fax2ps(1)

1FAX2PS(1)                   General Commands Manual                  FAX2PS(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       fax2ps - convert a TIFF facsimile to compressed PostScript™
7

SYNOPSIS

9       fax2ps [ options ] [ file ... ]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       fax2ps  reads  one or more TIFF facsimile image files and prints a com‐
13       pressed form of PostScript on the standard output that is suitable  for
14       printing.
15
16       By  default,  each  page  is scaled to reflect the image dimensions and
17       resolutions stored in the file.  The -x and -y options can be  used  to
18       specify  the  horizontal  and  vertical image resolutions (lines/inch),
19       respectively.  If the -S option is specified, each page  is  scaled  to
20       fill  an  output  page.   The  default output page is 8.5 by 11 inches.
21       Alternate page dimensions can be specified in inches with the -W and -H
22       options.
23
24       By  default fax2ps generates PostScript for all pages in the file.  The
25       -p option can be used to select one or more  pages  from  a  multi-page
26       document.
27
28       fax2ps  generates a compressed form of PostScript that is optimized for
29       sending pages of text to  a  PostScript  printer  attached  to  a  host
30       through  a low-speed link (such as a serial line).  Each output page is
31       filled with white and then only the black areas are drawn.   The  Post‐
32       Script  specification  of  the black drawing operations is optimized by
33       using a special font that encodes the move-draw operations required  to
34       fill  the black regions on the page.  This compression scheme typically
35       results in a substantially reduced PostScript description, relative  to
36       the  straightforward imaging of the page with a PostScript image opera‐
37       tor.  This algorithm can, however, be ineffective  for  continuous-tone
38       and  white-on-black  images.   For  these  images, it sometimes is more
39       efficient to send the raster bitmap image directly; see tiff2ps(1).
40

OPTIONS

42       -p number Print only the indicated page.  Multiple pages may be printed
43                 by specifying this option more than once.
44
45       -x resolution
46                 Use resolution as the horizontal resolution, in dots/inch, of
47                 the image data.  By default this  value  is  taken  from  the
48                 file.
49
50       -y resolution
51                 Use  resolution as the vertical resolution, in lines/inch, of
52                 the image data.  By default this  value  is  taken  from  the
53                 file.
54
55       -S        Scale  each page of image data to fill the output page dimen‐
56                 sions.  By default images  are  presented  according  to  the
57                 dimension information recorded in the TIFF file.
58
59       -W width  Use width as the width, in inches, of the output page.
60
61       -H height Use height as the height, in inches, of the output page.
62

DIAGNOSTICS

64       Some messages about malformed TIFF images come from the TIFF library.
65
66       Various  messages  about badly formatted facsimile images may be gener‐
67       ated due to transmission errors in received facsimile.  fax2ps attempts
68       to recover from such data errors by resynchronizing decoding at the end
69       of the current scanline.  This can  result  in  long  horizontal  black
70       lines in the resultant PostScript image.
71

NOTES

73       If  the  destination  printer  supports  PostScript Level II then it is
74       always faster  to  just  send  the  encoded  bitmap  generated  by  the
75       tiff2ps(1) program.
76

BUGS

78       fax2ps  should  probably figure out when it is doing a poor job of com‐
79       pressing the output and just generate PostScript to  image  the  bitmap
80       raster instead.
81