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pjtoppm

Convert HP PaintJet format to PPM

TLDR

Convert an HP PaintJet file to PPM
$ pjtoppm [input.pj] > [output.ppm]
Read PaintJet data from stdin
$ cat [input.pj] | pjtoppm > [output.ppm]
Pipe into another Netpbm tool (e.g. to PNG via pnmtopng)
$ pjtoppm [input.pj] | pnmtopng > [output.png]

SYNOPSIS

pjtoppm [paintjetfile]

DESCRIPTION

pjtoppm reads an HP PaintJet printer file and writes a PPM (Portable Pixmap) image to standard output. If no filename is given, input is read from stdin.It is a quick hack that handles only the subset of PaintJet escape sequences needed to decode most raster images; it is not a full PCL interpreter. The resulting PPM can be converted to other formats by the rest of the Netpbm toolchain (for example, pnmtopng or pnmtojpeg).

INSTALL

sudo apt install netpbm
sudo dnf install netpbm
sudo pacman -S netpbm
sudo apk add netpbm
sudo zypper install netpbm
brew install netpbm
nix profile install nixpkgs#netpbm

CAVEATS

Only a limited subset of PaintJet commands is supported, so complex PCL documents may not convert correctly. There are no command-line options other than the optional input file. ppmtopj performs the reverse conversion.

HISTORY

pjtoppm was written by Christos Zoulas in 1991 and has shipped as part of the Netpbm package ever since. It references the HP PaintJet XL Color Graphics Printer User's Guide.

SEE ALSO

ppmtopj(1), pcxtoppm(1), pnmtops(1)