POSTBGI(1)

NAME
postbgi - PostScript translator for BGI (Basic Graphical Instructions) files

SYNOPSIS
postbgi [ options []] [ files []]

DESCRIPTION
postbgi translates BGI (Basic Graphical Instructions) files into PostScript and writes the results on the standard output. If no files are specified, or if [-] is one of the input files, the standard input is read. The following options are understood:

[-c num]
Print
    num copies of each page. By default only one copy is printed.

    [-f name]
Print text using font
    name. Any PostScript font can be used, although the best results will only be obtained with constant width fonts. The default font is Courier.

    [-m num]
Magnify each logical page by the factor
    num. Pages are scaled uniformly about the origin, which by default is located at the center of each page. The default magnification is 1.0.

    [-n num]
Print
    num logical pages on each piece of paper, where num can be any positive integer. By default num is set to 1.

    [-o list]
Print pages whose numbers are given in the comma-separated
    list. The list contains single numbers N and ranges N1-N2. A missing N1 means the lowest numbered page, a missing N2 means the highest.

    [-p mode]
Print
    files in either portrait or landscape mode. Only the first character of mode is significant. The default mode is portrait.

    [-w num]
Set the line width used for graphics to
    num points, where a point is approximately 1/72 of an inch. By default num is set to 0 points, which forces lines to be one pixel wide.

    [-x num]
Translate the origin
    num inches along the positive x axis. The default coordinate system has the origin fixed at the center of the page, with positive x to the right and positive y up the page. Positive num moves everything right. The default offset is 0 inches.

    [-y num]
Translate the origin
    num inches along the positive y axis. Positive num moves everything up the page. The default offset is 0 inches.

    [-E name]
Set the character encoding for text fonts to
    name. Requesting name means include file A nonexistent encoding file is silently ignored. The default selects file /usr/lib/postscript/Default.enc(.)

    [-L file]
Use file as the PostScript prologue.
    The default is /usr/lib/postscript/postbgi.ps(.)

Three options allow insertion of arbitrary PostScript at controlled points in the translation process:

[-C file]
Copy
    file to the output file; file must contain legitimate PostScript.

    [-P string]
Include
    string in the output file; string must be legitimate PostScript.

    [-R action]
Requests special
    action (e.g., manualfeed()) on a per page or global basis. The action string can be given as request, or If page is omitted or given as 0, the request applies to all pages. If file is omitted, the request lookup is done in /usr/lib/postscript/ps.requests(.)

postbgi can handle STARE (black and white) and PRISM (color) BGI jobs. By default plots are rigidly scaled to fill the page, which produces the good results for most STARE jobs. PRISM jobs typically fill regions with colors, and often require device specific tuning to produce acceptable results. Adding the option is strongly recommended when postbgi is translating PRISM jobs.

EXAMPLES
For most STARE jobs,
    postbgi  file
gives good results, while
    postbgi -P"/prism true def"  file
is recommended when translating PRISM jobs.

DIAGNOSTICS
A 0 exit status is returned if files were successfully processed.

BUGS
The default line width is too small for write-white print engines, like the one used by the PS-2400. Several BGI opcodes have not been implemented.

FILES

SEE ALSO
dpost(1), postdaisy(1), postdmd(1), postio(1), postmd(1), postprint(1), postreverse(1), posttek(1), psencoding(1)