TIFF2FAX(8C)

💖 TIFF2FAX — like, the TIFF glow-up station 💖

okay bestie, you found the TIFF2FAX(8C) page, section 8C, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

tiff2fax — converts TIFF for facsimile transmission by HylaFAX, no cap 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/var/spool/hylafax/bin/tiff2fax [ options ] file

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so bin/tiff2fax takes your TIFF input and generates a TIFF Class F image file that's suitable for facsimile transmission. iconic behaviour honestly 👑

it's usually invoked by the HylaFAX scheduler process, faxq(8C). and the default implementation? it uses the tiffcheck(8C) program plus tools from the freely available TIFF software distribution to actually implement the conversion operations. teamwork makes the dream work fr fr 🫶

this script can also modify outgoing facsimile — like, watermarking and stuff ✨ to do that, you create a shell script etc/FaxModify in the spooling area that alters the document. that's the whole vibe.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

here's the roster of operations it recognizes, and yes we're going through every single one because nobody gets left behind:

• -1 — write Group 3 1D-encoded data to the output file ⭐
• -2 — write Group 3 2D-encoded data to the output file ⭐
• -3 — write Group 4 MMR-encoded data to the output file ⭐
• -color — write color data to an output file. lowkey important detail: this might be a separate file if Group 3 or Group 4 data is also being output 🌈
• -i jobid — how the server references the associated Job ID number 🏷️
• -m pages — set the maximum number of pages that are permitted in the output file. if more pages are present in the input document, then abort processing. like, hard stop 💀
• -o file — write output to the specified file instead of the default foo.tif filename 📁
• -w width — set the output page width, in pixels. by default, pages are 1728 pixels wide 📏
• -l length — set the output page length in millimeters. by default, pages are 297 millimeters long 📐
• -r vres — set the vertical resolution, in lines/inch, at which to image the POSTSCRIPT 🔍
• -S — Simple mode. serves as a format conversion interface for RTFCC in faxsend to utilize /usr/bin/tiffcp 🧚

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🗂️ FILES 🗂️

the little support squad, in order:

• /usr/bin/tiffcheck — TIFF file conversion examiner 🔎
• /var/spool/hylafax/bin/ps2fax — POSTSCRIPT RIP for doing complicated conversions 🖨️
• /usr/bin/tiffcp — for converting compression schemes 🔄
• /usr/bin/tiff2ps — for colorspace and/or image size conversions 🎨

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😭 BUGS 😭

okay so, the not-so-great parts, and I'm telling you straight:

conversions that require re-imaging and resizing may result in images that are poorly placed on the page. it's giving chaos, bestie 🙈

and there is no way to control how images are treated when they are resized; e.g. the original aspect ratio is not always maintained. so yeah, expect some squish. 🫠

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

sendfax(1), faxq(8C), hylafax-server(5F) — go read those next, iykyk 💜

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and that's the whole page, periodt 🎀 this one's from the HylaFAX source, dated May 12, 1996 — yeah, she's vintage, and she ATE. mwah 💋✨