[tex-k] dvips on debian linux

[Srinivas Nedunuri]

OK, thanks. Now that i know the history behind it that makes much more 
sense. But there is still a difference in behaviour then between the 
linux and windows versions. It appears the windows version has decided 
to move with the times!

Joel Reicher wrote:
> Srinivas Nedunuri writes:
>   
>> why does dvips send its output to a printer by default?? I use dvips on 
>> Windows, and it does not do that (it sends the output to <filename>.ps) 
>> which makes the most sense.
>>     
>
> A non-technical, "historical" reply:
>
> My understanding is that dvips is a device driver.
>
> A postscript printer is the type of device it is designed to drive.
>
> Likewise xdvi is a device driver for X servers.
>
> I think the DVI format is supposed to be a device-independent file that is
> given to a device driver.
>
> Capturing the output of device drivers is the "abnormal" behaviour that
> in recent times has become the norm, with the possible exception of
> dvipdfm, since PDF is a file format.
>
> Even then, pdftex is usually preferred for generating PDF files.
>
> Cheers,
>
> 	- Joel
>