RE: DOCBOOK: Print books in book format

[Petr Prikryl <Prikryl at skil dot cz>]

Once you produce Postscript from any input, you can
transform it just before printing. However, the produced
Postscript must contain some information about the pages.
Good tools usually produce good PS. 

As Lassi A. Tuura mentioned, the pstools is a good set of 
command line tools to do the transformation. 
I did use them a lot -- until
we got the HP LaserJet 4050 Postscript printer with duplexor.
One of the drivers even let you do the similar actions
for any (not only Postscript) output using mouseclicks
(double side printing, more pages on one paper, even
the booklet A5 printed on A4 papers -- i.e. page reordering).
However, it is not capable to cut one big book to many
small booklets, say 20 pages each -- when you want
to bind them to the book in a classic way.

For MS Windows, look for cygwin package with pstools.
Then you can create batch files with commands like that
(for printing booklet on LaserJet 5):

psbook -q -s20 myDoc.ps | psnup -b5mm -2 >reordered.ps
psselect -o -r reordered.ps >side1.ps
psselect -e -r reordered.ps >side2.ps
del reordered.ps

You would probably create a batch/script file to do that.

Briefly -- recalled from my memory (check the 
documentation): the psbook -s20 reorders pages 
for as many booklets with 20 pages each as needed
(i.e. you always fold 5 sheets for one booklet, later).
The psnup -2 puts two pages to one (shrink).  The
-b5mm adds the 5 mm border.  The psselect select
odd pages in reversed order (-o -r) or even pages in 
reversed order respectively.  You should play with
arguments to adjust the commands to your printer.
It depend on how the printer feeder works and how
the papers are ordered in output box.

Then you send side1.ps to your printer first
(like "copy /b side1.ps lpt1), 
take the result pages, put it to the feeder again and send
the side2.ps to the printer.  You can also print
the PS files through Ghostscript/GSView if you 
do not have Postscript printer.

Read the doc for psutils. Try smaller amount of pages 
first for booklets to adjust the arguments correctly.

Regards, 
  Petr
-- 
Petr Prikryl (prikrylp@skil.cz) 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Stayton [mailto:bobs@caldera.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 9:01 AM
> To: Uten Navn; docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: DOCBOOK: Print books in book format
> 
> 
> On Sat, Nov 16, 2002 at 02:21:23AM +0100, Uten Navn wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Does any one of you docbook writers know how a docbook (or 
> other document) 
> > can be printed (on your personal printer) in a traditional 
> book fashion?
> > 
> > I'm looking for a solution where I get the printout 
> formatted such that the 
> > pages can be wrapped up like a ordenary book.
> > 
> > Ex: Print two pages on each side (A4 in my case) of the 
> paper. When the 
> > pages are printed I could use a stapler, old fashone thread 
> or something to 
> > bind the pages.
> > 
> > Any pointers, links or sugestions would be appreciated.
> 
> You want to search for imposition software that will
> work with Postscript or PDF files.  Imposition is the
> process of arranging pages on a press to print many
> pages on a large sheet, which is then folded, bound,
> and trimmed.
> 
> You would use the DocBook stylesheets (DSSSL or XSL) and
> tools to generate Postscript or PDF output and feed it
> into such software.
> 
> Some of the imposition software can reduce the pages, but you might
> get better results increasing the page margins yourself
> using parameters in the DocBook stylesheets
> to define the finished page size you want in the book.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Bob Stayton                                 400 Encinal Street
> Publications Architect                      Santa Cruz, CA  95060
> Technical Publications                      voice: (831) 427-7796
> The SCO Group                               fax:   (831) 429-1887
>                                             email: bobs@sco.com
>