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Was Don Lancaster really a "guru"?

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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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