FAX2PS(1)                                             FAX2PS(1)





NAME
       fax2ps  -  convert  a TIFF facsimile to compressed POST-
       SCRIPT

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
       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
       POSTSCRIPT 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, rela-
       tive  to  the straightforward imaging of the page with a
       POSTSCRIPT image operator.  This algorithm can, however,
       be  ineffective  for  continuous-tone and white-on-black
       images.  For these images, it sometimes  is  more  effi-
       cient  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 out-
                 put  page  dimensions.   By default images are
                 presented according to the dimension  informa-
                 tion recorded in the TIFF file.

       -W width  Use width as the width, in inches, of the out-
                 put 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 generated 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 compressing the  output  and  just  generate
       POSTSCRIPT to image the bitmap raster instead.

SEE ALSO
       tiff2ps(1), libtiff(3)



                         March 16, 1995               FAX2PS(1)
