add ruler mode to pagetest.sh for exact chars-per-line calibration

Repeating-digit and prefixed-number test lines make it hard to read
off exactly where a printer truncates a line. `./pagetest.sh ruler`
prints a single line marking every 10th column with its tens digit
and every 5th with '+', so the real cutoff column can be read directly
off the page instead of estimated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
master
Amir Alexander Abdelbaki 2026-07-14 10:28:33 +02:00
parent a7d5b9d1bc
commit 063626d150
1 changed files with 45 additions and 21 deletions

View File

@ -1,34 +1,58 @@
#!/bin/bash
#
# Generates a page-break diagnostic file: numbered lines padded with '#' to
# a fixed width, so you can see exactly where a printer's real page length
# and line width limits are instead of guessing from paper geometry.
# Generates printer diagnostic files, so you can read a printer's real page
# capacity straight off the paper instead of guessing from paper geometry.
#
# Usage: ./pagetest.sh [width] [lines]
# width - characters per line, including the "NNN " prefix (default 64)
# lines - number of lines to generate (default 100)
# Usage:
# ./pagetest.sh [width] [lines] - numbered lines padded with '#', to find
# a printer's real lines-per-page (the
# last line number printed on page 1)
# (default width=64, lines=100)
# ./pagetest.sh ruler [width] - a single long ruler line marking every
# 10th column with its tens digit and
# every 5th with '+', to find a
# printer's real chars-per-line exactly
# (default width=200)
#
# Print the result with PRINTER_A4=false in printer.conf (no rotation), so
# the line numbers read straight off the page:
# Print the result with PRINTER_A4=false in printer.conf (no rotation):
# ./txt2printr.sh pagetest.txt
dir="$(dirname "$0")"
width="${1:-64}"
lines="${2:-100}"
outfile="$dir/pagetest.txt"
awk -v width="$width" -v lines="$lines" '
BEGIN {
for (i = 1; i <= lines; i++) {
prefix = sprintf("%03d ", i)
fill = width - length(prefix)
if (fill < 0) fill = 0
line = prefix
for (j = 0; j < fill; j++) line = line "#"
if [ "$1" = "ruler" ]; then
width="${2:-200}"
awk -v width="$width" '
BEGIN {
line = ""
for (i = 1; i <= width; i++) {
if (i % 10 == 0) line = line (int(i / 10) % 10)
else if (i % 5 == 0) line = line "+"
else line = line "-"
}
print line
}
}
' > "$outfile"
' > "$outfile"
echo "Wrote a $width-char ruler line to $outfile"
echo "Every 10th column is marked with its tens digit (column 40 -> '4',"
echo "column 100 -> '0'), every 5th with '+'. Read off the last marker"
echo "that fully prints to get your printer's exact chars-per-line."
else
width="${1:-64}"
lines="${2:-100}"
awk -v width="$width" -v lines="$lines" '
BEGIN {
for (i = 1; i <= lines; i++) {
prefix = sprintf("%03d ", i)
fill = width - length(prefix)
if (fill < 0) fill = 0
line = prefix
for (j = 0; j < fill; j++) line = line "#"
print line
}
}
' > "$outfile"
echo "Wrote $lines lines x $width chars to $outfile"
fi
echo "Wrote $lines lines x $width chars to $outfile"
echo "Print it with: PRINTER_DEV=/dev/lp0 \"$dir/txt2printr.sh\" \"$outfile\""