FAX2PS(1)                                               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  compressed  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  ver-
       tical  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 opera-
       tions required to fill the  black  regions  on  the  page.
       This  compression  scheme  typically results in a substan-
       tially reduced POSTSCRIPT  description,  relative  to  the
       straightforward  imaging  of  the  page  with a POSTSCRIPT
       image operator.  This algorithm can, however, be  ineffec-
       tive  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 dimensions.  By  default  images  are  pre-
                 sented  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 out-
                 put 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  generated  due to transmission errors in received
       facsimile.  fax2ps attempts  to  recover  from  such  data
       errors  by resynchronizing decoding at the end of the cur-
       rent 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 compressing the output and just generate POSTSCRIPT
       to image the bitmap raster instead.

SEE ALSO
       tiff2ps(1), libtiff(3)

                          March 16, 1995                        1