(j3.2006) Problem with 08-007

[Van Snyder]

On Wed, 2008-01-30 at 12:06 +0900, Malcolm Cohen wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:42:54 +0900, Van Snyder <Van.Snyder at jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
> > When I open 08-007 with ghostview, it claims the paper size is "letter"
> > but when I print it, the top margin is very large and the footers landed
> > in the toner recycler bin instead of on the paper.
> 
> Has anyone else tried to print the PostScript version?
> If so, did you have problems or was it ok?
> Van, I don't suppose you've found out what the problem was?

I should have reported this to the list.

The problem wasn't in the file.  We have a printer that's just a little
bit too helpful.  When you put paper into the paper tray, it senses the
paper size.  The part that the paper pushes on when you load it into the
tray, and that ultimately gets sensed inside the guts of the printer
somewhere, was broken.  Of course, the default when this happens is that
no matter what size paper you put into the printer, it thinks it has A4.

Then it compounds the insult by (a) not letting you say "ignore the
paper tray sensor; here's the paper size" and (b) centering the image
top-to-bottom on the size paper it thinks it's printing.  If it weren't
for (b), (a) wouldn't be a problem.

> For that matter, is anyone using the PostScript any more
> or can we just drop that version leaving only the PDF?

The PDF works fine for me, although for searching I find dvi a bit more
convenient -- at least in xdvik.  Also, xdvik has an "expert" mode that
does away with all the buttons and scroll bars, leaving only the title
bar, so I see more of the text in the window.  This is different from
the Acrobat full-screen mode in that Acrobat centers the "full screen"
image.  On a multi-monitor display, this is right on the boundary
between the two screens, i.e., it's not usable.  So I'd be happy to
replace ps with dvi, which is usually smaller anyway, and one can get ps
from dvi by using dvips (but not vice-versa).  If Acrobat had a "minimal
surrounding stuff" mode different from "full screen" mode, and had a
less clunky search interface, I'd be happy to use PDF instead of dvi.