pbmtolj

Updated: 23 April 2005
Table Of Contents

NAME

pbmtolj - convert a PBM image to HP LaserJet format

SYNOPSIS

pbmtolj [-resolution N] [-float] [-noreset] [-packbits] [-delta] [-compress] [pbmfile] [-copies N]

You can abbreviate any option to its shortest unique prefix.

DESCRIPTION

This program is part of Netpbm.

pbmtolj reads a PBM image as input and produces HP LaserJet data as output. You can send this data to a LaserJet or DeskJet printer (at least some of them).

Each pixel in the input PBM image becomes one dot in the printed output. Therefore, you must make sure the width and height of the input are appropriate for the print resolution you choose and the print area you want. E.g. if you print at 300 dpi and want the image to print as 8 inches by 10, you must supply a PBM that is 2400 pixels wide by 3000 pixels high. You can adjust the size of the input with pamscale, pamstretch, pbmreduce, or pamenlarge.

The input may be a multi-image PBM stream. Each input image becomes a page of output. But before Netpbm 10.28 (June 2005), images after the first one are ignored.

Note that there is no ljtopbm tool.

OPTIONS

In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably -quiet, see Common Options), pbmtolj recognizes the following command line options:

-resolution: Specifies the resolution of the output device, in dpi. Another way to look at this is as a declaration of the resolution of the input image (PBM images don't have inherent resolution). Typical values are 75, 100, 150, 300, and 600. The default is 75.
-float: Suppresses positioning commands. By default, pbmtolj places the sequence ESC & l 0 E in the output, which means to force the top margin to zero. With -float, pbmtolj omits that command.
-noreset: Prevents pbmtolj from writing the reset sequences to the beginning and end of the output file.
-packbits: Enables use of TIFF packbits compression.
-delta: Enables use of delta-between-rows compression.
-compress: Enables use of both TIFF packbits, and delta-between-rows compression.
-copies: Specifies the number of copies. The default is 1. This option controls the "number of copies" printer control; pbmtolj generates only one copy of the image.