General > General Technical Chat
Was Don Lancaster really a "guru"?
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: rrinker on November 06, 2018, 11:16:36 pm --- Postscript is MUCH more than most people think it is, that's why Don was so into it for a certain period. I used to work with his examples and dump things to printers to try them out - instead of filling out page after page of a word processor document and then sending it to the printer, a dozen lines of PostScript code could create the same output. It's MUCH more than simply a page layout formatting language.
--- End quote ---
Yup - and it's still pervasive in the printers world.
Also remember how NeXTSTEP used Display PostScript for its GUI.
jmelson:
--- Quote from: rrinker on November 06, 2018, 11:16:36 pm --- Postscript is MUCH more than most people think it is, that's why Don was so into it for a certain period. I used to work with his examples and dump things to printers to try them out - instead of filling out page after page of a word processor document and then sending it to the printer, a dozen lines of PostScript code could create the same output. It's MUCH more than simply a page layout formatting language.
I suggest reading his PostScript articles, I would expect they are available online these days. You might learn something neat. I kind of forgot a lot of that stuff when I moved on and didn;t have ready access to a PostScript printer to actually execute things on.
--- End quote ---
Yes! I actually corresponded with him many years ago about some obscure PostScript issue, and he was quite helpful. I was trying to generate grey-tone graphical output on a full page of a printer with limited memory, and he suggested what to do to make it work. (At least, I think that was what the issue was.) I think I later corresponded with him again on an issue much closer to some eevblog topics of surplus test gear.
He seemed to be a really nice guy, eager to help out.
His web site is still there, too, at https://tinaja.com/
Jon
rrinker:
--- Quote from: jmelson on November 06, 2018, 11:34:07 pm ---
--- Quote from: rrinker on November 06, 2018, 11:16:36 pm --- Postscript is MUCH more than most people think it is, that's why Don was so into it for a certain period. I used to work with his examples and dump things to printers to try them out - instead of filling out page after page of a word processor document and then sending it to the printer, a dozen lines of PostScript code could create the same output. It's MUCH more than simply a page layout formatting language.
I suggest reading his PostScript articles, I would expect they are available online these days. You might learn something neat. I kind of forgot a lot of that stuff when I moved on and didn;t have ready access to a PostScript printer to actually execute things on.
--- End quote ---
Yes! I actually corresponded with him many years ago about some obscure PostScript issue, and he was quite helpful. I was trying to generate grey-tone graphical output on a full page of a printer with limited memory, and he suggested what to do to make it work. (At least, I think that was what the issue was.) I think I later corresponded with him again on an issue much closer to some eevblog topics of surplus test gear.
He seemed to be a really nice guy, eager to help out.
His web site is still there, too, at https://tinaja.com/
Jon
--- End quote ---
Awesome - there it is, a lot of the things I played around with, on the Postscript page, Don & Bee Lancaster's Postscript Beginner's Guide. I think I have found a new time sink - since now you cna send that stuff to a local renderer instead of a physical printer. Just looking at some of the code brings back memories.
rrinker:
Also - I remember well the Apple II Cookbooks - I used those to learn assembly for the Apple II which I needed for my final project for the advanced BASIC class in schoool because doing my graphics in BASIC was waaay too slow. So I integrated some assembly for the slow parts which made it work.
Stray Electron:
I can't say that Don would be a guru today but in the mid 1970s he certainly was. For one thing, he was very good at being able to explain topics in an understandable fashion. I still have a stack of the various Cookbook series, including several that he wrote.
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