fax2ps

FAX2PS(1)                                                            FAX2PS(1)



NAME
       fax2ps - convert a TIFF facsimile to compressed POSTSCRIPTtm

SYNOPSIS
       fax2ps [ options ] [ file...  ]

DESCRIPTION
       fax2ps  reads  one or more TIFF facsimile image files and prints a com-
       pressed form of POSTSCRIPT on the standard output that is suitable  for
       printing.

       By  default,  each  page  is scaled to reflect the image dimensions and
       resolutions stored in the file.  The -x and -y options can be  used  to
       specify  the  horizontal  and  vertical image resolutions (lines/inch),
       respectively.  If the -S option is specified, each page  is  scaled  to
       fill  an  output  page.   The  default output page is 8.5 by 11 inches.
       Alternate page dimensions can be specified in inches with the -W and -H
       options.

       By  default fax2ps generates POSTSCRIPT for all pages in the file.  The
       -p option can be used to select one or more  pages  from  a  multi-page
       document.

       fax2ps  generates a compressed form of POSTSCRIPT that is optimized for
       sending pages of text to  a  POSTSCRIPT  printer  attached  to  a  host
       through  a low-speed link (such as a serial line).  Each output page is
       filled with white and  then  only  the  black  areas  are  drawn.   The
       POSTSCRIPT  specification  of the black drawing operations is optimized
       by using a special font that encodes the move-draw operations  required
       to  fill  the black regions on the page.  This compression scheme typi-
       cally results in a substantially reduced POSTSCRIPT description,  rela-
       tive to the straightforward imaging of the page with a POSTSCRIPT image
       operator.  This algorithm can, however, be ineffective for  continuous-
       tone and white-on-black images.  For these images, it sometimes is more
       efficient to send the raster bitmap image directly; see tiff2ps(1).

OPTIONS
       -p number Print only the indicated page.  Multiple pages may be printed
                 by specifying this option more than once.

       -x resolution
                 Use resolution as the horizontal resolution, in dots/inch, of
                 the image data.  By default this  value  is  taken  from  the
                 file.

       -y resolution
                 Use  resolution as the vertical resolution, in lines/inch, of
                 the image data.  By default this  value  is  taken  from  the
                 file.

       -S        Scale  each page of image data to fill the output page dimen-
                 sions.  By default images  are  presented  according  to  the
                 dimension information recorded in the TIFF file.

       -W width  Use  width  as the width, in inches, of the output page.  The
                 default page width is 8.5 inches.

       -H height Use height as the height, in inches, of the output page.  The
                 default page height is 11 inches.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Some messages about malformed TIFF images come from the TIFF library.

       Various  messages  about badly formatted facsimile images may be gener-
       ated due to transmission errors in received facsimile.  fax2ps attempts
       to recover from such data errors by resynchronizing decoding at the end
       of the current scanline.  This can  result  in  long  horizontal  black
       lines in the resultant POSTSCRIPT image.

NOTES
       If  the  destination  printer  supports  POSTSCRIPT Level II then it is
       always faster  to  just  send  the  encoded  bitmap  generated  by  the
       tiff2ps(1) program.

BUGS
       fax2ps  should  probably figure out when it is doing a poor job of com-
       pressing the output and just generate POSTSCRIPT to  image  the  bitmap
       raster instead.

SEE ALSO
       tiff2ps(1), libtiff(3)



                                March 16, 1995                       FAX2PS(1)