Overview
--------
This file contains some quick notes on installation in general.  

Compilation
-----------
To build pnm2ppa, simply cd to the source directory, and type:

make 

If you have NetBSD or FreeBSD, you'll need to edit the Makefile to include
an additional library (libgnugetopt) which pnm2ppa requires.
Also edit the Makefile to select compilation for BeOS.

There is some internationalization (i18n) of the system log messages.
Edit the Makefile to choose a language other than English.

Installation
------------

Two binaries are created: calibrate_ppa and pnm2ppa.  

calibrate_ppa is used to calibrate your printer (center the printed page, 
adjust the offset between black and color ink cartridges after changing them, 
etc.)  See the CALIBRATION.*  file for details.

The other binary created, pnm2ppa, is a converter from a PNM
image to a stream of PPA data that can be sent directly to the printer.
The PNM image *must* have a resolution of 600 dpi.  These files can be
generated with ghostscript.  The binary-output pbmraw, pgmraw, ppmraw devices
are supported (the text-output pbm, pgm, ppm devices are also supported, but
the raw devices are MUCH faster!).   

The pnmraw and pgnmraw devices are switches that will try to select among 
the raw formats, as appropriate for the document, but do not always make 
the correct choice.

You should now type 

make install

to install the binaries (by default, in /usr/local/bin/) , 
the manpage (in /usr/local/man/man1), and the sample
configuration file (/etc/pnm2ppa.conf).  You may change these locations
by editing the Makefile.

    *** IMPORTANT ***

You **MUST** now edit /etc/pnm2ppa.conf to  at least remove the line
"version ERROR", and choose the correct printer version (720, 820, 1000, etc)
before you can do anything with pnm2ppa.

Other things you can do are docunented in the sample configuration
file /etc/pnm2ppa.conf


Usage
-----
To print a postscript file with this program, You may use a simple
shell script:

#!/bin/sh
cat $1 | \
gs -sDEVICE=ppmraw -sPAPERSIZE=letter -q -dNOPAUSE -r600 -sOutputFile=- - | \
pnm2ppa $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 -i - -o - | lpr -l

Any valid ghostscript papersize like "legal", "a4", etc.
can be substituted for "letter"
(in fact, "letter" is the default, so the "-sPAPERSIZE=letter" is
not really needed.)


If this script is placed in /usr/local/bin/ppaprint ,

ppaprint file.ps

will print the postscript file file.ps in high quality color.   Other
options are:

ppapprint file.ps --eco          // economy color ink mode
ppaprint  file.ps --bw           //  black and white
ppaprint  file.ps --bw --eco     //  black and white economy mode

etc.  In the example, up to six pnm2ppa options can be added (see
"man pnm2ppa" to list  options, or "pnm2ppa --h" ).

You may wish to replace the ghostscript output device "ppmraw" with 
"pbmraw" for only black and white printing - it is somewhat faster - 
or "pgmraw" for greyscale images.

an ascii file could be printed in black and white with the script

#!/bin/sh
enscript -2rj  $1 | \
gs -sDEVICE=pbmraw -sPAPERSIZE=letter -q -dNOPAUSE -r600 -sOutputFile=- - | \
pnm2ppa --bw $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 -i - -o - | lpr -l

Integration into  Printing Systems
-----------------------------------

(A) lpr, LPRng systems

You can  set up printer filters.  See the documentation for
your print spooler for information on how to do that.
The subdirectory lpd of the pnm2ppa distribution contains a 
printer description file "printcap" and so filters to go with it.
See the README.lpd file there.


On some Linux distributions, (RedHat, Mandrake, ...  etc.), packages
that install pnm2ppa and appropriate printer filters will be available
to do all this for you.  On others, you must do this manually, for
example using the files in our lpd subdirectory.  See lpd/README.lpd
in the  pnm2ppa source distribution.


Recent versions of printtool/rhs-printfilters support pnm2ppa.

               ---------------

(B) PDQ ("Print, Don't Queue")

PDQ is an alternative, spooler-free printing system
available from http://pdq.sourceforge.net

The pdq subdirectory of the pnm2ppa source  provides a pdq driver, gs-pnm2ppa
 
               ----------------

(C) CUPS ("Common Unix Printing System")
An experimental system for generating a CUPS driver is online at
http://www.linuxprinting.org

See  http;//sourceforge.net/projects/CUPS
We do need a CUPS driver for pnm2ppa.  If you figure it out,
please contribute it!