CONVERSION OF ARBITRARY OUTPUT TO INTERNET-READABLE FORM

     A problem when using Internet is that many, especially older, platforms do not provide output compatible with Internet publication. However, for all platforms which can give printer output of the document you want to export to Internet, the following simple recipe can be used to publish documents from such platforms on Internet. The method will be illustrated by means of an example in which output from the symbolic mathematics platform Maple V, release 2 is published in a format which can be read on Internet.
     Like most platforms, MapleV.2 gives a Windows output which can be printed by the standard printers listed, e g, in the AddPrinter Wizard in Windows95, and this provides the trick to perform the export to Internet as follows. For the trick you also need the Adobe Acrobat 3.0 installed in your system. Below Windows95 is assumed as the operating system.

1. On the platform in question (in my case MapleV.2), create and edit the document you want to publish on Internet.

2. In the File menu of your platform, click Printer Setup. In the Print Setup box, select a PostScript printer (in my case I used NEC Silentwriter2 Model 90). Click Properties (or Options) and then PostScript. Browse PostScript output format and choose PostScript (optimize for portability - ADSC) and click OK. Back in the File menu, now click Print. In the Print box, select Print to file and click OK. In the Print to File box, write a file name such as c:\XXX.ps and click OK.

3. Go to your Adobe Acrobat and Distiller. In the Acrobat Distiller window, click File and click Open. Write the name of your postscript file, e g, c:\XXX.ps and click Open. In the Acrobat Distiller - Specify PDF file box, write, e g, c:\XXX.pdf and click Save.

4. Upload your file c:\XXX.pdf to your website, and it is now readable on Internet for all browsers with an Adobe Acrobat Reader installed (this is available as a free download from many web sites).


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