PostScript printing without Transcript?

[Francis Chan]

>That sounds right but we have a Sun running transcript and are having a
>problem with this.  A few users are creating postscript files on their
>Macs and then uploading them to the Sun and printing them.  The result is
>either nothing after the burst page or a copy of the postscript file.  We
>cannot get the document to print properly.  The first line is
>'%!PS-Adobe-2.0' although I have tried also '%!', '%!PS-Adobe-1.0', and
>'!%PS-Adobe'.  Has anyone else seen this?
>
>Doug O'Neal                  Distributed Systems Programmer

I'm assuming that you have a Sun/Apple Laserwriter (I don't know if any
other PS printer has messages coming back). If you can get a hold of the
offending PS file and know which port it is attached to: (e.g. /dev/ttya)
just do this on 2 separate sessions (or windows):

First: cat < /dev/ttya

Second: cat PSfile > /dev/ttya

It should say something like:
%%[ error: <cause of error>]
%%[ <ignore rest of file>]

Usually it's an unknown command word. To get even more info, set up the
ttya as a Hayes compatible modem port to a remote UNIX system. Use tip on
the port and go into the PS printer's interactive mode by typing:

executive<CR>

You can now enter commands one line at a time to see what the problem is.

I also heard from a friend, that there is something missing in the Mac PS
files. Apparently you have to run it through some sort of macro
preprocessor before sending it to the printer. This can be made available
via anonymous ftp on his machine if anyone wishes (Send me email).

Francis Chan