The list comes through again, and as has often been reported lately the
first several answers arrived before my original message came back.
Original inquiry:
> To: sun-managers@ra.mcs.anl.gov
> Subject: troff -> PostScript w/o TranScript ?
>
> Systems:
> 3/60 SunOS 3.5
> SS-1 SunOS 4.1.1b
> SS-2 SunOS 4.1.2 (no CDROM drive -- OS was preinstalled by supplier)
>
> None of these has TranScript, so they don't have the pscat filter that
> converts troff -t output to PostScript. I am looking for a simple way
> to print troff docs on an NTX attached to the serial port. I can print
> PS, no problem, but can't yet process troff into PS.
>
> I know about groff, but to build it I would have to install g++ which
> in turn requires gcc. I should probably do all that someday, but am
> looking for a simpler solution.
>
> I have heard of, but do not seem to have, ditroff; I also do not have
> whatever it would take to convert its output into PS.
>
> Searches of comp.sources.{unix,misc} and alt.sources have not turned
> up anything very promising, but perhaps I don't know what to look for.
>
> Surely someone has already solved this one.
Thanks to:
Jacques.Beigbeder@dmi.ens.fr (Jacques Beigbeder)
blymn@baobab.awadi.com.au (Brett Lymn)
don@mars.dgrc.doc.ca (Donald McLachlan)
Craig Bevins <craigb@ips.oz.au>
scheller@asdi.saic.com (Mark Scheller x6519)
Richard Feuerriegel <Richard.F.Feuerriegel@agronomy.auburn.edu>
Colin Macleod <cmacleod@mcs.dundee.ac.uk>
jdavis@noao.edu (Jim Davis)
era@niwot.scd.ucar.edu (Ed Arnold)
feldt@phyast.nhn.uoknor.edu (Andy Feldt)
and probably others which I haven't yet received.
Five replies mentioned psroff (most recently in comp.sources.unix
vol 24, patches in vols 25 and 26), and three mentioned thack
(SunSpots; also comp.sources.misc vol 7, patches in vols 8 and 10).
These replies included:
> From: scheller@asdi.saic.com (Mark Scheller x6519)
>
> Simple troff->PS conversion can be done with a program called `thack'.
> Available (according to archie) in: cs.rice.edu:/sun-source/thack.shar
> This program actually converts troff -t output into PS. Note this is
> what Sun used in NewsPrint 1.0 for the troff filter.
>
> For a better job and more fancy conversion of troff source files,
> (i.e. something to use instead of troff -t), Chris Lewis has a package
> called psroff ...
Also, don@mars.dgrc.doc.ca (Donald McLachlan) pointed me to
(practically in the back yard):
> Host phloem.uoregon.edu (128.223.32.35)
> Last updated 16:09 5 May 1992
> Location: /pub/Sun4/lib/troff2
> FILE rwxr-xr-x 90112 Mar 8 1991 troff2ps
> Location: /pub/Sun4/man/man1
> FILE rwxr-xr-x 9708 Mar 8 1991 troff2ps.1
and Richard Feuerriegel <Richard.F.Feuerriegel@agronomy.auburn.edu>
suggested:
> If you use NeWSPrint, you can use $NEWSPRINT/pl.sun4/otroff/opost.2ps
> I created an alias called t2p that looks like this:
> tbl \!:1 | eqn | troff -t -ms | opost.2ps >! \!:1.ps
Regarding ditroff, Colin Macleod <cmacleod@mcs.dundee.ac.uk> reports:
> Ditroff is not free software, you have to buy it (from AT&T perhaps??).
> Groff is a clone of ditroff, rather than old troff, plus some extensions.
Finally, one reply pointed me to a previous summary, which I had
somehow missed:
> From: rwolf@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca
> Subject: SUMMARY: Troff to Postscript Translators
>
> Newsprint is seems to be a good bug-free solution but the following
> public domain alternatives were the most popular:
>
> GNU's groff
> Chris Lewis's psroff-3.0
> pscat
> cat2ps
> thack
> troff2ps
>
> Almost half of the replies were in favour of GNU's groff. Plus everyone
> says that it works great and better than Newsprint.
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