Hi folks.

I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
like so:

pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr

After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.

I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.

I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
text but....

I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.

Thanks.

Pureheart in Aptos

On 2024-12-15 22:46, pH wrote:
> Hi folks.
>
> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
> like so:
>
> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>
> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>
> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>
> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
> text but....
>
> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Pureheart in Aptos

That is not trivial.

You have to follow the chain of conversions that your distribution uses
from text to postscript in cups. It is probably using a2ps.

I have never done this, so I can not explain it.

The other method is that you do the conversion from ascii to ps
yourself, manually, and then submit to the printer the already fully
created postcript instead of the ascii.

man a2ps for the options.

Once you get all the options you need, create a script.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2024-12-15 22:46, pH wrote:
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>> like so:
>>
>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>
>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>
>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.

The good old "lpr" sent raw ascii bytes to the printer.
The program you need to do simple formatting in PostScript before
handing the file to CUPS is the "enscript" program. Simple and well
documented.

On 2024-12-15, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> On 2024-12-15 22:46, pH wrote:
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>> like so:
>>
>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>
>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>
>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>>
>> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
>> text but....
>>
>> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Pureheart in Aptos
>
> That is not trivial.
>
> You have to follow the chain of conversions that your distribution uses
> from text to postscript in cups. It is probably using a2ps.
>
> I have never done this, so I can not explain it.
>
> The other method is that you do the conversion from ascii to ps
> yourself, manually, and then submit to the printer the already fully
> created postcript instead of the ascii.
>
> man a2ps for the options.
>
> Once you get all the options you need, create a script.
>
>

Thank-you for hint. I looked at all the conversion programs and ones like
ascii2ps were not to be found...so thanks for the a2ps hint.
I see that's not installed, either, so I'll put it in and start reading up
on it.

pH

On 2024-12-16, Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> wrote:
> On 2024-12-15 22:46, pH wrote:
>>> Hi folks.
>>>
>>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>>> like so:
>>>
>>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>>
>>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>>
>>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>
> The good old "lpr" sent raw ascii bytes to the printer.
> The program you need to do simple formatting in PostScript before
> handing the file to CUPS is the "enscript" program. Simple and well
> documented.

Ah, good. I'll read up on this, too. Thank-you.

pH

pH wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:

> Hi folks.
>
> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
> like so:
>
> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>
> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>
> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>
> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
> text but....
>
> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Pureheart in Aptos

Check out the command-line program "enscript". Here's a line from a script I
wrote years ago, to print out a C/C++ file:

enscript -P lp0 --media=Letter --landscape --truncate-lines --font="LucidaTypewriter7" --columns=2 $1

That's for a basic plaintext file, though.

--
Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip
around the Sun.

On 2024-12-16 01:57, Lars Poulsen wrote:
> On 2024-12-15 22:46, pH wrote:
>>> Hi folks.
>>>
>>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>>> like so:
>>>
>>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>>
>>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>>
>>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>
> The good old "lpr" sent raw ascii bytes to the printer.

Ah, but the current one is part of cups.

> The program you need to do simple formatting in PostScript before
> handing the file to CUPS is the "enscript" program. Simple and well
> documented.

Ah, that one. :-)

FILES

...

/etc/enscript.cfg system-wide configuration file
/etc/enscriptsite.cfg site configuration file
~/.enscriptrc personal configuration file
~/.enscript/ personal resource directory

So you can customize the defaults.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2024-12-16, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
> pH wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:
>
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>> like so:
>>
>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>
>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>
>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>>
>> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
>> text but....
>>
>> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Pureheart in Aptos
>
> Check out the command-line program "enscript". Here's a line from a script I
> wrote years ago, to print out a C/C++ file:
>
> enscript -P lp0 --media=Letter --landscape --truncate-lines
--font="LucidaTypewriter7" --columns=2 $1
>
> That's for a basic plaintext file, though.
>

Yes, it looks like "enscript" will be my saviour. I now have to experiment
with the font names I have available...the one I was thinking of has spaces
in the name so I tried the double quotes and got a NULL result, printed fine
w/ the default type . I was using the -f toggle, perhaps I'll try the
--font=.

In any case, looks like enscript will do the trick for me.

pH in Aptos

On 16/12/2024 22:09, pH wrote:
> n any case, looks like enscript will do the trick for me.

From memory LPR used the CUPS subsystem and there are in there config
files that you can edit to set the font, one of which will be a filter
that turns plaintext to postcript for the printer.

I have looked here but cannot find it. Oh that sucks.
/etc/cups/ppd is the main printer file and it allegedly allows a
default font to be set but not its size.

It gets worse. Inside /usr/lib/cups is texttops and texttopdf

texttopdf is a compiled C program

I spent 15 minutes - no joy.

It suggest that setting CHARSET as an environment variable might do
something

But I couldn't find that.

--
Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the people.
But Marxism is the crack cocaine.

On Mo 16 Dez 2024 at 22:09, pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:

> On 2024-12-16, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
>> pH wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:
>>
>>> Hi folks.
>>>
>>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>>> like so:
>>>
>>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>>
>>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>>
>>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>>>
>>> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
>>> text but....
>>>
>>> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> Pureheart in Aptos
>>
>> Check out the command-line program "enscript". Here's a line from a script I
>> wrote years ago, to print out a C/C++ file:
>>
>> enscript -P lp0 --media=Letter --landscape --truncate-lines
> --font="LucidaTypewriter7" --columns=2 $1
>>
>> That's for a basic plaintext file, though.
>>
>
> Yes, it looks like "enscript" will be my saviour. I now have to experiment
> with the font names I have available...the one I was thinking of has spaces
> in the name so I tried the double quotes and got a NULL result, printed fine
> w/ the default type . I was using the -f toggle, perhaps I'll try the
> --font=.
>
> In any case, looks like enscript will do the trick for me.
>
> pH in Aptos

You could also test a2ps or paps. Both are similar to enscript, but have
different options.

'Andreas
--
ceterum censeo redmondinem esse delendam

On 2024-12-17, Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> wrote:
> On Mo 16 Dez 2024 at 22:09, pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
>
>> On 2024-12-16, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
>>> pH wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:
>>>
>>>> Hi folks.
>>>>
>>>> I like to write my letters using jstar and then print them
>>>> like so:
>>>>
>>>> pr -o4 -t myfile | lpr
>>>>
>>>> After I see the pretty print I can do w/ libreoffice the plain old
>>>> 10 pitch lineprinter font is kind of clunky.
>>>>
>>>> I'd really like to change it to 12 pitch at the least. I'm a long time
>>>> WordStar devotee and want to stick w/ good old jstar.
>>>>
>>>> I use LO when it seems the thing to do as when I want to embed photos in the
>>>> text but....
>>>>
>>>> I've not see how/where to change the default pitch for lpr to use.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Pureheart in Aptos
>>>
>>> Check out the command-line program "enscript". Here's a line from a script I
>>> wrote years ago, to print out a C/C++ file:
>>>
>>> enscript -P lp0 --media=Letter --landscape --truncate-lines
>> --font="LucidaTypewriter7" --columns=2 $1
>>>
>>> That's for a basic plaintext file, though.
>>>
>>
>> Yes, it looks like "enscript" will be my saviour. I now have to experiment
>> with the font names I have available...the one I was thinking of has spaces
>> in the name so I tried the double quotes and got a NULL result, printed fine
>> w/ the default type . I was using the -f toggle, perhaps I'll try the
>> --font=.
>>
>> In any case, looks like enscript will do the trick for me.
>>
>> pH in Aptos
>
> You could also test a2ps or paps. Both are similar to enscript, but have
> different options.
>
> 'Andreas

I did download a2ps and have glanced at the man page but will need to look
at it better later.

Don't seem to have paps, so maybe will pull that down...should be small.

Thanks to all....

pH

On Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:43:47 -0000 (UTC), pH wrote:

> I did download a2ps ...

Debian includes standard packages for a2ps and enscript. That should apply
to its derivatives as well.