Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/laser/ffp11.arj/FFP.DOC

Text File | 1992-05-11 | 41KB | 808 lines

SUMMARY

   FFP (Fast Fax Print utility) is an easy to use high speed program to print
   out faxes, scanned, dithered and other monochromatic (black and white)
   images on HP LaserJet III, IIIP, IIID, IIISi or other compatible printers
   (PCL5 or higher is required). You do not have to have a fax card, scanner
   or other devices. As a matter of fact, since FFP can print to a file, you
   do not even have to have a printer.

   Typically, the images will be printed 6-12 times faster than your fax or
   other software can print it (there may be exceptions, but I do not know
   about them), and the program requires only about 26K free memory.

   FFP can print your images in either 1UP (portrait, 1 image/page), 2UP
   (landscape, 2 images/page) or BOOKLET (special 2UP) format, supports
   Duplex printing (prints on both sides of the paper for IIID and IIISi),
   job separation (IIISi), LETTER and LEGAL size papers.

   FFP can print images stored in a variety of file formats:

   - Native BITFAX (.BFX) files
   - Native OAFAX (.OAF or .IMG) files
   - Compressed (Type 3[1D] & 32773) TIFF (.TIF) files (Intel/Motorola format)
   - Uncompressed (Type 1 & 32771)   TIFF (.TIF) files (Intel/Motorola format)
   - PCX (.PCX) files (as defined by ZSoft Corporation)

   FFP can also magnify/reduce your images horizontally and/or vertically.


SHAREWARE

   This product is distributed as a SHAREWARE, and IS NOT FREE!
   If you use it for other than evaluation purposes, you MUST REGISTER IT.
   See LICENSING and REGISTRATION at the end of this document for details.


CONTENTS

   FFP.EXE - The program itself     FFPORDER.EXE - How much does it cost?
   FFP.DOC - This documentation                    Prints Order Form as well.


DISTRIBUTION

   You are encouraged to distribute this package freely, provided you do not
   include any part of it with commercial products. You must distribute the
   package together with all the files, without any modification.


DISCLAIMER

   This product is provided "AS IS". The author specifically disclaim all
   warranties, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to
   implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
   The entire risk as to the usability of the package is with you.
   Should the program(s) and documentation prove defective you (and not the
   author) assume the entire cost of servicing, repair or correction. The
   author does not warrant that the functions contained in the program(s) will
   meet your requirements or that the operation of the program(s) will be
   uninterrupted or error free or that the program defects will be corrected.
INSTALLATION

The program does not require any special installation. Simply copy it into a
directory which is included in your PATH (see your DOS documentation), so that
you can invoke it from any directory, without specifying the name of the
directory (path) where the program resides.



INVOKING THE PROGRAM

At the DOS prompt type "FFP" optionally preceded by the path and followed by
parameters. The command line syntax is this:

   [path]FFP [filespec][options] [filespec][options] ... [filespec][options]

[x] designates optional parameters, that is, you can omit them if you wish.
The [filespec][options] parameters must be separated from each other by at
least one blank.

The program displays all its messages on the standard output, therefore you
can redirect it to any file or device. This redirection is specified by
entering ">fileordevice" (without the quotes) anywhere on the command line,
e.g. >MESSAGES.FFP tells DOS to send the program's messages to the file called
MESSAGES.FFP in the current directory. Entering >NUL instructs DOS to send the
program's messages to the NUL device, hence all messages will be discarded.

The program will optionally read from the standard input (more on this soon),
therefore DOS redirection is also possible. This type of redirection is
specified by entering "<fileordevice" (without the quotes) anywhere on the
command line, e.g. <COMMANDS.FFP tells DOS that instead of the keyboard, read
the COMMANDS.FFP as if its content was entered from the keyboard. Entering
<NUL will result in reading from the NUL device, which means 'no input'.

Note, that the redirection specifications are NOT part of the command line and
are eliminated by DOS before it passes the command line to a program. Thus, if
only redirections are entered on the command line, it will appear to FFP that
there are no parameters specified. See a DOS manual for more on redirection.

There are three (3) types of invocations:

1. If you specify one or more parameters, and DO NOT specify the /+ option on
   the command line, then the program interprets the command line, produce its
   output and terminates.

2. If you DO NOT specify parameters, then a help message will be displayed,
   and you will be prompted to enter parameters from the standard input. Thus,
   you can enter multiple command lines.

3. If you specify parameters and among them the /+ option, then the command
   line will be processed first, and you will be prompted for more.

If you use Windows, you usually invoke a DOS program by double-clicking on the
program file. Windows will open a DOS session and invoke the program. (This is
identical to invocation type 2 under DOS.) Since upon program termination
Windows quickly closes the session, you have no time to verify whether the
program was executed successfully or it was aborted for some reason. Therefore
invoking FFP (and other DOS programs) from a dedicated DOS session makes a lot
of sense. You can run FFP similarly under OS/2.

The combined use of the /+ option and the possibility of redirection gives
you a very powerful tool for practically all kinds of situations.

Every line, that is read from the standard input (and not the original command
line!) is verified whether the first nonblank character is a semicolon (;).
If it is, then the line is treated as a COMMENT line. This is very useful when
you create (and/or maintain) a list of files in a file and specify it as the
standard input for FFP (e.g. FFP <IMAGE.ALL), that is, you can comment the
files and/or options, separate groups of files and mark certain files that you
do not want to print, without the need of deleting its name from the file.

Empty lines (containing only zero or more blanks) read from the standard input
will result in displaying a help message (syntax and all options)

When the standard input is the keyboard, you can abort the processing any time
by pressing Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break (press and hold the "Ctrl" button while
pressing the "C" or "Break" key). When you finished entering all the lines
from the keyboard, press Ctrl-Z followed by an Enter to signal the end of
input. (If Ctrl-Z is followed by other characters, it still means 'end of
input'. If it is not the first character on the line, it has no such meaning.)



SYNTAX OF INVOCATION

"filespec" can be any pathname designating zero or more files. The ? and *
wildcard characters are allowed. For example:

    PORTRAIT.PCX   - single file in the current directory
    PICTURE.*      - all files with the name "PICTURE" and any extension
                     in the current directory
    *.TIF          - all TIFF files in the current directory
    *.*            - all files in the current directory
    \A*.*          - all files whose name begins with the letter A in the
                     root directory of the current drive
    A:\IMAGE\*.BFX - all files with the "BFX" extension in the "IMAGE"
                     subdirectory on drive A
    B:*.IMG        - all files with the "IMG" extension in the current
                     directory on drive B

"options" is one or more options (described later). Each option begins with
a '/' sign, followed by a letter and optionally the parameters. For example:

    /M             - single option
    /OFILE/D/FB    - multiple options

The following is a sample invocation:

    C:\UTILS\FFP /FB  *.BFX/M1.2  D:\PIC*.TIF  PIC*.TIF/OBOOK/D

Explanation of the syntax:

    C:\UTILS\         tells DOS the name of the drive and directory where the
                      program resides.
    FFP               tells DOS to execute this program in the above directory
    /FB               filespec is omitted, single option is given
    *.BFX/M1.2        filespec and single option specified
    D:\PIC*.TIF       filespec specified, no options given
    PIC*.TIF/OBOOK/D  filespec and multiple options specified

COMMAND LINE INTERPRETATION

When the program is started, first it interprets the parameters you specified.
Every option is remembered and every file that is described by the "filespec"
is analyzed. If a file is not recognized (this topic will be discussed in
detail later in this documentation) as a valid supported file, then it is
omitted. If a file is recognized, then it is "marked" as a valid file and the
options in effect determine how it will be printed. Therefore, it is important
that the method be described BEFORE the files are specified. Currently, the
only option that explicitly changes the method is the /M (magnification and/or
reduction) option, but the /F (format) option can also imply magnification in
certain cases (as it will be described later).
For instance, in the sample invocation

    C:\UTILS\FFP /FB  *.BFX/M1.2  D:\PIC*.TIF  PIC*.TIF/OBOOK/D

the /FB option implies /M (or /M1,1) so the *.BFX files will not be magnified,
but the D:\PIC*.TIF and PIC*.TIF files will be magnified by 20% in both
horizontal and vertical directions.

When the program begins to interpret the command line, it assumes that you
want to print the files in a certain way (called "default"). It means, that
the program will automatically insert certain options before the first
parameter, which you can override, of course. These IMPLICIT options are:

   /FD        - 1UP format on default size paper
   /M1.3333   - Magnify the image by 33.33% in both directions
   /OLPT1     - Send output to LPT1 (printer #1)

Hence, if you do not specify any options (only files) then they will be
printed on LPT1 on the default paper and magnified by 33.33% in both
directions, which is usually the largest safe format to print out faxes.

**** THE FILES WILL BE PRINTED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARE ENCOUNTERED ****

Note, that lower and upper case letters are considered to be identical.

If, during scanning the command line, FFP finds an either syntactically or
semantically invalid option or file specification (e.g. invalid/nonexistent
path or invalid option), it displays an error message and ignores it.

If no files are specified or recognized, FFP displays "No files were selected"
and terminates.

Once the printing begins, you can terminate it by hitting the Escape (Esc) key
on the keyboard. The program will terminate immediately. Note, that neither
Ctrl-C nor Ctrl-Break will be effective, so you cannot terminate the program
in this phase using these key combinations.



OPTIONS

THE /+ OPTION

This option has meaning only on the original command line and has no effect
when encountered on lines read from the standard input. This option tells FFP
that it has to read further parameters from the standard input. Note, that
the <NUL input redirection and the /+ option eliminate each other. (/+ tells
that there is more to read, but <NUL means reading nothing).
THE /D OPTION

This option specifies that the printout will be printed on a printer that can
print on both sides of the paper (like the IIID or IIISi). This option will
ensure proper binding and eliminates the manual intervention for booklet (/FB)
printing. If the printer does not support duplex printing, then this option
will be ignored and simplex printing mode is enforced. This will not affect
1UP or 2UP printing, but instead of a BOOKLET, the result will be a 2UP format
printout, where the pages and images come out in different order.
If this option is not given, then simplex printing will be enforced.



THE /F OPTION

This option specifies the format of the printout. The syntax is

                          /Fformat

where "format" is either D, S, L, 2, or B whose meaning is as follows:

   /FD   - 1UP format on default size paper (1 image/page)
   /FS   - 1UP format on LETTER  size paper (1 image/page)
   /FL   - 1UP format on LEGAL   size paper (1 image/page)
   /F2   - 2UP     format on LEGAL size paper (2 images/page)
   /FB   - BOOKLET format on LEGAL size paper (2 images/page)

Since nothing can prevent from specifying the format more than once on the
command line(s), the last occurrence of this option will determine the real
format of the printout. It should be noted, however, that the possible side
effect of this option has to make you very cautious, therefore it is STRONGLY
RECOMMENDED, that if you specify this option, specify it before any file
specification. The side effect is the result of the following rule:

This option automatically changes the magnification ratio, unless an EXPLICIT
/M option was given previously, in which case the option does not affect the
specified magnification ratio.

If a /M option was NOT GIVEN EXPLICITLY before the /F option, then

     /FD , /FS and /FL  implies /M1.3333
     /F2 and /FB        implies /M

This may look like a cumbersome rule, but in reality this rule follows the
natural thinking. In many cases, you simply want to print your faxes in
'real size' (this is the default). To do this, the image has to be magnified.
(How magnification is interpreted will be described later at the /M option.)
However, if you want to print in 2UP or BOOKLET format, then the magnified
image would rarely fit in the available frame. Therefore you may expect the
program to realize that and automatically adjust the magnification ratio.
In most cases most people will use one of the following invocations:

   FFP files files ... files
   FFP /FB files files ... files

simply because in most cases LPT1 is the target printer, most people prefer
printing on one side of the paper (even if it costs more) and most faxes will
be of letter size, which is usually the default paper size, and most people
want to print them in 'real size'. The second line is used to print the images
in booklet format (optionally containing the /D option for Duplex printing).
THE /O OPTION

This option specifies the destination of the printout. The syntax is

                          /O[output]

where "output" is either a pathname or not given or LPTn[:] (n=1,2,3).

   /OLPT1 or /OLPT1: prints on printer #1
   /OLPT2 or /OLPT2: prints on printer #2
   /OLPT3 or /OLPT3: prints on printer #3
   /Opathname        prints to the file/device specified by "pathname"
   /O                prints on printer #1 (same as /OLPT1 or /OLPT1:)

Since nothing can prevent you from specifying the destination more than once
on the command line, the last occurrence of this option will determine the
real destination of the printout.

"pathname" is the usual DOS pathname (see the DOS manual for more information)
i.e. it has the format [drive:][\][dir\]...[dir\]filename[.[extension]], e.g.
FFP.OUT or A:\PRINTOUT\FFP.1 or D:OUTPUT or \OUTPUT. or B:\IMAGES.PRT etc.

"pathname" can also be a DOS device (such as COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, AUX, PRN,
CON, NUL).

WARNING! Extra care should be taken when you want to send the printout to a
DOS device (such as PRN) through DOS itself. The problem comes from the fact
that certain codes may cause loss of data. For example, if you send the output
to PRN (the default printer), then when EOF (end of file control code, decimal
26 or hexadecimal 1A) is sent to the printer, DOS may interpret it as a real
EOF, and will ignore all characters until a newline code arrives. However, the
data sent to the device is of binary nature, thus the printout will be garbled
at certain places. Therefore, the program verifies, whether all data was sent
to the destination file or device. If only part of the data was sent, then an
error message is displayed and the program is aborted. If your output is sent
to a file, then the target disk is probably full. If your output is a device
(such as PRN), then the above described misinterpretation happened. Therefore,
if the latter happens to be the case, stop sending the output to the device,
and send it to a file instead, then use a program that can send the file to
the target device without any interpretation. Note, that if /OPRN fails, then
the COPY command will fail as well.

Sending the output to the NUL device (/ONUL) will not produce any output since
all data sent to this device is discarded.

Sending the printout to a file has several advantages. First of all, to use
the program, you do not actually have to have a suitable printer. You can
prepare the printout that you need and send or take the output file to a
friend who does have it. Also, you can include it in packages, and let the
user print it (the size of the output is usually slightly bigger than the size
of the original file if it was compressed, and much smaller if it was not).

Therefore, sending the output to a file makes it PORTABLE.







THE /M OPTION

This option specifies the magnification ratio of the files specified after it.
You can include this option anywhere on the command line as many times as you
wish. Once this option appears on the command line, it will prevent FFP from
automatically adjusting the magnification ratio upon the occurrence of the /F
option(s). The explicitly specified magnification ratio is effective until
another /M option appears. The syntax is:

                          /M[x][,[y]]

where 'x' determines the horizontal and 'y' determines the vertical
magnification (or reduction). The following rules apply:

  1. if 'x' is not specified, then x=1 is assumed
  2. if 'y' is not specified, then y=x is assumed
  3. 'x' and 'y' must be positive decimal numbers ( syntax: [i][.[f]] )
     between 0.0001 and 65535.9999 and no signs are allowed. The following
     are valid numbers: 12 12. 12.0 12.100 1.2 0.01 .01 0012.1200 .0001
  4. 'x' and 'y' are both verified if they are valid but only the first four
     decimal digits are considered after the decimal point
  5. Specifying negative or zero value will result in an error message and
     the option will be ignored
  6. Specifying a value that is greater than 65535.9999 will be treated as if
     65535.9999 was given

Therefore, (≡ means 'identical to' and {n} means 'because of rule n')
the following are VALID options:

   /M ≡ /M1 {1} ≡ /M,1 {1,2} ≡ /M1, {2} ≡ /M1.0000999 {2,4} ≡ /M1,1 {1,2}
   /M,1.4567 ≡ /M1,1.4567 {1} ≡ /M1,1.456789 {4}
   /M65536,100000 ≡ /M65535.9999,65535.9999 {6}

The following are INVALID options

   /M0 {5}   /M,0 {5}   /M3,-1 {5}   (zero or negative numbers)
   /M0.00009999 {4,5}                (after tuncation the result is zero)
   /M.1111HELLO {3}                  (invalid characters 'HELLO' in number)
   /M+12        {3}                  (+ or - signs are not allowed)

The following command line

   FFP 1*.BFX /M 09*.BFX 08*.BFX /M1.2,.95 *.TIF /M.5 *.IMG *.OAF

will produce a 1UP (portrait) printout on the default paper on LPT1, where

   1*.BFX files will be magnified by 33.33% in both directions (remember, the
          default is /M1.3333)
   09*.BFX and 08*.BFX files will not be magnified because of /M (= /M1,1)
   *.TIF files will be magnified horizontally by 20% and reduced to 95% of the
          original length vertically because of the preceeding /M1.2,.95
   *.IMG and *.OAF files will be reduced by 50% in both directions because of
          the preceeding /M.5 option

Now it is time to discuss how magnification/reduction comes into the picture.

When you get a fax or use your fax machine as a copier, you will realize, that
the quality of the image you get has become (sometimes dramatically) poorer.
So, why is that 'somewhat poor quality'?

The reason for that lies in the RESOLUTION of the image.
A graphic image consists of dots. The resolution is usually given in DPI
(dots per inch). The higher the DPI, the better the resolution. Note, that
the horizontal resolution is not necessarily equal to the vertical resolution.
Unfortunately, the resolution varies from device to device.

A fax machine has 200x100 DPI (200 horizontal dots per inch and 100 vertical
dots per inch) in normal mode and 200x200 in fine mode. (To tell the truth I
am guessing here, but the numbers are approximately correct. Could not find
any authentic information on that, and merely deducted the numbers from the
operation of my fax software.) The resolution of a HP LaserJet is 300x300 DPI
(but you can specify 150x150 or 75x75 DPI). IBM dot matrix printers have
216x216 DPI mode, EPSON dot matrix printers 180x180 DPI mode, your scanner
100x100, 200x200, 300x300 or 400x400 DPI modes, etc.

Alas, in case of some devices measuring the resolution in DPI would be
meaningless. The best example for that is a monitor. Though you can calculate
the DPI for a specific mode (640x480 or 320x200 dots on the screen), the
result would be good for your kind of monitor only. Why? Because there are
12", 14", 16", 17" etc. monitors. Whose calculation is correct? What is the
real size of the image?

So, to make a long story short, this is what FFP does:

The 'real size' (or /M1,y size) of every image is assumed to be expressed in
the horizontal resolution of the printer. (In our case 300 DPI for HPLJ.)

Therefore, EVERY HORIZONTAL DOT IN THE IMAGE CORRESPONDS TO EXACTLY ONE
HORIZONTAL DOT ON THE PRINTER when the /M1,y option is in effect. This means
that if your image has 300 dots horizontally, then it will be exactly 1 inch
wide when it is printed (assuming that the /M1,y option is in effect).

The VERTICAL RESOLUTION WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTED INTERNALLY, so your
image will always be PROPORTIONAL, when the /Mx,x option is in effect (that is
when the horizontal and vertical magnification ratios are the same).
This means that magnifying only vertically will result in an elongated image.

Reduction is important when your image is too wide or too long.
The maximum number of dots that can be printed horizontally and vertically
(picture frame) by FFP per image depends on the output format (/F option):

Format  HoriMax  VertMax  Comments
------  -------  -------  ----------------------------------------------------
/FD     N/A      N/A      Depends on the printable area of the paper
/FS     2400     3200     Even if you load a longer paper (such as LEGAL)
/FL     2400     4100     This is the longest page the HP LaserJet supports
/F2     1728     2400     Standard FAX size (fine resolution)
/FB     1728     2400     Standard FAX size (fine resolution)

The above table needs some explanation, and here it is.

For /FS and /FL the 2400x3200 and 2400x4100 represent the maximum logical page
size that can be printed (or falls within the printable area).

Though "Standard FAX size" is 1728x2400 dots (see next paragraph for details!)
there are machines which accomodate larger paper widths whilst maintaining the
standard horizontal resolution. Note, that if the /FD, /FS and /FL formats are
used with the /M (no magnification) option then these images can be printed
easily, without first calculating the required magnification ratio.

As you see, the "Standard FAX size" is 1728 dots wide and 1200 dots long in
normal resolution (i.e. a fax machine would use 200x100 resolution printing,
or 200x200 resolution printing and simply duplicate every row), 1728 dots wide
and 2400 dots long in fine resolution (i.e. a fax machine would use 200x200
resolution printing). Again, I have no authentic information on that, but I am
almost 100% sure that the number 1728 is correct. The 1200 and 2400 values
come from my fax and scan software which insist on these values (and firmly
reject anything that is not in 200 DPI horizontal resolution), so I just
assume that they are right (though I learned not to trust very much; more on
this topic later). Unfortunately, vertical page size is not an issue for real
fax machines, since they print on continuous paper, and since I am not 100%
sure that the vertical resolution of these builtin printers (and the scanners)
is exactly 100 or 200 DPI, what can I do ... ?

Thus, assuming that 1200 (or 2400) is the 'magic number', a simple calculation
gives the 'largest safe format' to print out faxes:
It is safe to assume that the majority of the faxes and the default paper size
in a HP LaserJet is of letter size. The printable area on a letter size paper
is 3200 dots, while the incoming fax is 2400 dots in length (if it is a fine
resolution fax, if it is normal, we can duplicate every one of the 1200
lines), therefore, 2400 dots expanded to 3200 gives 1.3333 (3200/2400). Since
(3200/2400)*1728 = 2304 which is less than 2400, the maximum number of dots on
a line (on a LaserJet logical page), the incoming fax, magnified by 33.33% in
both directions will nicely fit in the printable area.
Now you know where the /M1.3333 default comes from ...

Should these conservative assumptions prove to be wrong, DON'T PANIC!
All you have to do is to specify the magnification ratio (other good values
are 1.3889, 1.4178 and 1.4545 depending on the expected width and length of
the incoming faxes), or, better yet, create a batch file to print in 'true
size' on the default paper call it FFPD.BAT (or whatever you feel appropriate)
which consists of the single line

     FFP /M1.43 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

and use that batch file for that purpose.

Do not be afraid to use /M (no magnification). Since the 200x100 normal fax
resolution usually results in poor quality, I found that using /M resulted in
crisper images, that were definitely easier on the eye than the ones obtained
with /M1.3333 or greater magnification.



PRINTING BOOKLET ON NON-DUPLEX DEVICES

When you print a booklet on a printer that does not support duplex printing
(such as the HP LaserJet III and IIIP), or you do not specify the /D option
for a printer that can print on both sides of the paper, manual intervention
is unavoidable. After printing on one side of the paper, you will be prompted
by your printer to "FEED LEGAL". Then you have to place the papers back to the
paper tray in REVERSE order (i.e. the last printed sheet first, the first
printed sheet last), so that the printer will print on the other side of the
paper. Since printers do differ from each other, you will have to find out how
to do it on yours. On a IIIP, the best way to do this is to select the FRONT
output tray and when you are prompted, put it back to the Multi-Purpose Tray
with the already printed sides face up, without turning it to any directions
(just like placing a bunch of papers on a lower bookshelf) and press Continue
on the printer panel (press and hold "Alt" and press the "FORM FEED/Continue"
button). Select the TOP output tray to get your printout in the proper order.
Before FFP sends the data to the printer that is supposed to be printed on
the other side of the already printed pages, it will display the following
message to warn you that manual intervention is imminent:

      When the printer prompts you to "FEED LEGAL", place the sheets
      back to the printer tray and press the "CONTINUE" button on the
      printer's panel (if necessary).

Note, that (at least on the IIIP) the printer message "LOAD LEGAL" and the
message "FEED LEGAL" have different meaning, and you have to act differently
when they appear.

"LOAD LEGAL" means that your default paper size is different from what the
program requests and you must place legal size paper into the input tray.
When you have done that, press Continue (as described above) to allow the
printer to continue its work (it will assume that you have placed the right
size paper even if you put some other size paper in the input tray).

"FEED LEGAL" on the other hand will be the result of a printer command issued
by FFP, meaning that you have to put back the printed papers as described
above, because the other side is about to be printed.

Therefore, if you see "LOAD LEGAL" (or LOAD xxxxxxxx) that means that you are
supposed to put more unused paper into the input tray (out of paper), whereas
"FEED LEGAL" will prompt you to put your printed sheets back (feed manually).

NOTE, that other printers may prompt you differently. The above is true for
the HP LaserJet IIIP and may or may not be true for other printers.



SUPPORTED FILE FORMATS

FFP currently supports the file formats that I think are most widely used.
Note, that FFP will check the contents of every file to determine its type,
rather than relying on the name of the filename extension. Therefore, FFP
does not care, what the extension is. If the content of a file matches the
format of one of the supported files, and the data in it seems to be valid
(i.e. the file header and/or descriptors are correct), it will be printed.
Since most of the supported file formats have a rather unique descriptor,
chances are that only the good files will be printed if you select all the
files on your hard drive. If you want to be safe, your file specifications
should contain the proper extensions.

Generally, FFP is forgiving:

Erroneous files will be printed until an unrecoverable error occurs. FFP will
try to continue processing making intelligent guesses, when data errors are
encountered.

Erroneous TIFF files will be corrected, if contradictory and/or irrelevant
tags are found or the tags are written in random order or the 'value' field
of X and/or Y resolution tags contain zero, etc.

The following is a more or less detailed description of the supported file
formats.




1. Native OAFAX (.OAF or .IMG) file format

Yes, I realize that this is not a widely used card in North America, but as
the dealer said to me two years ago, it is popular in the Far East.
More importantly, I have an OAFAX fax card and a matching scanner...
Therefore it is obviously supported.



2. Native BITFAX (.BFX) file format

Since virtually all cheap (under $100) fax cards come with BITFAX, which makes
it one of the more widely used software, no shareware author can afford not to
support it. Therefore, here we go ... When you send faxes, BITFAX will create
a .BFX file, which will be sent and optionally saved. It is a good idea to
save these files, just in case ...

Note, that the horizontal resolution is always assumed to be 200 DPI and the
vertical resolution is always assumed to be 100 DPI. Since fine resolution
faxes are apparently not supported by either the fax cards or the software,
it is important to know, that they are considered to be long normal resolution
images. Therefore, fine resolution images will be elongated vertically unless
you specify the /Mx,y option where y = x/2.



3. TIFF (.TIF) file format

TIFF is one of the most widely used file formats, primarily used for black and
white (monochromatic) images (although it supports gray-scale and color images
as well). Most scanner and many fax software will store the images in this
format. Since today's faxed images are monochromatic, FFP supports only these.

These are the TIFF formats currently supported by FFP:

     - Type 1     (uncompressed)
     - Type 32771 (uncompressed)
     - Type 32773 ('Packbits' compression)
     - Type 3     (Facsimile-compatible CCITT Group 3, 1D)

Both Intel and Motorola formats are supported, therefore you can print images
that were generated on a Machintosh computer, without first converting them.

Restrictions: Only monochromatic images supported
              Only single-strip images supported

Notes: I plan to support multi-strip images and more compression schemes if
       there is a need for it, and gray scale and color images as well.

       Type 2 (a simplified Group 3, 1D) format is currently not supported,
       because the TIFF V4.2 documentation is a bit ambigious.

       Type 3 (Group 3, 2D) and Type 4 (Group 4) formats are currently not
       supported, partly because of the restriction regarding the number of
       strips, partly because I doubt if there is a need for it. Oh, yes,
       I do not have documentation on it, either ...

       Type 3 & 4 UNCOMPRESSED format is not supported, because I have no idea
       what kind of format that could be ...

If the Xresolution tag is not given or its value field contains zero, 200 DPI
horizontal resolution is assumed. If the Yresolution tag is not given or its
value field contains zero, 100 DPI vertical resolution is assumed.



4. PCX (.PCX) file format

PCX is a file format developed by ZSoft Corporation for the PC Paintbrush
product family. Because of its simplicity, it is very popular and supported
by most software that has to do something with graphics images (especially
with black and white images). FFP also supports monochromatic PCX files.



LICENSING

If you use the program for other than evaluation purposes, you MUST REGISTER
it. You must register as many copies as can be invoked or can trigger the
invocation of the program simultaniously at any given time, in any case, even
if the requests are processed sequentially or at a later time.

To make it more understandable:
If you put the program on a network (so that anybody linked to it can trigger
the invocation of the program) or you operate a bulletin board where people
can execute the programs and get the result in some form (but NOT the program
itself), or similar environments, you must register a copy for every terminal
that can be linked to the server at any one time. This terminal can be a phone
line or a connected computer or a computer terminal or any device that can be
used to trigger the invocation of the program. (For example: If you operate a
server which is connected to 5 local computer terminals and 3 remote terminals
via a phone line, and all of these connections can be active at any given
time, then you must register one copy each of the 8 terminals, plus 1 for the
server itself, unless it is a standalone server being unable to trigger the
invocation of the program, in which case you do not have to register a copy
for it. If the setup of either of the above mentioned servers is such that for
example no more than 4 (any 4 of 8) terminals can be active at any given time,
you have to register only 4 copies for the terminals themselves (plus one for
the server if it is not a standalone server.)

On the other hand, if you have a computer in your office, at home, and one or
more portable computers, you have to register a single copy only, provided
that there is no chance at any given time, that any two or more machines can
trigger the invocation of the program.

The usage of the program in the first (server) case is therefore analogous to
using the services of a library, where anyone can borrow a given copy of a
book (up to the number of books bought by the library), but cannot keep it
(has to return it to the library). In the second case, you buy the book for
yourself, and you can take it with you wherever you go (but you have only one
copy, therefore two or more people cannot read it simultaniously).

Evaluating the program is similar to browsing in a bookstore. You can read
parts of a book, look at the pictures in it, but eventually you will have to
decide whether to take it or not. If you decide to buy the book, then you can
take it home and read it as many times as you wish. However, you cannot take
it home for 'further evaluation'. Therefore, should you decide not to buy the
program, you must destroy it.


REGISTRATION

Registration of the program is highly encouraged. First of all, you will be
reminded to register your copy every time you invoke the program and on every
page you print (called 'bugging'). Secondly, the pricing had been setup in a
way that it discourages 'reinventing the wheel' instead of registering the
software. Thirdly, the program is REALLY useful and saves you a lot of time.

When you register the program, you will receive your registered copy or copies
(without the bugging messages on the screen and the printout), a receipt (for
tax deduction), and support. Even if you order more than one copies, only one
diskette will be sent (unless you state otherwise), registered under your
(company) name. In this case you can make copies of the diskette if necessary,
but you cannot have more copies than that could trigger the invocation of the
original or copied programs at any given time more times than the number of
copies you paid for.

The more copies you buy, the more discount you get. The additional copies will
be cheaper and cheaper. When you reorder (e.g. you add more terminals to your
server), the additional copies will not be priced higher than the last copy
you ordered. I call this pricing 'incremental'.

    1st copy ..........................................   $28
    2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th copy ...........................   $22 each
    6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th copy .....................   $18 each
    11th, 12th, ... 20th copy .........................   $15 each
    21st, 22nd, ... 50th copy .........................   $12 each
    51st, 22nd, ... 100th copy ........................   $10 each
    101st and each additional copy ....................   $ 8 each
    Price is negotiable over 200 copies

* All applicable taxes are included
* Shipping and handling of the first diskette is FREE for customers
  in Canada and in U.S.A., for each additional diskettes add $1.
* Please include $8 for the first diskette and $1 for each additional
  diskette for shipping and handling outside Canada and U.S.A.

For example, 70 copies will cost you $916 (only cca. $13 per copy!), because

    1st copy ..........................  1 @ $28       ....  $ 28
    2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th copies .........  4 @ $22 each  ....  $ 88
    6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th copies ...  5 @ $18 each  ....  $ 90
    11th, 12th, ... 20th copies ....... 10 @ $15 each  ....  $150
    21st, 22nd, ... 50th copies ....... 30 @ $12 each  ....  $360
    51st, 22nd, ... 70th copies ....... 20 @ $10 each  ....  $200
                                                  Totalling  $916

When you order 50 additional copies, those will cost you $460, because

    71st, 72nd, ... 100th copies ...... 30 @ $10 each  ....  $300
    101st, 102nd, ... 120th copies .... 20 @ $ 8 each  ....  $160
                                                  Totalling  $460

To ORDER, please invoke the FFPORDER.EXE program and follow the instructions.
Fill out the Order Form, when printed and mail to:

      Thomas Nagy               |     DO NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR CHECK
      46 McMorran Cr.,          |     OR MONEY ORDER to Thomas Nagy (me)!
      Thornhill, Ontario        |
      L4J 2T5    CANADA         |     Amount payable in US or Canadian dollars

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Comments and suggestions are WELCOME. You can attach these to your order form,
send to me by mail, or simply leaving me a message on Canada Remote Systems.
(CRS is Canada's largest bulletin board with over 8000 members and 100 phone
lines, so you should have no problem finding a phone number suitable to you.)
I will check my messages regularly and I will do my best answering them. All
comments and suggestions automatically become my property, to prevent anyone
from suing me for using his or her ideas, etc.



FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS

I plan to add support for more file formats, more options, friendlier user
interface (for DOS, OS/2 and Windows), subject to positive response (orders).
The most frequently asked enhancements will be implemented first, therefore
I suggest that you let me know what would like to see. Your opinion counts!



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Every name appearing in this document is a trade mark, registered trade mark,
some other type of mark, property and/or something else of their respective
owners.