pbmtoppa
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION CONFIGURATION FILES EXAMPLES CALIBRATION REDHAT LINUX INSTALLATION SEE ALSO AUTHOR
pbmtoppa - convert PBM image to HP Printer Performance Architecture (PPA)
pbmtoppa
[''pbm_file'' [[''ppa_file''?]
pbmtoppa converts page images in PBM format to Hewlett Packard's PPA (Printer Performance Architecture) format, which is the data stream format expected by some HP __
pbm_file is the file specification of the input file or - for Standard Input. The default is Standard Input.
The input file contains one or more PBM images, with each one being a single page. Each image must have the exact dimensions of a page (at 600 pixels per inch in both directions). Significantly, this is the format the Ghostscript produces.
ppa_file is the file specification of the output file or - for Standard Output. The default is Standard Output.
To print Postscript on an HP PPA printer, just use Ghostscript with the pbmraw (or pbm) device driver.
You can generate a test page for use with this program with pbmpage.
You can also set up a printer filter so you can submit PBM input directly to your print queue. See the documentation for your print spooler for information on how to do that, or look in hp820install.doc for an example lpd print filter for Postscript and text files.
Sometimes, pbmtoppa generates a file which the printer will not print (because pbmtoppa's input is unprintable). When this happens, all three lights blink to signal the error. This is usually because there is material outside of the printer's printable area. To make the file print, increase the margins via pbmtoppa options or a configuration file. See the CALIBRATION section below.
-v version
printer version (720, 820, or 1000)
-x xoff
vertical offset adjustment in 1
-y yoff
horizontal offset adjustment in 1
-t topmarg
top margin in 1
-l leftmarg
left margin in 1
-r rightmarg
right margin in 1
-b botmarg
bottom margin in 1
-s paper
paper size: us or a4. Default is us.
-f cfgfile
read parameters from configuration file cfgfile
The -x and -y options accumulate.
The -v option resets the horizontal and vertical adjustments to an internal default.
You can use configuration files to specify parameters rather than use invocation options. pbmtoppa processes the file /etc/pbmtoppa.conf, if it exists, before processing any options. It then processes each configuration file named by a -f option in order, applying the parameters from the configuration file as if they were invocation options used in the place of the -f option.
Configuration files have the following format:
#Comment key1 value1 key2 value2 [etc.?
Valid keys are version, xoffset, yoffset, topmargin, leftmargin, rightmargin, bottommargin, papersize, or any non-null prefix of these words. Valid values are the same as with the corresponding invocation parameters.
Print a test pattern:
pbmpage | pbmppa
Print three pages:
cat page1.pbm page2.pbm page3.pbm | pbmppa
Print the Postscript file myfile.ps:
__gs -sDEVICE=rawpbm -q -dNOPAUSE -r600 \
| pbmtoppa | lpr__
To be able to print successfully and properly, you need to tell pbmtoppa an X and a Y offset appropriate for your printer to use when generating the page. You can specify these offsets with the -x and -y invocation options or with the xoff and yoff parameters in a pbmtoppa configuration file.
To determine the correct offsets, use the pbmpage program.
If while trying to do this calibration, the printer refuses to print a page, but just blinks all three lights, specify large margins (e.g. 600 pixels -- one inch) via pbmpage invocation options while doing the calibration.
For example:
pbmpage | pbmtoppa or pbmpage | pbmtoppa | lpr -l (if your printer filter recognizes the '-l' (direct output) parameter).
In the test pattern, the grid is marked off in pixel coordinate numbers. Unfortunately, these coordinates are probably cut off before the edge of the paper. You'll have to use a ruler to estimate the pixel coordinate of the left and top edges of the actual sheet of paper (should be within
inch).
Add these coordinates to the X and Y offsets by either editing the configuration file or using the -x and -y command-line parameters.
When pbmtoppa is properly calibrated, the center mark should be in the center of the paper. Also, the margins should be able to be as small as 1/4 inch without causing the printer to choke with 'blinking lights syndrome'.
Vryonis
Here is a tip to intergrate HP720C support in !RedHat's printtool:
Install pbm2ppa. Copy pbm2ppa to /usr/bin.
Edit
----------------------Cut here-----------------------
720C \ inkjet printer. \ It does does not support color printing. \ IMPORTANT! Insert \ Resolution: {600} {600} {}
Now you can add an HP720C printer just like any other, using printtool.
pbmpage(1), pstopnm(1), pbm(5)
pnm2ppa is not part of Netpbm, but does the same things as pbmtoppa except it also works with color and has lots more features. See __
The file INSTALL-MORE in the pbmtoppa directory of the Netpbm source code contains detailed instructions on setting up a system to use pbmtoppa to allow convenient printing on HP PPA printers. It was written by Michael Buehlmann.
For information about the PPA protocol and the separately distributed pbm2ppa program from which pbmtoppa was derived, see __
Tim Norman. Copyright (C) 1998. Licensed under GNU Public License
Manual page by Bryan Henderson, May 2000.
2 pages link to pbmtoppa(1):
