Scantext

Scantext was a professional code-driven digital typesetting system popular in the 1980s, rendered obsolete by the popularity of the personal computer and desktop publishing software. It was developed and built by Scangraphic, a division of Dr. Böger Duplomat Apparate GmbH & Co.KG, based in Wedel near Hamburg, Germany.

The Scantext 1000 system comprised a CPU with multiple 8" disk drives, keyboard and monitor, the latter dispaying coordinates and codes defining a page layout. The left-hand drive was intended for recording document data; the second for required font data. In the early years, no preview was available, the operator seeing only typesetting codes (“working blind”). Later, a non-interactive (green) monochrome preview display was introduced.

The Scantext 1000 system ran under the operating system CP/M and used Intel 8080/85 processors.

The 1000 system also featured an optional font editing package, allowing not only modification of existing fonts but the creation of entirely new designs. This software displayed individual font characters for pixel-based editing, in conjunction with an attached stylus. An optional drum scanner facilitated the input of new designs to create new fonts or pi characters.

To compensate for the lack of differently-sized master character images (as implemented in Monotype’s Monophoto system, for instance), proportional scaling was implemented: the larger the type size specified, the tighter the spacing (an automatic feature). (For pi fonts and connecting scripts this was over-ridden by implementing a font number beginning with the figure 5, cancelling auto letterspacing.)

The Scantext 1000 system was completed by a filmsetter unit using CRT technology.

For the Scantext 2000 system a new hardware platform was defined. It made use of the Motorola 68000 processor series and 3.5" disk drives. The operating system was a Unix-derivate called OS-9. The workstation Scantext 2000 Commander featured a monochrome page preview display, plus additions to the page description language which allowed the creation of graphic primitives. The 2000 Commander also implemented the incorporation and display of bitmap images in conjunction with the optional flatbed scanner.

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