FAX2PS(1)                                             FAX2PS(1)





NAME
       fax2ps - convert a TIFF facsimile to compressed

SYNOPSIS
       fax2ps [ options ] [ file...  ]

DESCRIPTION
       fax2ps  reads one or more TIFF facsimile image files and
       prints a compressed form of
        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  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  that is optimized
       for sending pages of text to a  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  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  descrip-
       tion, relative to the  straightforward  imaging  of  the
       page  with  a  image operator.  This algorithm can, how-
       ever, 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 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
        image.

NOTES
       If the destination printer supports  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
        to image the bitmap raster instead.

SEE ALSO
       tiff2ps(1), libtiff(3)

       Libtiff   library   home   page:  http://www.remotesens-
       ing.org/libtiff/



libtiff                 November 2, 2005              FAX2PS(1)
