fax2ps(1)

NAME

       fax2ps - convert a TIFF facsimile to compressed POSTSCRIPT

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  POST-
       SCRIPT  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 typically
       results in a substantially reduced POSTSCRIPT description, relative  to
       the  straightforward imaging of the page with a POSTSCRIPT image opera-
       tor.  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.

       -H height Use height as the height, in inches, of the output page.

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)