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Important: This document is part of the Legacy section of the ADC Reference Library. This information should not be used for new development.

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LaserWriter 8 Support for *JCL/PCL

Q: I have *JCL/PCL keywords in my PPD to describe some hardware-specific features, but the LaserWriter 8 drivers seem to ignore them. Why?

A: LaserWriter 8 does not have support for *JCL keywords. Apple has opted not to add this support due to the complications it introduces. For instance, when saving to disk, if the JCL code is included, then that file cannot be sent to a non-JCL PostScript printer. If the JCL is not included in the file, then certain printer features are not accessible. We also feel that all features of a PostScript printer should be controllable via PostScript; therefore, we recommend that printer vendors ensure that all of the printer features are in their printer implementation of PostScript. Instead of relying on *JCL keywords to describe your hardware-specific features, we recommend that you use the PostScript page device mechanism and provide access to the feature(s) you need via setpagedevice code in the PPD file.

[May 25 1998]

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