Manual: pbmtoppa

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 directly 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 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 particular, pbmtoppa has to do
"swath cutting," and "sweep formatting," which other printers do themselves. There is very little intelligence in‐
side 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 exploiting computing resources already present in the
computer that requests the printing. CPU power, ROM, and RAM requirements inside the printer are all reduced com‐
pared 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 ),
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

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 horizontal 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 configuration 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, rightmargin, bottommargin, papersize, or any non-
null prefix of these words. Valid values are the same as with the corresponding invocation parameters.

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 pbmtoppa an X and a Y offset appropriate for your
printer to use when generating the page. You can specify these offsets with the -x and -y invocation 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, spec‐
ify large margins (e.g. 600 pixels -- one inch) via pbmpage invocation options while doing the calibration.

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 numbers. Unfortunately, these coordinates are proba‐
bly 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 configuration file or using the -x and -y com‐
mand-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 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-printfilters ) 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.

Manual: pbmtoppa

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