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S01000 - PC-Warrants DOS: Printing Postscript Quality Reports Without a Postscript Printer
The Problem:
PC-Warrants DOSsupports four types of printers, 2 Dot-Matrix, HP LaserJet, and Postscript, in the program. Of
these, the Postscript option is by far the more desirable. You can print reports that show the graphs for Warrants
9, & 11, for example. Normally, you would need a special type of printer that supports the Postscript printing
language, which are relatively uncommon (if you don’t know what Postscript means, don’t worry about it. Just
think of it as a way to print high quality reports). Today, the most common types of printers are laser jet and ink
jet printers which are not inherently Postscript ready. It would seem that if you don’t happen to have a Postscript
printer, you are forced to use the inferior reports.
The PC-Warrants manual (which like the program was written in the late 80’s) discusses a solution to this
problem. The manual suggests you use a program called Go-Script to let you use your non-Postscript printer to
print the Postscript quality reports. PC-Warrants has an option where you can generate a Postscript report file
without sending the information to your printer. Go-Script would take this report file and convert it into a graphic
format that would print on your particular printer. If Go-Script knew about your printer (it had a large list of
printers) then it would work. In the late 80’s this was a reasonable option. However, the program is hard to find
now, and really isn’t a good option, especially in today’s Windows environments. There is however, a good
option that works great in Windows.
The Solution:
PC-Warrants can produce a Postscript report file without sending the information to your printer. You need a
Windows based program that takes that report file and converts it to a format that can use the Windows printer
drivers in your computer. One program that does this is called Acrobat, from Adobe Systems. Acrobat has two
major components:
1- A program called Distiller that takes Postscript files and converts them to a format called PDF (Portable
Document File). Distiller normally is not free, however it often comes bundled with other programs (Adobe
PageMaker, for instance) so you may have it on your computer and not know it.
2- A program called Reader that takes PDF files produced by Distiller or other programs and allows you to view
them on your computer and print them on your printer. Reader is free and can be downloaded from many sites
on the Internet, including www.adobe.com.
The idea then is to use PC-Warrants to create a Postscript file of the reports, then use Distiller to convert it into
a PDF file, and then use Reader to print it. Sounds messy, but it is really pretty easy to do.
The Trick --- You Need Adobe Distiller:
Check to see if you have Distiller installed on your computer. The easiest way is to search (Start button, then
Find, then Files) for a file called Acrodist.exe. If you don’t have it, then you can buy it at any computer store. To
save a few dollars we suggest you order it from www.buy.com on the Internet. On 6-10-99 version 4.0 was $188
(list is $249). Another option is go to www.Ebay.com and try to buy a version 3.0 for Windows (which works just
fine for PC-Travel) for $50 or $60.
Quick Directions --- To use Acrobat with PC-Warrants:
1- Run the PC-Warrants program. From the Main Menu, select File, then select Print, then select Setup. Set the
Output Device to Postscript Printer, the Print Resolution to High and the Ports option to FILE. Then select OK to
return to the Print Option screen and select Save Setup. Select Cancel to return to the main screen. You only
have to do this procedure once.
2- Run PC-Warrants as usual. Select File:Print when you are ready to print your reports, then select Print from
the Print Menu. Nothing appears to happen, but PC-Warrants creates a file called Warrants.eps in your
Warrants directory. You can then exit PC-Warrants or minimize it on your desktop.
3- Run Acrobat Distiller. Select File from the main menu and then navigate to your PC-Warrants directory.
Select EPS files (*.eps) from the Files of Type: option. You will see a file called Warrants.eps. Open it.
4- Distiller asks for the name of the converted file and suggests Warrants.pdf. You can change this if you want
to create several different pdf files before you do the final printing, otherwise click on Save.
5- Distiller does its thing. You’ll see ****End of Job**** in the Messages box. Close Distiller (click on the X in the
upper right hand corner).
6- Run Acrobat Reader. Select File from the Main Menu, select Open, and then navigate to the PC-Travel
directory. Select the file you want to print. Normally it will be Warrants.pdf.
7- You will see the report on the screen. You can view the data in many different ways.
8- To print, select File from the Main Menu, and then select Print.
To make this process simpler, you can create shortcuts on your desktop for Distiller and Reader. Then drag the
Warrants.eps file to Distiller to create the Warrants.pdf file and then drag the Warrants.pdf file to Reader to view
and print the reports.
S01000 - PC-Warrants DOS: Printing Postscript Quality Reports Without a Postscript Printer
The Problem:
PC-Warrants DOSsupports four types of printers, 2 Dot-Matrix, HP LaserJet, and Postscript, in the program. Of
these, the Postscript option is by far the more desirable. You can print reports that show the graphs for Warrants
9, & 11, for example. Normally, you would need a special type of printer that supports the Postscript printing
language, which are relatively uncommon (if you don’t know what Postscript means, don’t worry about it. Just
think of it as a way to print high quality reports). Today, the most common types of printers are laser jet and ink
jet printers which are not inherently Postscript ready. It would seem that if you don’t happen to have a Postscript
printer, you are forced to use the inferior reports.
The PC-Warrants manual (which like the program was written in the late 80’s) discusses a solution to this
problem. The manual suggests you use a program called Go-Script to let you use your non-Postscript printer to
print the Postscript quality reports. PC-Warrants has an option where you can generate a Postscript report file
without sending the information to your printer. Go-Script would take this report file and convert it into a graphic
format that would print on your particular printer. If Go-Script knew about your printer (it had a large list of
printers) then it would work. In the late 80’s this was a reasonable option. However, the program is hard to find
now, and really isn’t a good option, especially in today’s Windows environments. There is however, a good
option that works great in Windows.
The Solution:
PC-Warrants can produce a Postscript report file without sending the information to your printer. You need a
Windows based program that takes that report file and converts it to a format that can use the Windows printer
drivers in your computer. One program that does this is called Acrobat, from Adobe Systems. Acrobat has two
major components:
1- A program called Distiller that takes Postscript files and converts them to a format called PDF (Portable
Document File). Distiller normally is not free, however it often comes bundled with other programs (Adobe
PageMaker, for instance) so you may have it on your computer and not know it.
2- A program called Reader that takes PDF files produced by Distiller or other programs and allows you to view
them on your computer and print them on your printer. Reader is free and can be downloaded from many sites
on the Internet, including www.adobe.com.
The idea then is to use PC-Warrants to create a Postscript file of the reports, then use Distiller to convert it into
a PDF file, and then use Reader to print it. Sounds messy, but it is really pretty easy to do.
The Trick --- You Need Adobe Distiller:
Check to see if you have Distiller installed on your computer. The easiest way is to search (Start button, then
Find, then Files) for a file called Acrodist.exe. If you don’t have it, then you can buy it at any computer store. To
save a few dollars we suggest you order it from www.buy.com on the Internet. On 6-10-99 version 4.0 was $188
(list is $249). Another option is go to www.Ebay.com and try to buy a version 3.0 for Windows (which works just
fine for PC-Travel) for $50 or $60.
Quick Directions --- To use Acrobat with PC-Warrants:
1- Run the PC-Warrants program. From the Main Menu, select File, then select Print, then select Setup. Set the
Output Device to Postscript Printer, the Print Resolution to High and the Ports option to FILE. Then select OK to
return to the Print Option screen and select Save Setup. Select Cancel to return to the main screen. You only
have to do this procedure once.
2- Run PC-Warrants as usual. Select File:Print when you are ready to print your reports, then select Print from
the Print Menu. Nothing appears to happen, but PC-Warrants creates a file called Warrants.eps in your
Warrants directory. You can then exit PC-Warrants or minimize it on your desktop.
3- Run Acrobat Distiller. Select File from the main menu and then navigate to your PC-Warrants directory.
Select EPS files (*.eps) from the Files of Type: option. You will see a file called Warrants.eps. Open it.
4- Distiller asks for the name of the converted file and suggests Warrants.pdf. You can change this if you want
to create several different pdf files before you do the final printing, otherwise click on Save.
5- Distiller does its thing. You’ll see ****End of Job**** in the Messages box. Close Distiller (click on the X in the
upper right hand corner).
6- Run Acrobat Reader. Select File from the Main Menu, select Open, and then navigate to the PC-Travel
directory. Select the file you want to print. Normally it will be Warrants.pdf.
7- You will see the report on the screen. You can view the data in many different ways.
8- To print, select File from the Main Menu, and then select Print.
To make this process simpler, you can create shortcuts on your desktop for Distiller and Reader. Then drag the
Warrants.eps file to Distiller to create the Warrants.pdf file and then drag the Warrants.pdf file to Reader to view
and print the reports.