Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

2671.0. "Color Screen Print to LJ250 vs UTOX" by MUTTON::LAMB (Peter Lamb - FSG Santa Clara) Thu Apr 26 1990 16:09

Hello,

I demonstrated the DECwindows color screen print capabilities to a customer today
using 5.3-1 (with the screen print patch) outputing to an LJ250 and I just thought
it might be constructive to give you their feedback. 

First of all it was WAY too SLOW!   The thing they were printing was 
essentually a rainbow of colors and it had to be rotated to fit on the 
page.  My guess is that both of these effected the speed.  For their 
particular picture the time to print including the capture time was 
almost 30 minutes!

I also happened to have UTOX on the system and we will probably end up 
selling them this intead, apparently it is now available under assets.

Some comparisons between UTOX and DECWindows print screen...

	1)  The biggest difference is speed.  UTOX was able to capture & 
		print the same picture, (admittedly with not quite the 
		same color rendition) in about 1/10th the time.

	2)  UTOX was faster both in capturing and oddly in printing the file.
		With the file generated by DECwindows print screen the LJ250
		paused between every two lines (the print head actually went 
		back to the right side and waited) while the sixel file generated
		by UTOX kept the LJ250 printing at a steady rate.

	3)  The sixel file generated by DECwindows print screen was also 100%
		larger than the one generated by UTOX  200 blocks vs 2000 blocks!

Again, to be fair I realize that the DECwindows print screen is doing a lot 
more. Both the rotation and the halftoning it was doing must be incredibly 
complex.  However, I guess I wonder if there shouldn't be an option to turn 
halftoning off and just to do a best fit (color wise) of colors that are 
available.  I guess I feel that if you look at the final result of the half toning
it is just not worth all the effort.  The picture tends to be really messy 
due to all of the hashing.  For example even a black area will have white lines 
hashed into it.

Just my $ .02

Regards,

Peter Lamb

  I've written a print_screen program in Ada, there have also been some
written in C.

  Details are in the DW_EXAMPLES conference.  Source and executables are
located in

	GSRC::DUA2:[WEST.WORLD]

  Just thought I would post this as an alternative (and as a plug :^) )

						-=> Jim <=-

    Hi,
    
    I saw your note on this somewhere else however, the million dollar
    question is can it be given/sold to customers???
    
    Peter
    
    (and is it better than UTOX?)
    

RE:       <<< Note 2671.2 by MUTTON::LAMB "Peter Lamb - FSG Santa Clara" >>>
                                    -< How much? >-

>>    I saw your note on this somewhere else however, the million dollar
>>    question is can it be given/sold to customers???

  It's written in Ada.  There is an executable built.  So feel _free_ to pass
it out.  I have no problems with this.  If a problem arises, or some other
functionality is needed, or something needs to be modified, I will try to
get it in there...but as time permits.
    
>>    (and is it better than UTOX?)

  My program allows you to either capture a portion of or the entire screen.
I then create a SIXEL file from the image data.  It does both color and
monochrome output.  So in a sense I duplicate UTOX in this sense only.  UTOX
does MUCH more, namely in the image conversion category.  I use UTOX and like
it.  It is another tool that I use in my graphic endeavors.

  Since you can have the source to my program, then you or your customers are
free to make modifications to tailor it to their needs, such as making it
callable.

  Like how I danced around that question?  To answer it, no, my program is not
better than UTOX because I only capture a screen image and convert it to
SIXEL.  So you will have to decide what's best for you.

						-=> Jim <=-