From 5b631adfe4f061952a5d5a21efc1b768a7cf425e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: The_miro <amir@abdelbaki.eu>
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2026 10:49:27 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] implement txt2printr.sh to send ascii art to a parallel port
 needle printer

writes raw bytes to /dev/lp0 (overridable via PRINTER_DEV): resets the
printer with ESC @, converts LF to CRLF to avoid staircasing on raw
device writes, then form-feeds to eject the page.
---
 txt2printr.sh | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+)

diff --git a/txt2printr.sh b/txt2printr.sh
index d16956c..99f6a45 100755
--- a/txt2printr.sh
+++ b/txt2printr.sh
@@ -1 +1,26 @@
 #/bin/bash
+#
+# Sends an ascii-art text file to a parallel port needle/dot-matrix printer.
+#
+# Usage: ./txt2printr.sh [ascii-art.txt]
+# Env:   PRINTER_DEV - printer device node (default: /dev/lp0)
+
+infile="${1:-ascii-img.txt}"
+dev="${PRINTER_DEV:-/dev/lp0}"
+
+if [ ! -f "$infile" ]; then
+    echo "txt2printr: file not found: $infile" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -w "$dev" ]; then
+    echo "txt2printr: cannot write to printer device: $dev" >&2
+    echo "txt2printr: set PRINTER_DEV to override, or check permissions/parport module" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+{
+    printf '\x1b\x40'        # ESC @ - reset printer (ESC/P and IBM Proprinter compatible)
+    sed 's/$/\r/' "$infile"  # CRLF line endings, needed for raw writes to avoid staircasing
+    printf '\x0c'            # form feed - eject the page
+} > "$dev"