This package contains two programs, "fax" (a shell script) and "rtf2ps" (an Objective-C program.) About "fax" ---------- "fax" is a shell script that will let you fax files from the command line. It works by converting the file to PostScript, inserting some special PostScript comments into the file (destination phone number and so on) and submitting the document to "lpr" to be faxed. This script will also fill in the NeXT fax cover sheet of your choice if you wish. You can use this filter to fax plain text files (which will be run through "enscript" to convert them to postscript), postscript files, or rich text files. rtf or rtfd files can be converted to postscript via the "rtf2ps" program included in this distribution. With the right email addresses, you could even set up an email alias that could receive NeXTmail and fax it out to a specified phone number! (Left as an exercise to the reader, although I may get around to writing this script some day.) About "rtf2ps" ------------- rtf2ps is a commandline program that will convert rtf or rtfd files to postscript. It does this by creating a Text object on the fly and loading the rtf or rtfd into that object, and then asking the object to print itself. Various tricks are used to get the postscript code to go to standard output rather than the printer, and to allow this program to work at all, without a UI, even if nobody is logged in. We are all be indebted to Eric P. Scott who made this idea work via some amazing trickery. I merely took his code and fiddled with it to handle both .rtf and .rtfd files, and to output postscript on standard output. It really is remarkably clever in the way it fakes out NXApp into not caring that the Text object isn't actually in a Window. You can use this program together with the fax script to fax rtf files from the command line. For instance, rtf2ps MyRtfFile.rtf | fax -p 5551212 I have been told that rtf2ps doesn't handle RTFD files containing embedded TIFF images properly, but that it does handle RTFD containing embedded PostScript. I haven't had a chance to look at that yet. Both of these programs are completely free; please use them as you wish. If you like them, drop me and/or Eric (eps@toaster.sfsu.edu) a note and let us know. Please pass any bug reports or suggestions for improvement along to me. Steve Hayman February 10, 1994 shayman@Objectario.com
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.