Hi, Is there any software that can

[RadChan]

Hi,
Is there any software that can edit/resize PCL images?

I have been trying to put our company logo on the HP print banner page. I successfully got the jpg logo converted to a PCL file for printing onto the banner. But the issues are: -

1) The jpg logo which was a 300 dpi (of size 1inch x 1inch) got converted to a PCL logo of 300 dpi but of size 81/2 inches. I have tried with different jpg and found that irrespective of my initial jpg logo size, the PCL is always 81/2 inches in size.
2) Apart from this, there is a CR-LF appended to the end of the PCL logo.

So when I try to print this onto the HP banner page (essentially a "echo companylogo.pcl" included in the HP printer model scripts), I get the following results: -
1) The logo is by itself on a separate first page.
2) The rest of the information on the banner page (user information, print date etc...) is on a separate page.

I cannot use a PCL macro, since there are close to 200 printers that are used, some remotely and it would be very time consuming to download the macro to all printers.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions about either a better conversion tool or editing/resizing PCL.

Radha Chandran

 

[jlasman]

My MKPCL program that I sell should do everything you
need. It will convert a BMP, PCX, or JPG bitmap into
PCL format. It allows resizing, etc. etc. Specify the
dpi you want and the size in inches, mm, picas or what
have you and MKPCL will output the necessary file. You
can optionally add X Y coordinates to locate the image
on the page.

The program is available for SCO Unix, Linux, as well
as DOS systems.

If you have a choice, use something other than JPG for
a logo. JPG works much better on photographs than on
graphical images. BMP would be better for most logos.

Jim Asman
jim@spctra.wimsey.com

 

[jlasman]

The sizing issue aside...

The logo printing on a separate page suggests that
either the raster file fills the page and causes
the page to eject upon receipt of a LF, OR there is
a FF (^L) at the end of the PCL logo file.

Are you sure that the CR/LF you are seeing isn't
being generated by your interface script? It would
be unusual for a JPG > PCL piece of software to
append a CR/LF to the end of a bitmap.

Life would be simpler for you if the logo is implemented
as an overlay macro. There is no additional overhead
created by virtue of it being a macro. The raster
image has to get to the printer one way or another, and
whether or not it is a macro makes no difference at all.

You might find with your current setup that if you
save the cursor address before you cat the logo to
the printer and the restore the saved cursor address
after the logo is imaged, it will print as desired.
This might look something like ...

echo "\033&f0S" #save cursor
cat logofile #download logo
echo "\033&f1S" #restore cursor

After the code is complete, the cursor will be right
back where it was before this code was encountered.

Jim Asman
jim@spctra.wimsey.com