JMultPags' manual

Introduction:

Hi, welcome to JMultPags' manual. As this is an small and simple program, this manual won't be too long (at least, I hope so).



Installation:

Once you've downloaded the .tar.gz file, you only need to extract them to wherever you want to have the sources, for example:

bash$  cd /tmp   bash$  mkdir temporary_folder   bash$  cd temporary_folder   bash$  cp file_you_downloaded.tar.gz .   bash$  gunzip file_copied.tar.gz   bash$  tar -xf file_copied.tar   bash$  cd JMultPags        #now let's compile the sources   bash$  cd src   bash$  javac -d ../classes jmpage/*.java        # now you have the binaries in the classes directory.        # simply login as root and proceed to install   bash$  su        # type in your password   bash$  cd ..   bash$  ./install.sh

If there's no error... perfect! You've got the program installed.
To try it, simply type: "jmultpags" and the program should start and show a window similar to the following one:




Parameters' explanation:
On this main screen you might choose several options:

• psnup location: simply choose where JMultPags can find this program. If you don't have it, download from the author's website.
• lp location: lpd is maybe the most common printing daemon in the Linux world. Simply choose where the program can find the client (lp).
• number of pages per sheet: the number of pages you want to print in each sheet of paper.
• paper size: you can choose from  the most common paper sizes (like A4, folio, etc.).
• sheet margin: the extra margin that will be forced around the entire sheet (for my printer a margin of 20 is perfect).
• pages margin: the margin around each particular page of the sheet (if you have multiple pages per sheet).
• printer: here will appear a list with your printers. The program reads /etc/printcap and /etc/printcap.local files. It works for me, but I'm not sure if it's right. If you have any problems, please contact the forum.
• file to print: the most important parameter. This is the file you want to print.
• show page border: if printing multiple pages per sheet, maybe you want to see a border around each one of them. If so, check this box.
• borderline width: the width of the line.

Printing from other programs:

If you call jmultpags with a --input commandline parameter, you'll tell the program to print whatever comes from it's standard input.

With this option you can use jmultpags in a pipelined commad like:

bash$ cat /tmp/file.ps | jmultpags --input

And, more important (at least, for me) you can use it to print from other programs!
Let's see an example. Suppose you want to use jmultpags to print from Mozilla. You just need to go to File-->Print-->Properties and in the Print command textfield type:

                            jmultpags --input

Now, when you print a webpage, the jmultpags dialog will open and let you choose comfortably your printing settings.


Let's see now how to configure it to work from OpenOffice.

Simply open the OpenOffice's printer setup and press "New printer". In the next dialog choose "Add printer" and "Generic printer" when prompted. In the dialog where you are asked for a command to print, simply type "jmultpags --input". Now give a name to this printer, choose it as default and you're ready to print throught this wonderful program.