




                             _RRR_EEE_AAA_DDD_MMM_EEE _FFF_III_LLL_EEE _FFF_OOO_RRR _PPP_CCC_RRR_OOO_FFF_FFF


       _P_C_r_o_f_f  is  an  adaptation  of  a public-domain implementation of
       _r_o_f_f, for the PC and its  clones.  _R_o_f_f  is  the  predecessor  to
       nroff,  the  text  formatter  used  with  the  UNIX(tm) operating
       system.  It  is  less  capable  than  nroff  in  its   formatting
       capabilities,  but in return it is faster and smaller. It is fast
       and small enough to be I/O-limited in performance on a  PC;  it's
       unlikely  that  would  be  true of nroff. In this case, it's also
       free.

       Apart from  the  smaller  instruction  set  (see  the  manual  in
       PCroff.doc), its major limitations with respect to nroff are:

          - Macros  cannot  take parameters. Among other consequences of
            this property is the fact that  the  "mm"  macros  can't  be
            ported to roff. Sorry!

          - There are no user-settable number registers or strings.

       Any  fancier  features of nroff are also absent. What's left is a
       nice little (and certainly very useful) text formatter.

       _P_C_r_o_f_f is roff,  ported  to  the  IBM  PC  and  look-alikes,  and
       enhanced  just  enough  to  use  the  printer's  font control. In
       addition to roff's _u_n_d_e_r_l_i_n_i_n_g (._u_l), PCroff supports bbbooolllddd  (((...bbbooo)))
       and  _i_t_a_l_i_c  _(_._i_t_)_.  It  can  use  them  _ii_i_nn_n _cc_c_oo_o_mm_m_bb_b_ii_i_nn_n_aa_a_tt_t_ii_i_oo_o_nn_n,,_, too. For
       previewing your document, the fonts are  displayable  on  the  PC
       screen;  underline  and  bold  are screen attributes already, and
       italic is represented by blinking.

       The most common ways to call PCroff are:

          - To format a file and preview it on the display, call

                pcroff -d filename

          - To format a file and print it, call

               pcroff filename > PRN

          - If your printer does not  use  control  sequences  for  font
            control  (or  if it isn't in the PRINTCAP file and you can't
            add it), it may be able to do fonts by backspace-overstrike.
            If so, call

               pcroff -t filename > PRN

            (Note  that  such  printers  are incapable of italics, which
            will come out underlined.)






       PCroff                                                    8-28-88





                                     - 2 -


                                _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s _o_f _D_i_s_k

       1. PCROFF.EXE - the executable code.

       2. README - the introductory file you're reading now.

       3. README.SRC - the PCroff source that  created  READ.ME,  as  an
          example of roff input.

       4. PCROFF.DOC - the manual for PCroff, as a roff source file. Try
          displaying and printing it.

       5. PRINTCAP - a file of printer specifications. If  your  printer
          isn't  an  Epson or compatible, change the name of the default
          printer in PRINTCAP, and add its font-control specification if
          necessary.  (The  instructions  for making a PRINTCAP file are
          part of PCROFF.DOC.) Note that PCroff must be able to find the
          PRINTCAP file to use printer-specific font control.

       6. SOURCE.ARC  -  the  C  source  files.  It  contains  some code
          (clearly marked) that is  specific  to  DeSmet  C.  I  haven't
          bothered porting it to Turbo C, which is what I use now.



       My  thanks  to  the  pioneers who went before me, whose code I've
       adapted here. The names I know are Col. G. L. Sicherman  and  Tim
       Maroney, but there may well be others.

       Good  luck,  and let me know how you do. By all means, report any
       bugs that bite you.

                               Dave Tutelman
                               16 Tilton Drive
                               Wayside, NJ 07712


                               (201) 922 - 9576



















       PCroff                                                    8-28-88



