Overview -------- This file contains some quick notes on installation in general. For a complete step-by-step instruction on how to install pbm2ppa for your printer, please see INSTALL-MORE. (It was written for the 820, but it should work for all supported models) Thanks to Michael Buehlmann for writing that guide! Compilation ----------- To compile, you should simply run 'make' with the series of your printer. This will set the default printer to the HP720 series. To specify a different default printyer, the following options are supported: make 720 # for 720 series - e.g. 722C make 820 # for 820 series - e.g. 820Cse make 1000 # for 1000 series If you choose to recompile for a different default printer series, you must 'make clean' first. However, the default printer choice selected at compilation time can be overridden with e.g., the "pbm2pppa -v 820 ..." command line option, or specified by e.g., a "version 820" entry in the /etc/pbm2ppa.conf file. Type "pbm2ppa -h" to see the list of options. Installation ------------ Two binaries are created: pbmtpg and pbm2ppa. pbmtpg is used to calibrate your printer (the default calibrations should work okay, but you might want to tweak them). See the CALIBRATION file for details. The other binary created, pbm2ppa, is a converter from a PBM image to a stream of PPA data that can be sent directly to the printer. The PBM image is expected to be 600 dpi, and the paper size can be 8.5"x11" (US Letter), 8.5"x14" (US Legal) or A4. These files can be generated with ghostscript. Both the pbm and pbmraw devices are supported. pbmraw is MUCH faster, so use it if you have it available! IMPORTANT: the PAPERSIZE option passed to ghostscript must match the paper size specified for pbm2ppa. Valid papersizes are: "letter" = "us" , "legal" , and "a4" . Use --- To print a postscript file with this program, on US Letter paper and a HP 710/720 series printer, I use a simple shell script: cat $1 | gs -sDEVICE=pbm -q -dNOPAUSE -r600 -sPAPERSIZE=letter -sOutputFile=- - | \ pbm2ppa -s letter -v 720 - - | lpr -l Valid printer versions are "720", "820" and "1000". You can also set up a printer filter. 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.