9 Jan
2024
9 Jan
'24
11:18 p.m.
On Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 at 8:27 AM, Al Kossow <aek(a)bitsavers.org> wrote:
Tracing the origins of the typefaces used on the
GSI/Wang typesetter is a fun rathole
going back to Singer Graphic Systems and to Singer-Friden (ie Flexowriter) before that
On the subject of troff origins, in a world where troff didn't exist, and one
purchases a C/A/T, what was the general approach to actually using the thing? Was there
some sort of datasheet the vendor supplied that the end user would have to program a
driver around, or was there any sort of example code or other materials provided to give
folks a leg up on using their new, expensive instrument? Did they have any "packaged
bundles" for users of prominent systems such as 360/370 OSs or say one of the DEC
OSs?
Similarly, were any vendor-or-locally-provided solutions used prior to the maturation of
troff to the point it was used for the Fourth Edition manual typesetting? Or was the
C/A/T from day one of "production" use being driven pretty much exclusively by
troff? I admit my knowledge of this stuff is fuzzy, such as whether troff+C/A/T was the
plan from the outset of acquiring the C/A/T or if there was ever a time where folks at
research may have been cooking on a different approach to using the thing.
- Matt G.