Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

as an EPSF (Encapsulated PostScript
File).
This means it can be read in to many
applications on lesser computers which
have a Postscript device attached to
them. (Important note: When using Pro
Page don't select the option to include
bilmaps. This would enable another
Amiga graphics system to display a
representation of your file, but will only
confuse Macs and PCs).
Once you have the file the only
problem left is to get it on to a Mac or
PC disk. Mac disks are a bit tricky
because their floppy drives are
designed completely differently. The
4 only way to get around this problem is
to buy a Mac floppy drive and the
excellent Mac-2-Dos (reviewed in the
June issue). This is a bit on the
expensive side,
The easier way is to get hold of a PC
disk transfer program. There are quite a
few around, though the most popular
are Dos2Dos and Crossdos. More
problematic, but cheaper. is the
shareware equivalent, Messydos.
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F Courier Bold Ob.
ABCDEFghijklinnopqr
ABODEFghijklinn
a Condensed ABCeighij12
014c(iP•4>/t/X3CXE1LILIOV
The bureau solution should mean not
only a professional job at a fairly
reasonable rate. but also the
opportunity that no home user could
hope to do (unless they are really rich.
in which case they should contact me
without delay) and still have enough
cash to buy Amiga Computing every
month - use colour_
Most bureau will be able to output
colour Postscript files on to film via a
linotype. To give you some idea of the
quality of output that gives you, these
pages were written to film at 1000 dpi,
before being sent off to the printers.
This may get a little steep but can save
a minor fortune if you desperately need
100 copies of a full colour brochure
(who knows, the more entrepreneurial
of you may be subcontracted by
businesses, colleges or old
schoolfriends to subsidise your Amiga
cravings).
To bring you back to earth though -
who really needs it? Most of your work
is going to look OK at laser printer or
even 24-pin quality_ Using Agfa's
CompuGraphic fonts, even the lowliest
9-pin can produce excellent results.
Don't think that every letter to the
THE following is a list of bureaux
that specialise in PC/Mac
' Postscript, but may be conned into
outputting your efforts if you can get
them in Postscript format on a Mac
or PC floppy.
Birmingham Typesetting (021-565
0565)
Communitype (0533-702270)
Onset (061-368 5073)
Printronics (071-240 8301)
North Computer E.P. (0604-33464)
If you have a modem you should
check Out the on-line typesetting .
bureaux in the Comms section ( P's
and Qs and Publishing Shop).
milkman needs to be a masterpiece of
state of the art printing technology.
When using a laser printer, or when
sending off work to be output by a
bureau on a laser printer, always
remember that because of the nature of
these devices a fairly large margin
around the edges of an A4 sheet are
unavailable.
The exact width of these margins
varies slightly from printer to printer, but
a rough guide is to leave one inch both
top and bottom and at each side.
Also, if you are using a laser printer
you may have trouble printing out a
complete page. A great many lasers
only come with a half meg of memory,
which isn't enough for complicated
artwork plus scalable fonts.
The only ways to get around this
problem is to reduce the density of the
printout - the density effects the output
resolution from around 75x75 to
300x300 dpi simplify the page, or buy
more memory for your printer.
Extensive research into the
fathomless pits of typesetting bureaux
led to only two companies who didn't
say -
Om
ega
w h
a t OOPS!
? WHILE " compiling a state of the art t
w
dissection of the DIP scene there is
halways
the chance that some alien
eshape-shifters
will attempt to4 4
interrupt the flow of information. •
n
Such an event happened last month
c as I was attempting to give you
odetails
of HB marketing. official Gold
n Disk support in this country.
f Somehow a completely fictitious 4111
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oP
phone number came to hand, so
ni
apologies to all those who tapped in
ti
all the digits only to receive the BT
equivalent of a raspberry. The
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correct number is, of course, 0753
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What you
design is only
as good as
you can print
it. Nic Veitch
uncovers
professional
output for the
financially
disadvantaged
with the dilemma of the Amiga DTPer.
The first of these highly enlightened
bureaux is Compuvision (0642- 85079).
They can only offer output up to laser
quality, but seem to be quite happy with
anything you want to throw at them
(Postscript, Ascii text...).
The second is Alternative Image
(0533 440041), who will handle linotype
output of Amiga files. They will take
Amiga floppies,but it would be a lot
easier - and consequently cheaper - if
you could supply Mac or PC disk.
Remember, it is always wise to ring
up these chappies beforehand and let
them know exactly what you are looking
for. They are generally quite helpful and
will tell you what is possible and how
best to do it.
There used to be a lot more Amiga
bureaux. but several seem to have gone
out of business, If you own or know of
any others please get in touch.
THANKS must go to Compuvision,
DTP Today magazine and the Amiga
Business Centre who helped track
down suitable bureaux. This report
has been compiled under the "Ai
wants to go home now" reporting
restrictions.
AMIGA COMPUTING November 19g0 127