

Adobe Photoshop can read PostScript and render it beautifully, but
doesn't provide any debugging help.  With PhotoShop you can make gif
files to include your artwork in a web page; I've used this technique
for a number of the articles on my web site.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com