Alternate troffs/Versatec fonts query

[utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!DFC at MIT-MC]

From: Daniel F Chernikoff <DFC at MIT-MC>
We (the Air Force Data Services Center) have a version of troff that drives
a VideoComp 500 (or a Comp 80) typesetter -- written by Doug Gillmore at
Univ. of Ill a while back, and hacked extensively by us.  One of our remote
UNIX sites (in Gunter AFB) has a version that drives a mergenthaler
Linotron 202, with (I believe) 8 fonts.  If you are interested enough to
send me a tape I can send you a copy.  We don't have a host on the net, alas.

I am also working on what I call "zero start-up nroff", which is a version
of our nroff (V7-phototypesetter tape base nroff/troff) that "freezes" the
process image just after a macro package has been read in, thus eliminating
the extensive start-up time of parsing the macro package and setting up the
temp files each time you run.  It should be fully debugged in a few months.
Already I notice a savings of up to two minutes with our larger macro packages,
which is a considerable savings when doing a one or two page document.

Dan Chernikoff