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Pbmtoppa User Manual(1)     General Commands Manual    Pbmtoppa User Manual(1)

NAME
       pbmtoppa  -  convert  PBM  image to HP Printer Performance Architecture
       (PPA)

SYNOPSIS
       pbmtoppa [pbm_file [ppa_file]]

DESCRIPTION
       This program is part of Netpbm(1).

       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 "Windows-only"  printers  including  the  HP
       Deskjet 820C series, the HP DeskJet 720 series, and the HP DeskJet 1000
       series.

       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 that 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  di-
       rectly  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 section on calibration ⟨#calibration⟩  below.

   About PPA
       The PPA printer language is a far lower level language than most.  When
       you  use  a  PPA  printer,  most  of the processing that a conventional
       printer does is done instead on the computer end of the wire.  In  par-
       ticular,  pbmtoppa  has  to do "swath cutting," and "sweep formatting,"
       which other printers do themselves.  There is very little  intelligence
       inside  a  PPA  printer;  pbmtoppa  generates  direct  controls for the
       printer's hardware.

       The design goal of PPA was to reduce the cost of a printer by  exploit-
       ing  computing  resources already present in the computer that requests
       the printing.  CPU power, ROM, and RAM requirements inside the  printer
       are all reduced compared to a conventional printer.

       PPA was new in 1997.  It was preceded by Hewlett Packard's PCL (Printer
       Control Language) language.  HP manufactured PPA printers  for  only  a
       few years, and no one else ever did.

OPTIONS
       In  addition  to  the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm
       (most notably -quiet, see
        Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ ), pbmtoppa  recognizes  the
       following command line options:

       -v version
              printer version (720, 820, or 1000)

       -x xoff
              horizontal offset adjustment in 1/600 inches.

       -y yoff
              vertical offset adjustment in 1/600 inches.

       -t topmarg
              top margin in 1/600 inches    (default: 150 = 0.25 inch)

       -l leftmarg
              left margin in 1/600 inches   (default: 150 = 0.25 inch)

       -r rightmarg
              right margin in 1/600 inches (default: 150 = 0.25 inch)

       -b botmarg
              bottom margin in 1/600 inches (default: 150 = 0.25 inch)

       -s paper
              paper size: us or a4.  Default is us.

       -d dpi Print resolution in dots per inch.

       -f cfgfile
              Read  parameters from the configuration file named cfgfile.  See
              CONFIGURATION FILES ⟨#configfile⟩

       The offset adjustments you specify with -x and -y accumulate.  I.e.  if
       you specify them multiple times, the total offset adjustment is the sum
       of the adjustments you specify.  -x 60 -x 120 is the same as -x 180.

       The -v option undoes any preceding -x and -y options, leaving the hori-
       zontal and vertical adjustments their default values.

CONFIGURATION FILES
       You  can use a configuration file 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 con-
       figuration 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, right-
       margin, bottommargin, papersize, or any non-null prefix of these words.
       Valid values are the same as with the corresponding invocation  parame-
       ters.

EXAMPLES
       Print a test pattern:
       pbmpage | pbmppa >/dev/lp1

       Print three pages:
       cat page1.pbm page2.pbm page3.pbm | pbmppa >/dev/lp1

       Print the Postscript file myfile.ps:
       gs -sDEVICE=rawpbm -q -dNOPAUSE -r600 \
          -sOutputFile=- myfile.ps ;\
       | pbmtoppa | lpr

CALIBRATION
       To  be  able  to print successfully and properly, you need to tell pbm-
       toppa an X and a Y offset appropriate for your printer to use when gen-
       erating the page.  You can specify these offsets with the -x and -y in-
       vocation 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 cal-
       ibration.

       For example:
       pbmpage | pbmtoppa >/dev/lp1

       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  num-
       bers.  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 +/- 300, may be negative; there are  600  pixels  per
       inch).

       Add these coordinates to the X and Y offsets by either editing the con-
       figuration 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'.

RED HAT LINUX INSTALLATION
       RedHat  users  may  find the following tip from Panayotis Vryonis <vry-
       pan@hol.gr> helpful.  The same should work for the 820 and 1000, but it
       hasn't been tested.  Also, use the pbmraw GSDriver if you have it; it's
       faster.

       Here is a tip to integrate HP720C capability in RedHat's printtool:

       Install pbmtoppa. Copy pbmtoppa to /usr/bin.

       Edit "printerdb" (in my system it is found  in  /usr/lib/rhs/rhs-print-
       filters ) and append the following lines:

       ----------------------Cut here-----------------------

       StartEntry: DeskJet720C
         GSDriver: pbm
         Description: {HP DeskJet 720C}
         About: { \
               This driver drives the HP DeskJet 720C \
               inkjet printer. \
               It cannot do color printing. \
               IMPORTANT! Insert \
                  "- | pbm2ppa -" \
               in the "Extra GS Options " field.\
             }

         Resolution: {600} {600} {}

       EndEntry
       ----------------------------------------------------

       Now you can add an HP720C printer just like any other, using printtool.

SEE ALSO
       pbmpage(1), pstopnm(1), pbm(1)

       This  program  was  derived  from pbm2ppa.  pbm2ppa is obsolete and has
       been replaced by pnm2ppa, which does the same things as pbmtoppa except
       it   also   works   with   color  and  has  lots  more  features.   See
       http://pnm2ppa.sourceforge.nethttp://pnm2ppa.sourceforge.net⟩    for
       more  information about the PPA protocol and the separately distributed
       pnm2ppa program.

       The file INSTALL-MORE in the pbmtoppa directory of  the  Netpbm  source
       code  contains detailed instructions on setting up a system to use pbm-
       toppa to allow convenient printing on HP PPA printers.  It was  written
       by Michael Buehlmann.

AUTHOR
       Tim Norman.  Copyright (C) 1998.  Licensed under GNU Public License

       Manual page by Bryan Henderson, May 2000.

DOCUMENT SOURCE
       This  manual  page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML
       source.  The master documentation is at

              http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pbmtoppa.html

netpbm documentation              01 May 2005          Pbmtoppa User Manual(1)

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