NAME¶
cd-circleprint - create a round label for a CD
SYNOPSIS¶
- cd-circleprint [option[=value..]] FILE
DESCRIPTION¶
cd-circleprint prints two round labels for CDs. It uses up to four lines of text
for each label, this is printed in arcs so the text can be much longer than if
it were in straight lines. There are four additional straight text fields for
each label.
The output is in PostScript, this should work on most systems.
You can select the font, size, and colour of the text for each field separately,
and you can choose the background colour for each label. An image file in EPS
format may also be used as a background. If you wish more complicated
backgrounds or colour effects you can save a label and modify it in any
graphic program which can read PostScript.
OPTIONS¶
- --config
- Alternative configuration file.
- --debug
- Enable debuggging mode, various information is printed to
standard output.
- --version
- Print version number and exit successfully.
LAYOUT¶
All layout is done in PostScript, this should work on most systems.
The result of the layout are two cd-labels on one sheet of paper. On each label
there are two convex and two concave lines of text. If you have a very long
line of text, you can use only one line and make it longer. There are no
limits to the length of text. However, after 360 degrees the ends of the text
will overlap.
There are also four text fields on each label with normal horizontal lines of
text. These text fields are specified in clockwise order: above, right, below,
and left of the central hole.
The colours are done in the RGB-model of PostScript, you can choose them for
each line and the background of the label independently.
You can move the circles around the sheet to fit them on most types of
label-sheets.
You can also squeeze or stretch the whole thing to correct small errors of your
printer.
USAGE¶
After starting the program you see sixteen text-entry fields divided into two
blocks. The upper block is for the arcs, the lower block is for the straight
text fields.
Each label has four text fields and four arcs.
The first two lines are for the upper arcs on the label and the last two for the
lower arcs.
Write your text in the fields (support for cddb is on the TODO list)
The Save Image menu item creates a postscript file of the label. A file
selection dialogue is displayed so the user can specify the path and filename.
Font attributes and colours can be changed interactively using a dialog
available from the menu.
- Shortcuts
-
Control-l: write the label to /tmp
Control-p: preview the label
Control-q: quit
Control-s: save the configuration
- File Menu
- New
- Start a new label, all label fields are cleared and
parameters are reset to default values.
- Open
- A file selection dialog is displayed so that the user can
select a label data file which is then used to set the label values.
- Save
- The current label data values are saved using the current
filename.
- Save As
- A file selection dialog is displayed and the current label
data values are saved to the file specified by the user.
- Load Form Data
- Load Form (Paper Layout) data from a specified file.
- Save Form Data
- Save Form Data to a specified file.
- Save Image
- Save an image of the labels as a specified Postscript
File.
- Preview
- Launch the predefined preview appplication to preview the
labels.
- Exit
- Exit the program, all unsaved data will be lost.
- Format Menu
- Fonts & Colours
- Change font family, font size, font-colour and the
background colour interactively, all changes should take effect
immediately in the text entry fields.
Note, perl-tk uses the nearest match for the font. The labels may look
different on your printer.
- Angle
- Sets the angle by which the centre of the text arcs are
offset.
- Radii
- Specify the size of the label inner circle and the radii of
the text circles.
- Page Deformation
- Some printers do not work correctly with circles and
produce an ellipse, you can squeeze or stretch the whole page to get
perfect circles with your printer.
- Positions
- You can move the circles around the page using this
menu.
- Top Label / Bottom Label
- Select which labels will be generated. The input fields for
unselected labels are disabled.
- Tickmarks
- There are many cd-label sheets on the market, so you can
move the circles around the page. To make this easier, you can print some
tickmarks on the page to measure the distances. If you have the correct
values, you don't need these tickmarks any more and can save some
ink.
- Circle Boundaries
- This allows the user to turn off the printing of the
circles which show the boundaries of the labels.
- Graphics
- You can put an image on the label. This image currently has
to be in eps-format.
I thought about automatic scaling, but the program would have to know the
real size of the visible part of the graphic instead of just the bounding
box.
The scaling and shifting should be self-explanatory. The program gets the
bounding box of the eps image and puts the image in the middle of the
label.
- Options Menu
- Previewer
- Select the application to use for previewing the
labels.
- Graphics Converter
- Select the application to use for converting graphics to
eps format.
- Load Options
- Load program options from configuration files, this is
useful to reset the configuration to a known state.
- Save Options
- Save the current program configuration to either the user
specified configuration file or to the default file if the user did not
specify one.
- Help Menu
- Help
- Display this man page.
- About
- Display program version, description and copyright
information.
CONFIGURATION¶
You can save your configuration in a file in your $HOME or ask your sysadmin to
create a global configuration-file.
FILES¶
There is a global configuration file /etc/cd-circleprint.conf and a local
configuration file $HOME/.cd-circleprint.conf
You can specify a configuration file on the command line in which case the
default configuration file settings can be overridden. For the format of the
configuration files take a look at them. Comments start with a # and blank
lines are ignored.
The program sets its internal default values, looks for the global configuration
file, then for the local configuration file and finally for a user specified
file.
Label data is read from a similar format file either specified on the command
line or selected from a file dialog.
BUGS¶
There are probably many bugs, please fix them and send me a patch. Thanks
AUTHORS¶
cd-circleprint is written and maintained by Colin Tuckley
<colintu@users.sourceforge.net> cd-circleprint was originally written by
Matthias Kabel <matthias.kabel@tyche.de>
You can find the latest version at
http://cd-circle-print.sourceforge.net
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.
Thanks to sourceforge.net for hosting free software