#	$Id: WHAT_AM_I,v 1.2 1999/02/18 21:15:15 andreas Exp $

WHAT IS APSFILTER
=================
					
APSFILTER is a lineprinter input filter for systems with a BSD-like
printing mechanism (lpd, /etc/printcap), that saves users a lot of work 
when printing different file types no matter whether compressed or not !!!

Additionally it enables non Postscript printers, that are supported
by the free (in the terms of the GPL) postscript emulator 
"ghostscript" (gs), to print postscript files !

With the new apsfilter Version 3.0 its now possible to print 
*compacted* documents directly without unpacking !!! 
The wanted packers/unpackers have to be already installed on your system.

 o Supported packers:

	BZIP2, GZIP, PACK, COMPRESS, FREEZE/MELT

 o Supported file types:

	Postscript
	TeX DVI
	Ascii
	Data (PCL,...)
	GIFF
	TIFF
	Sun Rasterfiles
	FIG
	PNM (pbmplus)
	HTML
	PDF

GENERAL FEATURES
================

	- support for monochrome and color PS and non_PS printers

	- customizeable by a system wide and a personal apsfilterrc file
	  ( /etc/apsfilterrc and $HOME/.apsfilterrc ). This file is now
	  well documented and so selfexplanatory ;-)

	- .apsfilterrc file lets you determine another dvi-file print program.

	- you can print compressed files without unpacking them first !

	- apsfilter comes with the installation script SETUP, that
	  does nearly _everything_ for you !

	- SETUP creates spool directories as needed and with sane permissions

	- SETUP compiles and installs the add on utilitiy a2ps

	- SETUP creates printcap entries, no matter whether you have a
	  serial or a parallel printer.

	- SETUP creates all symbolic links for you that are needed
	  to switch on or off certain filter features (color, monochrome,
	  skip filetype autorecognition, force filter to treat german
	  text as ascii text)

	- SETUP guides you more or less (;-) through the step, which 
	  of gs's printer driver to use ...
	  Note: its up to you to have a gs binary, which has all
	  drivers you need compiled in !!!!

	- SETUP allows you to install apsfilter for use with
	  real postscript Printers ! So apsfilters interesting features
	  remain no matter whether you use gs or not !

	- apsfilter knows about the following print METHODS:

		- 'auto':  determine file type automatically

		- 'ascii': treat file as an ascii file even if it 
			   seems to be a data file (german texts 
			   with ``Umlauten'')

		- 'raw':   print ascii files directly to the printer
			   without postprocessing (using a2ps and gs)
			   for fast listings !

	- apsfilter knows about the following a2ps FEATURES.
	  These are options user-customizeable by a $HOME/.apsfilterrc
	  file ! A template file can be copied from 
	  $APS_BASEDIR/template/apsfilterrc to $HOME/.apsfilterrc.

		- 1:  print 1 page  on one sheet with    header
		- 1n: print 1 page  on one sheet without header
		- 2:  print 2 pages on one sheet with    header
		- 2n: print 2 pages on one sheet without header

	- modified a2ps ! The page header now contains Filename and 
	  the username !!!
	
	- supports dvips' feature to include postscript files into 
	  TeX/DVI Documents (i.e. X11 screenshots using xgrab or
	  xfig images !!! The TEXINPUTS variable has to contain
	  the paths, where such PS pictures reside. We use 
	  xgrab 2.3 to produce such nices pictures from within the
	  X11 desktop.

	- No searchdatabase - updated via cron - anymore. Each user 
	  may modify his TEXINPUTS path in his own $HOME/.apsfilterrc
	  file !

	- apsfilter doesn't use tmp file. That saves space.
	  Only one exception ... compressed dvi files printed via
	  dvips.


Add on software that comes with apsfilter 3.0
=============================================

Be sure to compile the a2ps utilities in the src tree.

Without these utilities you cannot use apsfilter.

enhanced A2PS
=============

All filters after aps-20 use a2ps to print ascii files. I patched a2ps 
so you can select paperformat, print margins, filename and username on the
commandline instead of compiling it in. 
I mailed the diffs to the author of the package, but still received no answer.
Therefore alls apsfilter releases above aps-22 come with the patched source 
ready for compiling it. The diffs are also included.

CHARACTER SETS, GERMAN "Umlaute"
================================

Using a2ps' -8 option enables the printing of the ISO Latin Characterset.
So its no problem to print special characters ;-)
