1STW2PS (pronounce First-Word to PostScript) is a program which converts a First-word (v1.83) or WORDPLUS document into post- script. Postscript is a so called page description language. It runs as an interpreter on several raster printers, e.g. the Apple Laserwriter and several other laserprinters. The fact that postscript runs as an interpreter on the printer itself difficult control characters are not needed so the input to the printer just is plain ASCII text. 1STW2PS adjust space settings so that the space between different words on the one line is the same. This looks much better then on matrix printers with fixed pitch fonts (although 1STW2PS uses the standard Courier fonts). All different styles, like bold, italic, super- and subscript, light and underlined are preserved. Pictu- res, as long as they are in the GST picture format, looks very pretty on a laserprinter. Fixed spaces and tabs are preserved. That means that when in a line a fixed space occurs, or a tab, the position of the next printable character is on the same position as you see it on your screen. I dare to say that 1STW2PS is not WYSIWYG but WYSILTWYG (What You See Is Less Then What You Get). 1STW2PS needs a startup-file to configure the postscript printer. This file is called 1STW2PS.INI. You can send this file to a postscript printer and send your converted documents one after another to the printer without having to send the startup-file each time. On Apple laserwriters a control-D resets the printer, so then you have to send the startup-file again. Some printer spoolers on mainframes do the same but there you might be able to insert 1STW2PS.INI in some kind of Device- Control-Library. I can send you a copy of a printer symbiont written by Eric Giesin for running on a VAX with UNIX or VMS as operating system, and a modified version of this program, better designed for running with Apple laserwriters, and an extra option to include setup modules and forms. The program itself: When you start the program you immediately gets an file-selector box asking you for the input file. Then you can choose between output to a file (default) or ,when you have a postscript printer connected to your atari, to the RS-232 port or the Centronics. When you have chosen the file option, you must supply a name for the output-file, which normally will be a file with the same name but with the extension PS. The layout form looks like the layout form from WORDPLUS. However, there are some more options. You can include the current system date and time in the headers just by putting "date" or "time" (including the ") in one of the headerlines. The number sign still stands for the pagenumber. You can have your header titles printed in different stiles: Bold, Italic, Light or small or combina- tions of these. You won't be able to change the total number of text lines, only the head and foot margins. The Print-menu gives some options extra, apart from the normal options like Print from start-number to end-number and left margin. Fontsize and Lineheight are given in points. One point is 1/72 inch. You can include the startup file 1STW2PS.INI or not and append a CONTROL-D (see above). The Lineheight has its impact on graphics. Only with a lineheight of 12 you get the pictures as you see it on your screen. If you have forgotten to change anything in the Layout, just choose the CANCEL button and you can choose the layout form again from the menubar. After the print form the program starts converting the wordplus file. You can abort this by pressing the left mouse button pointing at the STOP button. If you have your pictures on another disk as your text document: No problem, you will be asked to give the correct name of the picture file, the program remembers the disk and path you gave. For the next picture it will look in that directory . The program has a very simple postscript error detecting mecanism. %%[Error and %%[PrinterError are detected and displayed in an alert box. You must then take action and after that press return. The outputfile is now entirely conforming the Postscript Structuring conventions. So I hope it will no work corretcly on printers which print e.g. the last page first and the first page last. Adjusting the margin settings: In 1stw2ps.ini the TOF and left margin are defined as: tof=780 and initial left margin is 70 You can change these default values in 1stw2ps.ini: TOF in: /aws 0 def/top 780 def/lfn 100 def/fontsize 11 def/np 2 string def and left margin in: /hl exch def 0 fs/LM LM( )stringwidth pop mul 70 add def Any suggestion is welcome. Please send your comments to: U00170@HASARA5.BITNET or Berend F. de Vries 1e Nassaustraat 18-III 1052 BG Amsterdam Holland.