Scottsdale, AZ Ð Linotype-Hell announced at its national user group meeting February 4 a NeXTSTEP-based solution, called Signastation, to create digital flats of composed pages for output to a variety of PostScript devices.
Signastation originally included a NeXTstation Color with LinoMontage and LinoPreview software. In the wake of NeXT's recent strategy shift, however, the software will be sold on NeXTSTEP for Intel. Pricing is not set, but configurations are expected to start under $20,000.
"We already have it up and running in our labs on the '486 platform. We'll be ready to sell when they roll out on May 25," said Mark Astmann, product manager at Linotype.
Signastation handles fully im-posed flats, eliminating manual stripping, a major bottleneck in prepress operations. Signastation accepts pages created with desktop-publishing programs on the Macintosh, UNIX, DOS, and Windows platforms. It operates in a variety of networking environments and can accept most industry-standard file formats.
The system uses LinoMontage software, which lets users create complete flats, even combining several jobs onto a single sheet of film for maximum efficiency.
In addition, all PostScript files involved in the job, regardless of their source, can be brought to-gether in a block for output. Finally, a mockup feature scales output for easy printing of comps and dummies. LinoPreview examines the final block for PostScript errors, flagging errors and saving time and film costs.
Linotype-Hell: 516/434-3018, 800/842-9721.