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Obtaining Qplot Output On Imagen Laser Printers

Maybe you have access to an Imagen laser printer on which you would like to obtain qplot output. This can be done by using the ``-P'' option to qplot to have it generate plot(5) format output which can then be converted to a pic file and processed by pic and troff to generate the graph. The plot(5) format output from qplot is converted to a pic file by using the plot command with the ``-Tpic'' option to produce a pic file. This pic file can then be processed using the nmt command and specifying the ``-p'' option to have the pic preprocessor run. You will also need to specify either ``-Ti240'' or ``-Ti300'' depending on the type of Imagen printer you are using (``-Ti240'' is used with the ki and ei2 printers and ``-Ti300'' is used with all the other Imagen printers). The output from nmt is then printed using lpr's ``- n'' option indicating that this is troff output. For example, the command:

   $ qplot x=xfile,a  y=yfile,a  -P | plot  -Tpic |
     nmt.  -Ti300  -p  -  | lpr  -Pxi  -n

would cause a graph to be printed on the``xi'' Imagen laser printer.

If the graph drawn using the above command is too near the top of the page you can modify the above command to something like:

   $ qplot x=xfile,a  y=yfile,a  -P | plot  -Tpic |  (echo
     ".sp 1i"; cat -) | nmt.  -Ti300  -p  -  | lpr  -Pxi  -n

which sticks in the troff command ``.sp 1i'' before the pic commands for your graph. This tells troff to space down one inch from the top of the page before starting to print your graph.

For a helpful hint about sending graphical output to Imagen laser printers please read the article titled "Notes On Sending Graphics to Imagen Laser Printers" on page 6.

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