Re: Printing Question

[txporter mindspring com]

On Wed, Oct 28, 1998 at 07:12:03PM -0700, Tim Hogan thoughtfully expounded:
> I have setup A HP5mp with a jetdirect card as my printer and it seams to
> print, however the margins are not correct.  This is a postscript printer
> and I have allowed printtool to create it's defaults.  The problem is that
> the top margin is incorrect.  If you print out a test page the top margin
> which is suppose to be .5" from the top of the page is only about .2".  I
> have tried to change the margin setting in the printtool, but that does not
> help.  If I had to venture a guess I would say it has something to do with
> ghostscript options.  Any ideas on how to correct the margins?
> 

I found the following post on Usenet a few years ago, and it has served me
well as far as fine-tuning ghostscript alignment goes.

Save everything that looks like a postscript document to 'gsclip.ps' and print
it, then follow the instructions printed on the form.

I hope it helps.

-- 
Tom Porter                                       txporter mindspring com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   "I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and
    violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi

Subject:      Re: Offset on HP printer
From:         "Dieter Stueken" <stuken uni-muenster de>
Date:         1997/01/07
Message-Id:   <5atqci$f9u majestix uni-muenster de>
Sender:       "Dieter Stueken" <stuken uni-Muenster de>
References:   <32D1422E 4C58C9CD rice edu>
Organization: Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Germany
Newsgroups:   gnu.ghostscript.bug

S. Scott Collis (collis rice edu) wrote:
: Is there a way to put an offset into gs so that the rendered image is
: shifted to correct the margins.

There should be an align.ps file to adjust the margins.
Adjusting the hardware clipping margin of your device
may be more tricky. Im using the page appended...
--
Dieter Stueken, Inst. f. Kernphysik, WWU-Muenster
        stueken qgp uni-muenster de
        http://qgp.uni-muenster.de/~stueken

%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Pages: 1
%%Title: Alignment testpage for Ghostscript
%%Creator: Dieter Stueken (stueken qgp uni-muenster de)
%%BeginProlog

/rectdraw               % <x0> <y0> <x1> <y1> rectdraw -
 { exch 4 -1 roll exch 2 array astore {0 moveto 0 PH rlineto stroke} forall
   2 array astore {0 exch moveto PW 0 rlineto stroke} forall
 } bind def

/arrow          % <ang> <x0> <y0> arrow
  { gsave translate rotate
    0 0 moveto 20 60 lineto -20 60 lineto closepath stroke
    0 0 moveto 0 80 lineto stroke
    grestore
  } bind def

/triangle {     % len ang x y
        gsave translate dup rotate exch
        0 setlinewidth
        0 0 moveto
        dup 0 lineto
        dup 0.98 mul dup 10 div lineto
        closepath
        gsave 0.65 setgray fill grestore stroke
        100 10 moveto
        100 100 2 index {
                gsave 0 -12 rmoveto 0 24 rlineto stroke grestore
                gsave 0 24 rmoveto 10 div 2 index neg rotate
                cvi =string cvs -6 -4 rmoveto show grestore
                100 10 rmoveto
        } for
        0 0 moveto
        0 10 2 index {
                pop
                gsave 0 -6 rmoveto 0 12 rlineto stroke grestore
                10 1 rmoveto
        } for
        pop pop
        grestore
} bind def

/round {dup 3 1 roll mul cvi exch div} def

/Show {  % print value or unfold array
        dup type /realtype eq {100 round} if
        dup type /nulltype eq
         { pop (-NULL-) show}
         {dup type /arraytype eq
          { ([ ) show {Show} forall ( ]) show}
          {=string cvs show ( ) show}
         ifelse }
        ifelse
} bind def

/Pval {         % key val, move down 1 line
        gsave exch
        gsave Show (:) show grestore
        150 0 rmoveto Show
        grestore
        0 -12 rmoveto
} bind def

/showtext {
 /S 80 string def
 { currentfile S readline pop dup (%END) eq { pop exit } if
   gsave show grestore 0 -12 rmoveto
 } loop
} bind def

/.knownget { 2 copy known { get true } { pop pop false } ifelse } bind def

%%EndProlog
%%BeginSetup

% you may try different settings here, but start with default settings first
%<<
%  /.HWMargins [8.5 38.0 10.5 12.5]
%  /Margins [-35 -51]
%>> setpagedevice
%

%%EndSetup
%%Page: 1

% printout all values

/Helvetica findfont
12 scalefont setfont
120 756 moveto

showtext
Current settings:

%END

[/OutputDevice
 /Margins
 /.HWMargins
 /.MarginsHWResolution
 /HWResolution
 /PageOffset
 /PageSize
] { currentpagedevice 1 index
    .knownget not {(-undefined-)} if Pval
} forall

showtext

Graphics alignment:

Let the distance in inches from the left edge of the page to the
vertical line be H, and from the bottom edge to the horizontal line
be V. You may define the alignment of your page to the paper by

        << /Margins [x y] >> setpagedevice
with
%END

gsave
/res currentpagedevice /.MarginsHWResolution .knownget not {600} if def
(        x = (1 - H) * ) show res 0 get =string cvs show
(, y = (V - 1) * ) show res 1 get =string cvs show
grestore 0 -12 rmoveto

showtext

If set correctly the drawn arrows should extend into the
papers corners (not the clipping corners). After archieving
that, you may continue with the clipping edges.

The clipping edges may be set by

        << /.HWMargins [ml mb mr mt] >> setpagedevice

where [ml mb mr mt] are the distances of the clipped edges of
your graphics relative to the papers edges (left bottom right top)
measured in 1/72 inches. The wedge shaped rules may be used to
define these values very accurately as its intersections are in
1/72 inches. Take the value at the cutoff point from the scale to
the next clockwise edge.

Start setting the margin values to all zero to see the natural hardware
clipping of your printer. You should then define the margins just as big
enough to keep the defined margins within your printers real hardware
clipping. This is archieved if you can see the thin line drawn all around
your defined margin. In addition the thin drawn arrows are just touching
the margin and should be totally visible.

When you put this settings into your inititializing file "gs_init.ps"
you may want to apply this setting to a specific printer device only.
Here is an example of a printer specific setup:

<<
  /ljet4 <<                   % make entries for some device
    /.HWMargins [16.0 13.2 13.0 11.1]
    /Margins [-132 -92]
  >>
  /ljet2p <<                  % and for an other devices, too
    /.HWMargins [14.4  6.8 14.5 17.5]
    /Margins [-60 -23]
  >>
>> currentpagedevice /OutputDevice get
.knownget {setpagedevice} if
%END

% get page size
currentpagedevice /PageSize get aload pop
/PH exch def
/PW exch def

1 setlinewidth
PW   0  0  0 triangle
PH  90 PW  0 triangle
PW 180 PW PH triangle
PH 270  0 PH triangle

% get clipping values
clippath pathbbox newpath

% show clipping box
gsave
1 setlinewidth % 0.65 setgray
4 copy rectdraw
grestore

/CT exch def
/CR exch def
/CB exch def
/CL exch def

% draw the alignment lines
0 setlinewidth
72 0 moveto 0 CT rlineto stroke
0 72 moveto CR 0 rlineto stroke

2 setlinewidth
1 setlinejoin
1 setlinecap

0 200 moveto 71 0 rlineto -24 -12 rlineto 0 24 rlineto 24 -12 rlineto stroke
34 206 moveto (H) show

144 0 moveto 0 71 rlineto -12 -24 rlineto 24 0 rlineto -12 24 rlineto stroke
150 34 moveto (V) show

% draw arrows into to the papers corners
1 setlinewidth
45
90 sub dup  0  0 arrow
90 sub dup  0 PH arrow
90 sub dup PW PH arrow
90 sub dup PW  0 arrow
pop %45

% draw arrows touching the clipping edges
0 setlinewidth
  0 PW 2 div CB arrow
180 PW 2 div CT arrow
-90 CL PH 2 div arrow
 90 CR PH 2 div arrow

showpage
%%EOF