Postscript Deskjet (Plus, 500) printing driver (PostDJ, with Post V1.6)
=======================================================================

Eric Kennedy

Based heavily on PostLJ,
Copyright Adrian Aylward 1990, 1991.

This documentation adapted from Adrian Aylward's documentation for PostLJ.

You may freely copy, use and modify this program (postdj).  The source is
included in the distribution.

The program calls the PostScript interpreter library to render a series of
PostScript files to Deskjet printer connected to the parallel port.  It
supports all the possible page sizes, i portrait or landscape orientation.

It has been tested on a Deskjet Plus.  It will likely work with the other
current models in the Deskjet family or emulations thereof.

It is run from the CLI command line. There is no workbench startup.

The CLI interface is very simple.  No attempt has been made to provide fancy
keywords for the options; if you can't remember them write yourself a script.

There are no status checks on the printer device, so it the output hangs
check that your printer is plugged in and switched on.  Is is advisable
to switch the printer on before starting, otherwise the first few characters
may be lost, and the printout corrupted.


Changes from PostLJ
===================

Two new options, -x and -y have been added.  -xnn shifts the image
left nn pixels;  -ymm shifts the image up mm pixels.  The data contained in
the leftmost nn pixels and the topmost mm pixels is simply discarded, as the
Deskjet is not capable of printing in those regions.  Default is -x75 -y24, as
these settings have provided the best printouts on my Deskjet Plus.  This
shifts the printout left 0.25" and up 0.08".  You may need to experiment
to find the best values for your printer and software.

Certain options in PostLJ that pertain to the Laserjet but are not applicable
to the DeskJet (such as number of copies) have simply been left alone.  I
think the Deskjet ignores them anyway.

Note that PostDJ does nothing to correct for the dead space at the bottom
of the page.  If your image runs onto the bottom 0.25" or so, it will
spill over onto the next page.  Just keep in mind the printable area of the
Deskjet when you are composing your page, and you'll be fine.

The -xnn shift is not precise.  PostDJ rounds the nn parameter to the
nearest multiple of 8.  Thus, to achieve a 0.25" shift, the image is
actually shifted 72 pixels, or 0.24".  In my experience, this error is smaller
than the slop inherent in the Deskjet paper handling, anyway, so I opted not
to dive in and twiddle all the bits necessary to shift the page a fraction of
a byte.

It is possible to specify values for -x or -y larger than the size of
the output page.  In this case, a blank page will be printed.  If you get
blank pages, run postdj with -x0 -y0 to make sure there is something there
to print.


Usage
=====

    postband [-options ...] [files...] [TO tofile] [MEM fhlv..]

The filename defaults to "par:" the parallel device handler.  You can specify
an alternative name if you want to save the output in a file, or send it to
a different handler.

The options are indicated by an initial "-".  They are single letters,
followed by a numeric value.

    page size
        s0   legal
        s1   letter
        s2   executive
       *s3   A4  (default)
        s4   COM-10
        s5   monarch
        s6   C5
        s7   DL

    page orientation
       *l0   portrait  (default)
        l1   landscape

    begin printing at page number
       *b0   all pages
        b999 any value from 1 to 9999

    end printing at page number
       *e0   all pages
        e999 any value from 1 to 9999

    number of copies
       *n0   use #copies, or 1 if zero or more than 99 (default).
        n99  any value from 1 to 99

    graphics compression
        c0   disabled
        c1   enabled  (default)
    
	Horizontal shift
	    x75  shift left 0.25"  (default)
		xnn  shift left any value from 0 to 10000
		
    Vertical shift
	    y24  shift up 0.08" (default)
		xmm  shift left any value from 0 to 10000

    If you have an earlier model Deskjet that does not support graphics
    compression (the original model, I think) you must disable it.

The "files..." are the PostScript files to be interpreted.  Usually these
will be the standard startup "init.ps" followed the by file you wish to
print.

The TO filename defaults to "par:" the parallel device handler.  You can
specify an alternative name if you want to save the output in a file, or
send it to a different handler.

The MEM options are passed directly to Post.  Up to 5 are allowed; later
values override earlier values.  See the file post.doc for details.

For example, to print pages 10 through 15 (inclusive) of a document on
a Deskjet connected to the serial port, in letter format, landscape
orientation:

    postdj-s1 -l1 -b10e15 init.ps doc.ps to ser:


A more common invocation of postdj would be

    postdj -s1 init.ps doc.ps to par:


This assumes american-style 8.5"x11" paper, and the deskjet attached
to the parallel port.