ps2fax(8) - Linux man page

Name

ps2fax - image P OST S CRIPT ® for facsimile transmission by Hyla FAX

Synopsis

/var/spool/hylafax/bin/ps2fax [ options ] [ files... ]

Description

ps2fax takes P OST S CRIPT input and generates a TIFF Class F image file suitable for facsimile transmission. It is usually invoked by the Hyla FAX scheduler process, faxq(8C). On Silicon Graphics' IRIX systems, this application is based on Adobe's Display P OST S CRIPT software. On other machines P OST S CRIPT imaging is typically done using the freely available Ghostscript software.

ps2fax is actually a link (symbolic or otherwise) to the script appropriate for the P OST S CRIPT imaging tool. The link is setup when the faxsetup(8C) script is run to configure a Hyla FAX server machine for use.

Input files containing P OST S CRIPT may be specified on the command line. If none are given, then ps2fax will read from standard input.

By default, ps2fax will generate a 98 line/inch output document whose page width is 1728 pixels and page length is 297 mm (a standard A4 page at low resolution). Horizontal resolution is always 204 dpi. Command line options may be used to select alternate vertical resolution and page dimensions.

If no filename is given, ps2fax writes its output to a file named ps.fax; the -o option can be used to specify an alternate filename.

By default, output is compressed using the standard Group 3 1D-encoding scheme, with EOL codes padded to byte boundaries. If the -2 option is specified, output is encoded with the optional Group 3 2D-encoding scheme ( EOL codes are still padded to byte boundaries).

This script can modify outgoing facsimile, such as watermarking, To do this create a shell script etc/FaxModify in the spooling area that alters the document.

Note that bin/ps2fax is usually just a link to a shell script that invokes the appropriate P OST S CRIPT RIP to do the work.

Options

The following operations are recognized:

-1
Write Group 3 1D-encoded data to the output file.
-2
Write Group 3 2D-encoded data to the output file.
-3
Write Group 4 MMR-encoded data to the output file.
-color
Write color data to an output file (possibly a separate file if Group 3 or Group 4 data is also being output).
-i jobid
How the server references the associated Job ID number
-m pages
Set the maximum number of pages that are permitted in the output file. If more pages are present in the input document then abort processing.
-o file
Write output to the specified file instead of the default ps.fax filename.
-w width
Set the output page width, in pixels. By default, pages are 1728 pixels wide.
-l length
Set the output page length in millimeters. By default, pages are 297 millimeters long.
-r vres
Set the vertical resolution, in lines/inch, at which to image the P OST S CRIPT .

Runtime Environment

Before user-supplied P OST S CRIPT is passed to the P OST S CRIPT interpreter, a limited number of operators are defined. These operators are operators commonly found in a LaserWriter printer and (sometimes) generated by Macintosh-based applications.

The default Display P OST S CRIPT -based execution environment includes support for the following fonts:

AvantGarde-Book

Helvetica-Bold

Palatino-BoldItalic

AvantGarde-BookOblique

Helvetica-BoldOblique

Palatino-Italic

AvantGarde-Demi

Helvetica-Narrow

Palatino-Roman

AvantGarde-DemiOblique

Helvetica-Narrow-Bold

StoneSerif

Bookman-Demi

Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique

Symbol

Bookman-DemiItalic

Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique

Tekton

Bookman-Light

Helvetica-Oblique

Times-Bold

Bookman-LightItalic

Lithos-Bold

Times-BoldItalic

Courier

NewCenturySchlbk-Bold

Times-Italic

Courier-Bold

NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic

Times-Roman

Courier-BoldOblique

NewCenturySchlbk-Italic

ZapfChancery-MediumItalic

Courier-Oblique

NewCenturySchlbk-Roman

ZapfDingbats

Helvetica

Palatino-Bold

Note that this is the same set of fonts supported by the DPS extension to the X server.

The default Ghostscript-based environment is more uncertain; consult the Ghostscript documentation for information on what fonts are available.

Files

/var/spool/hylafax/etc/dpsprinter.ps

P OST S CRIPT code read at startup for DPS

/usr/lib/DPS/default.dps_vm

startup VM file for DPS

/usr/lib/DPS/outline

Type 1 fonts for DPS

/usr/lib/DPS/prebuilt

prebuilt versions of fonts for DPS

Bugs

Output from the Display P OST S CRIPT version of this command is encoded according to the Display P OST S CRIPT binary encoding protocol.

No prebuilt bitmap fonts are currently available for the DPS -based imager; this would greatly improve legibility at low resolutions, as the rendering of outline fonts at 98 lpi is particularly poor.

Both DPS- and Ghostscript-based versions of this program fail to exit with non-zero status when an invalid P OST S CRIPT document is processed; this makes it problematic for the Hyla FAX queue manager to determine when a problem arises when preparing a job for transmission.