If you want to see something really bizarre, go to
<http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/javax/print/attribute/ResolutionSyn
tax.htm>
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/javax/print/attribute/ResolutionSynt
ax.htm.

(If that's fragmented, click on  <http://tinyurl.com/5z8tj9>
http://tinyurl.com/5z8tj9.)
 
It has both dots per inch and dots per centimeter. However, to avoid
rounding errors, it also has dots per hundred inches (for internal use only,
thank goodness). The JAVA variables are DPI, DPCM and DPHI. They also use
those initials (lower case) as symbols in their text. One would have at
least thought they would use dot/cm for dots per centimeter.
 
Incidentally, the use of inch-based values for printing and printers is a
legacy of the typewriter. I've never seen or heard of a typewriter
(anywhere) that was not inch-based -- with pica (10/inch) and elite
(12/inch) as the two main options. Electronic daisy-wheel typewriters added
a third -- 15/inch.
 
Bill 
  _____  

Bill Potts
Roseville, CA
 <http://metric1.org/> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] 



-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Patrick Moore
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 06:56
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:40947] Re: DPI

It seems that today DPI for resolution is used worldwide by the computer
industry, including printers. My googling in the last day has turned up an
alternative, simply to specify pixels in micrometers. However, I fear that
this alternative will require an ISO standard and decades before it becomes
widely adopted. See these links:
< <http://www.iol.ie/~sob/tm/index.xhtml>
http://www.iol.ie/~sob/tm/index.xhtml>
< <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/metric-typo>
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/metric-typo>
< <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_typographic_units>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_typographic_units>

====

> From: Martin Vlietstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 06:11:40 +0100
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "'U.S. Metric Association'"
> <[email protected]>
> Subject: RE: [USMA:40937] DPI
>
> It should be remembered that a lot of electronic equipment that is
> made in China is US designed and is manufactured to US specifications. 
> Moreover, the US designers aim their product at a US market, not a Chinese
market.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
> Behalf Of Patrick Moore
> Sent: 19 May 2008 15:00
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:40937] DPI
>
> I notice that computer graphic images and especially printers define
> image resolution as the product of image size times dots per inch. I
> have never seen an SI unit in a printer setting. Is it possible that
> even metrically advanced countries such as China still use DPI?
>


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