[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Scott]

Is the gs binary/library still on your web page?  I couldn't find
it just now.

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Nigel]

I've applied for the beta test scheme. I got to fill in a =
questionnaire.
When it said
Window Manager, I put 8=BD, only I typed it in UTF the proper way.....
I wonder what it looked like after it had been through their email
system. Actually, I wonder what they'll put in the database.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Scott Schwartz [SMTP:schwartz@bio.cse.psu.edu]
> Sent:	14 April 1998 15:09
> To:	9fans@cse.psu.edu
> Subject:	Re: [9fans] Ghostscript 5.10=20
>=20
> Nigel Roles <ngr@symbionics.co.uk> writes:
> | By this I mean that the next Ghostscript beta will include all the
> mods.
> | required to compile it under ape on Plan 9, and also the Plan 9
> bitmap
> | format.
>=20
> Great news.  Future gs will also include support for unicode fonts
> (bitstream cyberbit, anyway). =20

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Scott]

Nigel Roles <ngr@symbionics.co.uk> writes:
| By this I mean that the next Ghostscript beta will include all the mods.
| required to compile it under ape on Plan 9, and also the Plan 9 bitmap
| format.

Great news.  Future gs will also include support for unicode fonts
(bitstream cyberbit, anyway).  

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Nigel]

Just as a side note, Plan 9 is not dead. Support for it in applications
is growing!

By this I mean that the next Ghostscript beta will include all the mods.
required to
compile it under ape on Plan 9, and also the Plan 9 bitmap format.

 

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Nigel]

Yes, but there's no link to it, so you have to invoke

http://www.cotswold.demon.co.uk/gs.gz

and

http://www.cotswold.demon.co.uk/lib.tar.gz

in a capable browser. No FTP at demon. Maddening. I really could do with
some genuine unadulterated FTP space.

Note that this version should support plan9bm format.

>-----Original Message-----
>From:	Scott Schwartz [SMTP:schwartz@bio.cse.psu.edu]
>Sent:	Wednesday, March 11, 1998 11:42 PM
>To:	9fans@cse.psu.edu
>Subject:	Re: [9fans] Ghostscript 5.10 
>
>Is the gs binary/library still on your web page?  I couldn't find
>it just now.

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[bob]

> Since the 386 kbase is 0x80100000 executables of more than a megabyte
> may pass this test.
> 
> In consultation with forsyth we think that
> 
> if (entrypoint >= kbase)
> 
> might be closer to the truth. Or even,
> 
> if ((entrypoint & kbase) == kbase)

we use the latter test in our code.  we changed this a couple
of years ago; i can't remember exactly how we found it, but it
was probably similar circumstances.

[9fans] Ghostscript 5.10

[Nigel]

OK. It was not the linker. It was linked correctly, but crashed so badly
there
wasn't a stackframe! The bin/file "boot image" message comes from
/sys/src/libmach/executable.c which makes a test along the following
lines in
common():

if (entrypoint & kbase)
	string = "386 Plan 9 boot image"

Since the 386 kbase is 0x80100000 executables of more than a megabyte
may pass this test.

In consultation with forsyth we think that

if (entrypoint >= kbase)

might be closer to the truth. Or even,

if ((entrypoint & kbase) == kbase)

As for gs5.10, it's fixed. An executable is available as

http://www.cotswold.demon.co.uk/gs.gz.

Note that this does not have Plan 9 bitmap output yet, but does have the
Digiboard fax support required by bin/page.

This version of gs expects the 5.10 libraries and fonts to be in
/sys/lib/gs,
so that they don't overwrite the standard 3.22 version (in
/sys/lib/ghostscript)
These can be obtained as

http://www.cotswold.demon.co.uk/lib.tar.gz

Thus Plan 9 can now display .pdf files:

gs -sDEVICE'='dfaxlow -sOUTPUTFILE'='/tmp/xxx%.3d -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER
-dQUIET whatever.pdf

page /tmp/xxx*

Or you might like to modify page.c to accept .pdf files and treat them
as if they are .ps.