How to use the Tektronix Phaser 540 Color Laser PostScript Printer

teklaser (imteklaserprint)

Description:

The Scientific Computing and Visualization (SCV) group of Information Technology offers this low cost, medium quality color printing service. This service provides high resolution (300 or 600 DPI), full color, continuous tone output on 8.5"x11" paper or overhead transparency. The printer is a Tektronix Phaser 540 Color PostScript printer which uses laser printing technology to generate good quality output. Pages printed weekdays between 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. may be picked up from the student graphics consultant in the Computer Graphics Lab (CGL) during normal Lab hours. The CGL is located at 111 Cummington Street, Room 203.

Specifications:

Making Prints and Transparencies using imteklaserprint:

The easiest way to access the new laser printer is by using the command imteklaserprint. Imteklaserprint will accept PostScript files and raster image file formats supported by the SDSC Image Tools. See man imformats for more information on any of the supported file formats. The maximum print area is 8.2"x10.6" (0.15" left and right margins, 0.18" bottom margin, 0.22" top margin). The printer defaults for raster image files are the same as they are for our other printers. By default, the printer will center and scale your raster image to fill the page and print in landscape layout. To print in portrait layout use the option -layout portrait. No reorientation or scaling is performed on PostScript files.

PostScript files we believe to be more than 5 pages in length will automatically go into a special queue, known as the long queue. If your PostScript file is thought to be more than five pages long, imteklaserprint will return a message informing you that you need to see a graphics consultant to arrange for your job to be printed. Note that our software can not determine the actual number of pages of your job and makes an educated guess. It is often fooled and we apologize if your short document gets sent to the long queue. We request payment in advance for these long jobs. You must see the graphics consultant within 3 business-days to have these jobs printed. All jobs left in this queue for more than the 3 business days will automatically be deleted and would then have to be resubmitted.

Using imteklaserprint, you will receive messages back in two ways. Initially, imteklaserprint will return messages to your console (see -quiet and -verbose options below). Shortly after imteklaserprint finishes, you will receive an email message back indicating what has happened to your file (generally it should tell you that your file has been printed and to pick it up from the graphics consultant). If this mail message indicates any errors with the printing process you should follow any instructions the message may give you and/or speak with the graphics consultant at the CGL.

Imteklaserprint Laser Printer Options

General Options
-copies num_copies   Print num_copies copies of your document.  If you try
                     to print more than 5 copies, your job will be sent to the
                     long queue.
-custom		     Print on custom paper.  Speak to the graphics consultant  
		     on duty at the CGL about this service.
-fullhelp            Display a long help message on the use of imteklaserprint.
-help                Display a brief help message on the use of imteklaserprint.
-quiet               Suppress querying the user to quit or continue.
-so                  Dump file to standard output, rather than printing it.
-trans               Print a transparency.
-verbose             Print messages to terminal at each major stage of the
                     printing process.

For Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) files only
-showpage            Adds a command to make sure the last page of a .eps
		     file is printed.  Use this with Encapsulated PostScript 
                     files which do not already have a 'showpage' command in
	             them.

For raster image files (non-Postscript) only
-layout portrait     Specify portrait orientation.  Landscape is the default
-no_resize           No automatic resizing of print to fit page.  If you print
		     a 600x1200 pixel image at 600 DPI (dots per inch) (default
		     printer resolution) it will cover an area of 1x2 inches 
		     on the page.
-origin x y          Specify where to place the lower-left corner of your 
                     image, measured from the lower-left corner of the paper
		     (in inches).
-scale factor        Scales height and width by factor. Width and height of
                     image are determined as if no_resize was used and then
                     multiplied by factor. (Example: -scale 2.0)
-xscale xfactor      Scales width by xfactor. Width of image is determined
                     as if no_resize was used and then multiplied by xfactor.
-yscale yfactor      Scales height by yfactor. Height of image is determined
                     as if no_resize was used and then multiplied by yfactor.
-xsize width         Specify the width of image (in inches).
-ysize height        Specify the height of image (in inches).

Laser Printer options for quality
-enhanced            Highest quality printing at 600 dpi. 
		     Default quality setting.
-standard            Good quality printing at 600 dpi. 
-fast                Lowest quality printing at 300 dpi.  Fastest speed.

Laser Printer options for color correction
(Note: Many of these options, particularly those for matching specific
press standards, are very esoteric and you will generally not wish to use them.
Only use an option if you understand what it is going to do to your image and
are prepared to pay for the resulting print. Also, see the Suggestions below.)
Commonly Used Options
-rawrgb              Use if your image specifies colors in RGB or HSV 
                     color models. Otherwise, converts all colors to RGB.
		     Default color correction setting.
-vivid               Adjusts CMYK colors by adding black to components.  Blue
		     appears less purple.  This mode produces the brightest
		     possible colors for transparencies.
-display             Attempts to match the colors on a standard display screen.
-monochrome          Prints a color image in monochrome grayscale.
-none                Performs no color correction.
Esoteric Options - Use only if you are sure it is appropriate.
-commercial          Used to match commercial 3M Matchprint proofs.
-euroscale           Matches the Pantone Process Color System Guide, 
                     Euroscale Edition.  Generally used to match European
		     press standards.
-swop                Attempts to match colors to Specifications for Web Offset
                     Publications.  Generally used to match U.S. press 
		     standards.
-rawcmyk             Converts all colors to CMYK. Use if your image 
                     specifies colors in CMYK.

Making Prints and Transparencies using lpr:

Imteklaserprint is available on all the SCV supported machines and some other machines around campus. If the imteklaserprint utility is not on your system, you may be able to use the lpr -Pteklaser and lpr -Pteklaserx commands to submit your PostScript files directly to the printer. However, you will only be able to do this if your system has been set up so that lpr on your system can access our printers. If you can not access our printers using lpr or you wish to have the imteklaserprint utility installed on your system, you should ask your systems administrator to contact us. The latest distribution files are located at options string" option to lpr. Examples are given below. If you submit a PostScript job which is determined to be longer than five pages in length, you must arrange to have it printed with the graphics consultant within 3 days or else it will automatically be deleted.

In all other cases, you should also receive an email message back indicating what has happened to your file (generally it should tell you that your file has been printed and to pick it up from the graphics consultant). If this mail message indicates any errors with the printing process you should follow any instructions the message may give you and/or speak with the graphics consultant at the CGL.

Cautions, Hints and Situations to Avoid:

All raster as well as PostScript files that produce any type of error messages will not be printed. If you submit a file with errors you will receive email telling you that your file contained an error. To avoid mistakes, please preview your files before submitting them. You may use ghostview to view PostScript files and ximview (or imview on SGIs) to view raster files. Note that this test is not 100% accurate as to whether your file will print but is is an excellent indicator.

Note that multiple copies contribute to total length. Therefore, if you print 3 copies of a 2 page document, your job will go to the long queue as it will be determined to be a 6 page job. This will happen using either the -copies num_copies option to imteklaserprint or the -#num option to lpr. If your file goes to the long queue, you will receive a message back indicating that you should contact the graphics consultant at the CGL to have your file printed. The message will come to your console if you are using imteklaserprint or by email if you are using lpr.

Some application packages require you to explicitly specify that you want color PostScript output. If you do not select this option, the package will produce a black and white PostScript file, even though you created the document in color. Check the documentation for your package to see if you must do something special to create a color PostScript file.

Finally, be aware that the colors on the print will never exactly match the colors you see on the screen. Sample prints are available for you to look at; speak with the graphics consultant at the CGL. Here are a few suggestions for achieving certain desired results.

Suggestions on using the options for Setting Color Corrections

Printing Objective or Problem                           Color Correction to Use
Overhead transparency presentations.                             -vivid
Blue colors are printing too purple.                             -vivid
Using PANTONE Colors.                                            -none
Colors should match computer display screen.                     -display
Colors should match a Commercial printing press.                 -commercial
Colors should match a European printing press.                   -euroscale
Colors should match a US printing press.                         -swop
Colors are too dark.                                             -display
Colors are washed out or faded.                                  -vivid
Print in grayscale.                                              -monochrome
Use simple CMYK conversion.                                      -rawcmyk
Use simple RGB conversion.                                       -rawrgb

Examples:

To print on the laser printer an SGI rgb file in portrait layout:
    cgl% imteklaserprint -layout portrait filename.rgb

To print on the laser printer a transparency of a bucgl image file in vivid color:

    cgl% imteklaserprint -trans -vivid img.filename

To print on the laser, in fast verbose mode with color correction to try to match the display, a GIF image file and to have the output image be 3" x 4".

    cgl% imtekpsprint -verbose -fast -display -xsize 3 -ysize 4 filename.gif

To print on the laser printer a PostScript file on a transparency using lpr:

    cgl% lpr -Pteklaserx imagefile.ps

To print on the laser printer 3 copies of a PostScript file using lpr:

    cgl% lpr -Pteklaser -#3 imagefile.ps
			or
    cgl% lpr -Pteklaser -C"-copies 3" imagefile.ps

To print on the laser printer a GIF image file on a transparency in vivid color using lpr:

    cgl% lpr -Ptekplaserx -C"-vivid" filename.gif
			or
    cgl% lpr -Pteklaser -C"-trans -vivid" filename.gif


Completed prints may be picked up from the student graphics consultant when the Graphics Lab is open - as posted on the Graphics Lab door. You can not directly access the printer at any time. Wait for the graphics consultant to get your printout from the printer and bring it to the consultants room in the Graphics Lab. Be warned, though, that even the graphics consultants can not access the printers except during the hours Mon.-Fri. 9AM-6PM. As such, if you send a file to the printer on Saturday, it will be printed but you will not be able to pick it up until Monday. However, if you were to print a file on Thursday, that file could be picked up over the weekend from the consultant.

Please be prepared to pay for your prints when you pick them up.

Prices: $1.00 a print on paper or $2.00 a print on a transparency.

If you want higher quality but more expensive color prints you should consider using the Phaser IISDX continuous tone, dye sublimation PostScript Printer.

While it continues to be available, you can also use our other low-cost printer, the Tektronix 4693D color thermal printer, for printing raster image files.


Document Name: teklaser
Author/Maintainer: Aaron D. Fuegi (aarondf@bu.edu)
Keywords: color, printing, teklaser, raster, postscript, laser
Related Man Pages: imteklaserprint, lpr, imtekpsprint
Related SCV Help Pages: tek, tekps
Created July 3, 1995; Last Revised August 31, 1995; Last Modified
URL of this document: http://scv.bu.edu/SCV/help/teklaser.html
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