APSFILTER(1)               OpenBSD Reference Manual               APSFILTER(1)

NAME
     apsfilter - magic print filter with auto file type recognition

SYNOPSIS
     lpr [-Pprinter] [-C option1:...:optionN] [file ...] (lpd style)
     lpr [-Pprinter] [-Z option1:...:optionN] [file ...] (LPRng style)
     lp [-d printer] [-o option1:...:optionN] [file ...] (Solaris style)

DESCRIPTION
     Apsfilter is a magic print filter which allows you to print different
     document types ``automagically'' without having to convert them manually
     into a document format which is understood by your printer hardware.

     Apsfilter even turns your machine into a music jukebox by using the
     printer scheduler to play audio files.  You only need to select the new
     printer type

     uses third-party software to convert every supported file type into
     PostScript (PS) first. If you have a real PS printer, the data stream is
     then sent directly to the PS printer, otherwise it is piped through the
     famous PS interpreter which supports a wide range of output devices.

     Thus the question whether a particular printer is supported by is actual-
     ly the question of it either understanding PS directly, or being support-
     ed by in some way (possibly using some emulation of another printer's
     software interface, like Epson's ESC/P2 or HP's PCL).

     Another important thing to remember is that the required driver support
     has to be present in the installed binary.  lists (among others) which
     drivers are currently compiled in. SETUP warns when a selected driver is
     missing and guides in choosing another driver.

     The offers an easy and comfortable framework for FreeBSD users to config-
     ure and install apsfilter, gs third-party driver and filter programs for
     their personal needs.

     The script is designed to avoid temporary files as much as possible. So
     it is very efficient in use and doesn't fill up filesystems even when
     printing large printjobs in high resolution and best print quality.

     offers a wide range of customization options through config files and
     command line options, see below.

   Advantages over other magic filters
     and its SETUP is completely written in a script language (see So it is
     easy to understand and modify even for users and admins who are quite new
     to the Unix business.

     is highly customizable and its developement since 1994 has shown that it
     scales very well with the still growing demand of additional features.

   Supported printers
     Apsfilter supports locally connected serial, parallel and USB printers.

     Remote printing cababilities: Unix remote printing (lpd protocol), print-
     ing to an AppleTalk remote printer via as well as Windows remote printing
     via SAMBAs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 printer as guest user or using a real
     password protected Windows account.

     's SETUP utility supports in installing all supported printer types, no
     matter if local or remote printer, into the printer capability database

   Supported file types
     ar, arc, arj, ASCII, BMP, CAB, cpio, DATA, DVI, FBM, FIG, FITS, GIF,
     Group 3 FAX, HTML, IFF ILBM, JPEG, Kodak Photo CD (PCD), LHA, MGR, MIFF,
     PAM, PGM, PBM, PNM, PPM, PDF, PNG, Postscript (PS), RAR, RLE, RPM, SGI,
     Sketch, Sunraster, TAR, Targa (TGA), TIFF ROFF, WMF, WorPerfect graphics,
     XCF, X Pixmap (XPM), X Window dump (XWD), ZIP, ZOO.

   Supported audio types
     MP3, Ogg Vorbis, RIFF (PCM, Wave)

   Installation
     Extract the tarball and execute in the directory (maybe with some op-
     tions; use to see a listing).

     After that, login as root and call then you can set up printers with

     SETUP adds the printer to the /etc/printcap database to make it available
     to the print spooler, and configures for operation with that printer.

     After successfull installation, SETUP remembers its previous configura-
     tion settings in a file called

   Command line options
     Several command line options to are available which allow the user to in-
     fluence the printing quality, color mode, paper size etc. The includes a
     detailed listing.

      draft                 Draft quality.

      lo|low                Low quality.

      med|medium            Medium quality.

      hi|high               High quality.

      photo                 Photo quality.

      uni|bi                Uni-/bi-directional sweeps.

      plain                 Plain paper.

      coated                Coated (inkjet) paper.

      glossy                Glossy paper.

      premium               Premium (photo) paper.

      trans                 Transparencies.

      color|colour          Color printing.

      gray|grey             Gray printing.

      mono                  B/W printing.

      auto                  Automatic filetype recognition and data conver-
                            sion.

      ascii                 Force printing as ASCII document. For example to
                            print Postscript source code without actually in-
                            terpreting it.

      raw                   Pass-through mode, your print data won't be
                            changed by any filter.

      a3|a4|legal|ledger|tabloid
                            Paper size.

      a2ps|mpage|enscript|recode
                            Text file filter to use, when printing ASCII docu-
                            ments.

      tray0...tray9         Paper feed tray number.

      pretty=N              highlight level for pretty-printing (N=0,1,2)

      header|noheader       Whether you want headers in your text prints.

      border|noborder       Whether you want borders in your text prints.

      1pps|2pps|4pps|8pps   Pages per sheet.

      landscape|portrait    Paper orientation.

      book                  Output pages in "book" format, implies "2pps,du-
                            plex,shortbind"

      duplex|simplex        Whether to use duplex mode or not.

      shortbind|longbind    Paper binding edge.

      copies=N              Number of copies.

EXAMPLES
