LWN: Comments on "a2ps 4.15 released"

a2ps 4.15 released

jch — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 19:09:13 +0000

> Thus, a question to the readers: what command line program do you use to convert text files to a printer format (PS or PDF, don't matter)?

A long time ago, I wrote Cedilla for exactly this purpose. I haven't touched it since 2012, but it still compiles on my Debian system, and I use it regularly.

Description: https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/cedilla/
Latest release: https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/files/cedilla-0.7.tar.gz
Git repository: https://github.com/jech/cedilla

a2ps 4.15 released

SiB — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 12:48:02 +0000

The output of yudit/uniprint looks better for me than paps. Maybe I am using the wrong options.

a2ps 4.15 released

jschrod — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:04:25 +0000

Thanks for the hint.

paps seems to be the next tool that I should check; and then pandoc.
Some tasks for the next weekend. ;-)

a2ps 4.15 released

jschrod — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:03:14 +0000

I always thought that using pandoc for that use case is like shooting with a cannon to a fly.

But if paps doesn't work sufficiently, maybe I should give it a try.

pdfnup &c are well known to me -- I'm part of TeX-Live upstream, being active in the TeX development community since 1982. But, thanks for pointing them out!

a2ps 4.15 released

pdewacht — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 14:41:08 +0000

"paps" (https://github.com/dov/paps) will work with UTF-8, but it's sadly lacking in flexibility compared to a2ps or enscript.

a2ps 4.15 released

jschrod — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 01:56:58 +0000

Thanks for the hint to paps; it's available in Debian, so I can try it out.

Sadly, enscript doesn't support UTF-8 either.

a2ps 4.15 released

jschrod — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 01:55:52 +0000

Sadly, enscript doesn't support UTF-8 either.

a2ps 4.15 released

mbunkus — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:33:03 +0000

Nowadays pandoc is my go-to for complex formats & paps for pure text (as in… not Markdown). Back in the day I also used enscript.

a2ps 4.15 released

joib — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 12:08:32 +0000

For something more modern I guess there's pandoc for text->pdf conversion, and then you can use various pdf tools for e.g. n-up conversion (e.g. pdfnup, pdfjam etc. in the debian/ubuntu package texlive-extra-utils).

a2ps 4.15 released

joib — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 11:23:01 +0000

Long time since I've needed to do this, but I recall using "enscript" for this purpose. Though looking at http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/enscript/ it seems the last release was in 2012, so it doesn't look especially alive either. No idea about UTF-8 support.

a2ps 4.15 released

jschrod — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 01:46:40 +0000

The real problem of this precious tool: No support for UTF-8.

I still use it, while piping my data through recode.

Thus, a question to the readers: what command line program do you use to convert text files to a printer format (PS or PDF, don't matter)?

Bonus points if one can can configure pagination.

Extra bonus points for syntax enhancements, as a2ps does, but I don't really need them.

a2ps 4.15 released

rsidd — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 07:39:36 +0000

I used this tool back when I used to deal with PS files, which I haven't for 10 years now. While it can read PDF it seems it only outputs PS still.

a2ps 4.15 released

giggls — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:18:00 +0000

I thought that this tool has been abandoned because of the lag of UTF-8 support.

However I am still using it occasionally piping my text trough recode before.