a2print 0.91b

X front-end to a2ps 4.8.x and ghostscript printing
X printing utility

___________________________________________________________________



ABOUT

a2print is only an interface to program a2ps and some parts of
ghostscript!

-  a2ps is a great program that transforms text to postscript but first it
pretty-formats the text. There are a lot of options for a2ps and the
easyest way to learn about them is to read a2ps documentation.

a2ps homepage:
  1. http://www-stud.enst.fr/~demaille/a2ps.html
  2. http://www-inf.enst.fr/~demaille/a2ps.html
  3. http://www.enst.fr/~demaille/a2ps.html

- now that we have postscript, a2print pipes it to ghostscript and
ghostscript formats it for non-postscript printers. Then output is sent to
the printer.
All printer configuration (ghostscript configuration) can be done through
a2print. If you have a postscript printer and don't need ghostscript then
you can simply disable ghostscript and send postscript directly to the
printer.

There is a Ghostscript World Wide Web home page at
  http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html

Important: Not all options of a2ps are supported by a2print! a2print has
many options. read a2ps documentation to learn about them.


VERSIONS

This a2print version is based on a2ps 4.8.x. this version of a2print will
soon become final version of a2print for a2ps 4.8.x.
It will be a2print 1.0

Further developement of a2print will be based on a2ps 4.9.x


USAGE

a2print [file]
if [file] is ommited, browsing window will open.

a2print can be used in other programs like Netscape, StarOffice and any
other program.
How?... Usually when you select "Print" in some program then you can
choose a printer command. Program will pipe a file to that command. Now,
problem is that a2print can not read from standard input (yet) so you have
to do a little trick. Here is a netscape example:
- select "print"
- In "printer comman" write:
	cat>/tmp/netsc.tmp; a2print /tmp/netsc.tmp; rm -f /tmp/netsc.tmp

That's all. When Netscape pipes file to this, cat reads it, saves it to
file netsc.tmp in /tmp directory, starts a2print with the file name as a
switch, and after a2print is done, rm deletes temporary file netsc.tmp.
It is even easyer to write a little shell script, to do this:
---------------------
#!/bin/sh

cat>/tmp/netsc.tmp
a2print /tmp/netsc.tmp
rm -f /tmp/netsc.tmp
---------------------

save this to a file named something like "pipe2a2p".
put it in a directory in your path (like /usr/local/bin)
make it executable (chmod 755 pipe2a2p)
And now you can give to Netscape "pipe2a2p" as a print command.
It is the same in allmost any other program. Tell me if you have any
problems with this!

some buttons:
SAVE - save options (options are not automaticaly saved on exit)
LOAD - load last saved options
PRINT - print and exit
CANCEL - just exit
PRINT PREVIEW - preview file in ghostview
ENABLE/DISABLE a2ps - this is usefull if you want to print a postscript
file and you don't want a2ps to format it as text. DISABLE a2ps and
input file will be piped to your printer or to ghostscript, depending on
what kind of printer you have.
a2print does not check if input file IS postscript, so if you disable a2ps
and print some text file you will get unexpected results.
PRINTER PLUG-INS - a2print plug-in programs used for easy configuration of
ghostscript for output to a specific non-postscript printer. "cdj550"
plug-in is included. It is currently the only printer plug-in for a2print.
It is for HP Deskjet printers. Read PLUGINS for more info! 

Help on ghostscript printing and help on meta keys, you can read from
a2print.

Other stuff is a2ps related. read a2ps documentation.
Or just play with it :)


REQUIREMENTS

* Tcl/Tk (Wish) -tested with 7.6/4.2 version I'm not sure if it works with
7.5/4.1 or older versions

where to get Tcl/tk:
ftp://ftp.sunlabs.com/pub/tcl (all platforms)
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/devel/lang/tcl (Linux)


* OS: since this is a Tcl program it should run on all platforms Tcl/Tk is
available for. Except WIndows! I didn't care about windows much.
a2print is developed and tested on Linux! a2print should run on most
UNIX(oid) machines.

* a2ps 4.8.x. a2print 0.9a is for a2ps 4.8.x! I did not test it with older
or newer versions of a2ps!
I hear it works o.k. with a2ps 4.9.x. There will probably be some problems
with this version of a2print if used with a2ps 4.9.x. Options like
"language formatting", "strip level" and some other may not work o.k. But
it will all work good enough to test it. Try it and let me know how it
works.

* ghostscript! (this is not neccesary to run a2print)
Tested with version 5.0. It should work fine with older versions.
Actually the only "problem" could be a2print printer plug-ins because
plug-ins take care of ghostscript options. So plug-ins require certain
versions of ghostscript, not a2print.
Included cdj550 printer plug-in requires ghostscript 5.0 (I think :))

*ghostview (this is not neccesary to run a2print)

FILES:

a2printrc		- default configuration file
INSTALL			- about installation procedure
README			- this file
TODO			- what is planned for a2print 1.0 final
PLUGINS			- Printer plug-in configurators info
a2print			- main program
a2print-icon.gif	- a2print logo used in program
cdj550.printer		- printer configuration plug-in
cdj550.printer.info     - short info on printer config. plug-in
ghostscript.help	- short help on ghostscript and a2print
meta.help		- short help on meta sequences used in a2ps
viewer.tcl		- viewer of text files

Important: All the files are needed. Including *.help and *.info files.
Do not delete them. Only INSTALL,README,TODO and PLUGINS are not important
to run a2print.
If you don't need ghostscript printing you can also delete files cdj550.*


KNOWN BUGS:

- printing to standard output doesn't work (yet).
- some wierd combination of empty headers and footers can couse a syntax
error in ghostscript (printing and preview). This is a2ps bug. a2ps
version 4.9.x heas solved that problems.


DISCLAIMER

This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
The risk of using this program is entirely with you.
Should the program proove defective in any way, you assume the cost of all
neccesary servicing, repair or correction.


COPYING

This program is free. You may use, copy, distribute and/or modify the
software but all the software derived from this program or any part of it
must be available free of charge and under those same terms or under GPL.
You can copy/distribute this software on any media and you can charge a
fee for it but all recipients must be noticed that this software is freely
available and you must give them the same rights as you have.


THANKS

- Without a2ps this program wouldn't have much sense. Thanks to authors.

- Thanks to ghostscript authors. Using ghostscript it's easy to print on
non-postscript printers.

- Thanks To authors of Visual TCL. a2print is developed using Visual TCL
  Home Site:       http://www.neuron.com/stewart/vtcl/
  Australia:       http://holmes.ccs.deakin.edu.au/vtcl/
  United Kingdom:  http://www.jessikat.demon.co.uk/vtcl/
  Germany:         http://www.ifconnection.de/~rjs/vtcl/
  US East:         http://www.ultra.net/~eugene/mirror/vtcl/


____________________________________________________________________
All comments and suggestions are VERY WELCOMMED!

Mirko Vukusic	(mirko@efst.hr)
Doverska 33
21000 Split
Croatia


http://www.efst.hr/~mirko/a2print
