SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSHLP]HCUIS030.RELEASE_NOTES;1



Hardcopy UIS Release Notes for Version 3.0










The information in this document is subject to change  without  notice
and  should  not  be  construed  as  a commitment by Digital Equipment
Corporation.  Digital Equipment Corporation assumes no  responsibility
for any errors that may appear in this document.

The software described in this document is furnished under  a  license
and  may  be  used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such
license.

No responsibility is assumed for the use or reliability of software on
equipment that is not supplied by Digital Equipment Corporation or its
affiliated companies.



Copyright c1986 by Digital Equipment Corporation




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1  OVERVIEW

Hardcopy UIS consists  of  the  RENDER  command  for  translating  and
displaying  UIS  picture files; four translators -- UIS to PostScript,
UIS to sixel, UIS to HPGL, and UIS to REGIS; and the HCUIS$ routines.

HCUIS is documented in the manual entitled "MicroVMS Workstation Guide
to Printing Graphics".

The HCUIS kit  is  part  of  the  workstation  software  kit,  but  is
installed  separately  as  described in the HCUIS manual.  Also in the
workstation software kit is an unsupported picture-drawing application
that can create UIS files.  It is in the Demo kit and is called SIGHT.
To make one of  your  own  applications  create  UIS  files,  see  the
description of the HCUIS$WRITE_DISPLAY routine in the HCUIS manual.



2  KNOWN PROBLEMS AND RESTRICTIONS

2.1  Documentation


      o  The documentation for installing  HCUIS  should  include  the
         following.   If you have previously installed HCUIS, the file
         HCUISDEVICES.COM is copied to  SYS$MANAGER:   with  the  name
         HCUISDEVICES.NEW.  This prevents you from accidentally having
         no device setup temporarily.

      o  The documentation for setting up the LN03PLUS should also say
         that  when  you RENDER a picture to the LN03PLUS, Working Set
         Extent should be on the order of 2000.  If it is  too  small,
         the  RENDER  will  generate an extremely large number of page
         faults.  You may need to run AUTHORIZE and  set  WSEXTENT  in
         order to set Working Set Extent to the desired value.

      o  The documentation for setting up the LCP01  should  also  say
         that  the  LCP01  comes  with  a  software  kit  that must be
         installed prior to using the LCP01 on your system.

      o  The documentation regarding physical device setup should also
         say  that translating a natural image with a lot of halftones
         creates a large output file, particularly for  REGIS  devices
         and the film recorders.

      o  The  documentation  regarding  PostScript  picture   fidelity
         should  also  say  that an unknown proportionally-spaced font
         family is mapped to Helvetica for unformatted text and  Times
         for formatted text.

      o  The documentation regarding HPGL picture fidelity should also
         say  that  the  thickness  of strokes in a character does not
         increase with character size except for bold text.









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2.2  Restrictions


      o  The REGIS translator and HPGL translator will draw characters
         correctly only for the DEC Multinational character set.

      o  The DEC Supplemental characters may not be used when  drawing
         a picture on a VT240 or VT241.

      o  The REGIS translator only supports clipping to  the  boundary
         of  the  picture.   If a picture tries to establish a smaller
         clipping region, the command is ignored.

      o  If paper size is WINDOW and the  output  device  is  a  REGIS
         device, the WINDOW option is ignored and the device's default
         paper size is used.

      o  If paper size is WINDOW, the HPGL  translator  only  supports
         clipping  to the boundary of the picture.  If a picture tries
         to establish  a  smaller  clipping  region,  the  command  is
         ignored.

      o  It is not possible to install RENDER on a host.   It  can  be
         used only on a VMS workstation.




2.3  Other Problems


      o  If  you  power  off  a  printer  connected  to  CSA0:,   your
         workstation  will  crash.   However  you may remove the cable
         from the printer and then power off the printer.

      o  If you created a UIS file during field test  of  HCUIS  whose
         last  object  is  not  drawn when you RENDER it to a hardcopy
         device, you can correct the problem as follows.  Run SIGHT on
         the file and just Save it and Exit.




3  UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES


      o  You may specify a device type of  VT240  or  VT241  when  you
         translate  a  picture.  You must have Version 2.1 or later of
         the VT240 firmware if you want to draw filled polygons.

         VT is the only paper size allowed for the  VT240  and  VT241.
         Colors  in a picture are mapped to white, red, green, or blue
         on a VT241.  On a VT240, they map to white, gray,  gray,  and
         black  respectively.   Because of the low vertical resolution
         of the VT240 and VT241, line and pattern alignment  anomalies








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         tend to occur.

      o  You may specify a paper size of WINDOW when you  translate  a
         picture.   This  tells  the  translator  to  draw the picture
         assuming the picture is part of a larger page.  For  example,
         the  Postscript  translator does not generate a "showpage" at
         the end of the picture.

         If the output device is a  sixel  device,  the  size  of  the
         picture  is  the  size of its virtual display.  If the output
         device is a  Postscript  device,  the  default  size  of  the
         picture  is the size of its virtual display.  However you can
         change the size of the picture by  doing  a  "scale"  command
         prior  to  the commands that draw the picture.  If the output
         device is  an  HPGL  device,  the  size  of  the  picture  is
         determined  by  the  settings  of  P1  and P2.  If the output
         device is a REGIS device, the WINDOW option  is  ignored  and
         the device's default paper size is used.

         Use of this feature is unsupported, and it may be provided in
         a different fashion in future versions of HCUIS.




