DESCRIPTION:

Mpage is a program to reduce and print multiple pages of text per
sheet on a PostScript compatible printer.
It also has limited functionality to do the same directly with postscript
files.

The following are some of the files you should receive in the Debian
package:

     All.chars              Test file containing all ASCII characters
     Encodings              Directory with character encoding library files
     Characters             List of Postscript character encoding names
     Encoding.format        Description on how to create character encoding
                            library files
     Contrib                Directory with contributions by others
     Contrib/mfix           Fix to mpage that makes it work with ArborText

Msample prints a sample outline.  I used it for debugging the
placement of the layout.  It is also handy for other layout purposes.
It accepts all the arguments that mpage does, but does not print
files.

As a quick sample try:

	"mpage  mp_args.c"
or
	"mpage -8 mp_post.c"
or
	"groff  -man mpage.1 | mpage -2"

USING ENCODINGS:

Example supplied by Vassilis Virvilis.  To print Greek characters, use
the Greek fonts from http://www.csd.uch.gr/~lourakis/genscript/.  Both
enscript and a2ps embed the fonts in the generated postscript
document. mpage utilizes the printer fonts. Therefore you will have to
actually install the font for ghostscript.  To print the Greek
characters, use the following command:

   mpage -FCourier-ISOLatinGreek -CISO-8859.7 test.txt  > test.ps


USING MPAGE:

You will find that it takes a while on an Apple LW or Apple LW+ to
print 4 pages per sheet, It takes "a good long time" for 8 pages.
Reduced PostScript documents take a while too.  (A rule of thumb might
be 4 times as long for 4-pages-per-sheet reduction :-) On a QMS 8ppm
printer 4 pages per sheet is about the same speed and other forms of
"1-up" output.  mpage prints some timing information back from the
printer so you can measure the time required for full jobs.



ADMINISTRATORS:

As a printer administrator you should see the wish list for caveats
and information about future versions.  I still have work to do to
make mpage more "administrator friendly", but figured that I'd better
get what's been done out the door.



BUG REPORTS:

Mpage is supported but this is done in spare time. So please send in
bug reports, requests or other things related to mpage and once in
a while I'll release a version...
If you have a problem please send me a complete description of the
symptoms.  Please include the brand name of your printer, a copy of
the input file (especially if it is with PostScript input), and a
description of what to look for on the output.  If your printer has an
error log, please include as much of it as is revalant.  In general,
the more clearly organized information I have, the easier it will be
for me. And please do not forget to mention the mpage version you're
using. Also the output generated by your mpage might come in handy...



MAKING CHANGES:

Please, if you make any improvements, send them back to me so that I
can include them in future versions.  Also I would solicit comments as
to the usefulness, and effectiveness of mpage.  Let me know what you
like or dislike and feel free to ask any questions you have concerning
this mpage distribution.  Thank you!

-Marcel Mol
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcel J.E. Mol               phone: (+31) 015-3105252
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   | MESA Consulting BV
                                   | Networking and Unix Consultancy
                                   | marcel@mesa.nl
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 They couldn't think of a number, so they gave me a name!
                                -- Rupert Hine
