PSUtils, a group of utilities for manipulating PostScript documents, is now available on the RCS UNIX systems. Of the many utilities provided, perhaps the most useful are the programs for n-up printing, page selection, and page rearrangement into signatures for booklet printing.
A list of the main programs, with a brief description of each, appears below. Each program has its own man page with further information.
psbook Rearranges pages into signatures (for booklet) psnup Puts multiple pages per physical sheet of paper psselect Selects pages from a PostScript document, creating a new PostScript file pstops Performs general page rearrangement and selection psresize Scales and centers a document for a different size paper epsffit Fits an encapsulated PostScript file to a given bounding box
For example, if you would like to print a multiple-page PostScript document as a booklet on a two-sided printer, you can use a combination of psbook, which orders the pages to be printed in booklet format, and psnup, which allows you to print two pages per sheet of paper. If your PostScript file is called myfile.ps, the UNIX command to print it in booklet format would look like:
psbook myfile.ps | psnup -n2 | lpr -Pvclw -X duplex=tumble
The pages will be printed in landscape orientation, and the option duplex=tumble ensures that the back sides will not be upside down.
Note that these utilities are designed to work on PostScript files that conform to Adobe's Document Structure Conventions (DSC). The principle purpose of the DSC is to provide page independence, which allows the pages to be rendered in any sequence. In general, PostScript files created on UNIX are DSC compliant, whereas PostScript files created on Windows systems violate the page-independence requirement, making them incompatible with PSUtils. However, many Win95/98 PS drivers allow you to specify DSC compliance: in the Print window, click the Properties button, then the PostScript tab and select "Optimize for portability."
If you have any further questions about using PSUtils, please contact the consultants at the ACS Help Desk locations, or direct electronic mail to consult@rpi.edu.