RIPPLE: Remote Imaging Protocol Programmer's Library with Extensions
Prerelease 1.0b2
April 1994


RIPPLE is a package to facilitate development of RIPscrip(tm)
compatible software on UNIX(R) systems.  It is being distributed
as "Earthquakeware"--you're welcome to use it for free, but if
you find it saving you hundreds of dollars and countless hours,
consider a generous contribution to the American Red Cross for
California Earthquake relief.  SFSU's sister campus in Northridge
(CSUN) suffered enormous damage this January [Hey--we still
haven't entirely recovered from the October 1989 Loma Prieta
temblor, either!] and the Red Cross did an awful lot for victims
of that and other major disasters.  They could sure use your
help.

+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|                         W A R N I N G                         |
|                                                               |
| This is beta software.  It has not been thoroughly tested,    |
| may not work exactly as documented, and is subject to change  |
| between now and the official release.  Use at your own risk!  |
|                                                               |
| ***Please do not place public copies anywhere other than      |
| anonymous FTP sites (i.e. don't put this on non-Internet      |
| BBSes, CD-ROMs, etc.).                                        |
|                                                               |
| The official distribution site for this software is           |
| sutro.sfsu.edu in the pub/RIP directory.  If you got it from  |
| someplace else you might not have the latest version.         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+

"Praising with faint `damn!'s"

Words like "elegant" and "good" don't begin to describe RIP.  In
fact, they don't fit well at all.  RIP is sort of like McDonald's
--it's convenient, it's popular, it's reasonably priced, and it's
oh-so-American.  What it lacks in technical merit it makes up for
with successful marketing.  In short, it's a good investment for
providers.  Consumers will have to make up their own minds.

To a first approximation, RIP provides remote access to a
substantial chunk of Borland Graphics (of Turbo C fame).  Some
parts are missing (too bad), and in RIP's present incarnation
(1.54), it's horribly PC-centric, locked into the limitations of
EGA graphics, with 640x350 resolution and a .775 aspect ratio
(pixels taller than wide).  The forthcoming RIP 2 is expected
to ameliorate things somewhat.

So why bother with RIP?  Simple: there just aren't that many
other options available.  Sure, there are several competing
paradigms, but most are based on proprietary software, if not
proprietary services.  RIP is "open" to the extent that its
protocol is documented, and anyone can potentially develop and
deliver compatible products.

Half the job is already done: Telegrafix distributes consumer-
side software in the form of RIPterm(tm)--a communications
package that provides UNIX(R)-friendly VT102 emulation, easy
dialing, built-in help, file transfer, cooperation with external
software, etc.  And RIP graphics too.  [For the commercially
minded, QModem Pro also supports RIP graphics.]

The down side is that nearly all the provider support has been
aimed at MS-DOS.  That's where RIPPLE comes in.  It's the first
[freeware!] RIP package to be publicly released specifically for
the UNIX(R) community.  No, it's not a BBS or a drawing program--
although it could be used to develop one.  Its main audience is
the people who want to work at the RIPscrip(tm) command level,
without getting mired in the intricate details of the
communications protocol.

RIPPLE's core is a low-level interface to RIPscrip(tm) called
ripwraps.  ripwraps provides C-callable routines for all
RIPscrip(tm) primitives along with some minimal support code.

*** ripwraps is described in detail in the file ripwraps.txt.

The "E" in RIPPLE is currently vapor--those are components that
don't belong in ripwraps, but work in conjunction with it.  Areas
where RIPscrip(tm) is particularly weak (such as text handling)
would be shored up here.

RIPPLE will also include some standalone applications.  The first
to be introduced is icntoeps, which converts .ICN/.HIC/.MSK files
to Encapsulated PostScript(R), allowing them to be embedded in
other documents, or rendered using Display PostScript(R) on those
systems that support it (e.g. DEC, IBM, NeXT, SGI, Sun).  Output
files conform to Adobe's DSC-3.0 and EPSF-3.0 specifications.
Bilevel and grayscale images are compatible with Level 1
PostScript(R) interpreters; color images require CMYK extensions
(or Level 2).

| RIPPLE 1.0b2 introduces a new utility--icntotif.  This
| derivative of icntoeps produces palette color TIFF output.
| This program retains the "character" of the original RIP
| Icon Files rather than taking icntoeps' "final output"
| approach.


Installation

RIPPLE is distributed in source form, and currently requires an
"ANSI" C compiler.  This code should be portable to a great many
systems*; efforts were made to avoid most of the common pitfalls.
While the code itself shouldn't need any changes, actually
getting "ANSI" C to compile (and link!) can be a tricky business,
so it wasn't possible to devise a single Makefile that would work
in all cases.

Make -f generic.mk
	should do the trick for AIX and most systems using the
	GNU C compiler.  (You may need to specify CC=gcc on the
	command line.)

Make -f hpux.mk
	for HP/UX 9.01 with the optional C compiler product

Make -f next.mk
	for NEXTSTEP 3.1/3.2; this is set up to compile "fat"
	(which _probably_ isn't what you want--but it's easy
	to undo--just take out the -arch specifications)
	Use  Make -f next.mk CFLAGS=-O  for pre-3.1 NEXTSTEP.

Make -f solaris.mk
	for SunOS 5.3 using SPARCompiler C 2.0.1.

Make -f ultrix.mk
	for Ultrix 4.3 using the VAX C compiler
	***If you get warnings, it's not my fault.  Honest.

(The supplied Makefile just calls upon the other *.mk files.)

*RIPPLE is absolutely, positively NOT supported on MS-DOS.  It
may work, it may not.  Don't expect any help (or sympathy) if you
risk such folly.

Questions?  Problems?  Post to comp.bbs.misc; please include
all relevant details (especially which version of RIPPLE you
have!).

Eric P. Scott
Department of Computer Science
San Francisco State University
April 1994
---
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
RIPscrip and RIPterm are trademarks of TeleGrafix Communications, Inc.
UNIX is a registered trademark of The X/Open Company Ltd.
Other brand or product names are the trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.
