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I thought I had sorted this but.....

I have a Brother DCP-7030 printer (copies and scans too). It's GDI (whatever that means). No PDF for RISC OS that I can find.
So following 'VirtualRPC in Use' went for PrintPDF (it's mentioned on page 51 but fails to tell you this is only the 'front-end'). I got Ghostscript (try downloading 12MB with dialup and a 1 hour limit!) to complete the package. This creates a PDF (the other kind) for windows and Adobe Reader 9 to print.
It works OK with the !Advance application and also my own programs if I use a 'simple' font like Corpus.
However with !Draw the 'text' can be seen for printing but does not appear on paper. If you move the slider up and down the 'text' disappears. Even more oddly if you do PrintPDF/Ghostscript twice the text prints but not quite in the right place.
The PDF when viewed in RISC OS looks OK.

Questions. Has any one else got this set up and solved the problem? What other applications are being used with this type of printer to get !Draw printing properly ?

UniPrint will be able to drive this printer. You may also find that GutenPrint from MW Software has a driver for this printer, but you would need to check.

Any problems with PrintPDF should be addressed to the author (Steve Fryatt from memory), I think his contact details are in the PrintPDF documentation. Unless there is a good reason I strongly recommend getting Broadband. If you are in a remote area then you might find that although you can't get landline Broadband, you can get mobile Broadband.

If you would like to send an example or two which exhibit the problem symptoms (as both the source drawfile and the PDF file following conversion), we'd be happy to have a look at it and hopefully identify the problem. Please specify which Postscript driver you are using for the conversion (PS2 or PS3).

Our email address is on the rear cover of the 'VirtualRPC In Use' booklet.

HTH, Mike Nicholl
pp T.O.M.S.

The problem for my own programs was the use of the System font. I've changed them (thanks to Dr WIMP (the book) for guidance) to use Corpus. Also the PrintPDF/Ghostscript combo did not like the plotting of points. I changed them to short lines. Problem solved. !Draw doesn't bother me. There must be a windows substitute. !Edit printing DOES work. It uses the System font. Perhaps some kind of conversion.

Uniprint is ??80 plus p&p. Not a good buy. When I read page 44, middle righthandside of 'VirtualRPC in use' that put me off Gutenprint. Anyway my printer is not supported.

Mobile broadband is some ??15 per month. The download limits don't seem good value. I don't use the internet, Email or newsgroups much but I'll give some more thought.

Enough time wasted. Back to getting the windows side operational!!