Linux ELP (dated August 2018)
=============================

A short information about installation and usage.

Note: The full documentation is part of the ELP manual, and can be downloaded
      either from stethos.com/download or we suggest downloading and installing
      the full windows software. You may anyway need it later for forms
      generation.
      
This file does contain a short description how to
- install the software
- to get first results
- proceed with implementation


Installation:
=============

A) Simply copy the included files in any folder
B) All *.mac files need to be in lower case, otherwise the demos will not work.
C) Copy the ELPv11_?.Linux32 or ELPv11_?.Linux64 to ELP.Linux depending on your architecture
   Note: ELP is compiled against glibc 2.4, if that does not fit your needs contact our support.
D) Make the file ELP.Linux program readable and executable for everyone
   "chmod 777 ELP.Linux".
E) Enable all users to create, erase and read files in the installation
   folder. If needed, put the software and the *.pcl files in a folder
   with only read access for all users.


A simple first test of the ELP program
======================================

As ELP do not need and additional parameter for printing bar codes, try this
command for a first test:

./ELP.Linux Barcode_Overview.pcl test.prn

The file Barcode_Overview.pcl is a PCL file which does print some bar code
samples. You may open it with VI and see how.

On success, the result file test.prn should be larger than the pcl file.

Use LPR to send the file to any PCL5 capable printer.

You may directly print this file using the standard Linux pipe command:

./ELP.Linux Barcode_Overview.pcl STDOUT | LPR ....


How to install the software in your application:
================================================

In most cases the command is added to the standard printing command line of
the software:

[Installpath]/ELP.Linux indata, outdata ELP_Arguments | LPR ....

indata  A) Filename of incoming PCL 5 print stream, including path, or
        B) STDIN     This special "file name" name will advise the ELP
                     software that the incoming data is processed through
                     the STDIO input.
        C) $#        # is the program call parameter, so if the filename
                     comes in as the parameter 2, add $2

outdata A) Filename including path of the ELP output data, or
        B) STDOUT    This special "file name" advices the ELP
                     software to dump the data to the stdio output.
        C) $#        # is the program call parameter, so if the filename
                     comes in as the parameter 3, add $3

A typical example "/stethos/ELP.Linux $1 STDOUT | lp -d$2 -s"

The software calls the elp system stored in the path /stethos and passes the
incoming data in as a file in $1 (program call option 1). ELP dumps the data
via stdout to the standard unix lp command.


The next part describes only the most important command line arguments.
A complete description of the arguments can be found here:
http://stethos.com/elp-cmdline-options

ELP.Linux indata outdata [-dWorkingDirectory] [-cIniFile] [-o[i|o]]

-dWorkingDirectory  -d followed directly with a full directory path advices 
                       the ELP software, where to look for the macro files.

-cIniFile           -c followed directly with a full path plus file name of
                       the converter's command file name. This file defines
                       a huge range of additional ELP commands, like triggers.
                       The default provided file is convert.ini

-o[i|o]             Same functionality as iniFile commands DEBUG_INDATA and
                    DEBUG_OUTDATA which should be preferably used.
                    -oi  stores only the incoming data to in_data.prn
                    -oo  stores only the outgoing data to out_data.prn
                    -o   stores both data streams, all in the Working Directory.

Examples for program calls:

convert INfile.tmp OUTfile.prn
convert STDIN STDOUT < INfile.tmp > OUTfile.prn
convert %1 STDOUT -d/home/user/ELP-dir | LPR ......

The first 2 examples used on an UNIX platform perform exactly the same
action.


Further steps:
==============

Now it is time to read the manual. In general we propose the following
method for getting closer to the ELP system:

1. Install the W-ELP software, you may need it anyway in order to generate
   Form files. Those mac files can then be moved over for usage into the
   Working Directory, use lower case!

2. The windows software does come up with a full self-training, a lot of
   examples and finally the software behind is mainly exact the same.

3. If you want to change the iniFile, either use vi or any other text file
   editor or use the PPAdmin software of the windows installation. All
   commands are listed there, and especially the key ELP_COMMAND is
   directly syntax checked.

4. The W-ELP and ELP for Linux do have pretty the same functionality. The
   differences are:
   - Currently we do not support our Windows only PCL2PDF converter on Linux
     (however we can recommend a 3rd party converter if needed)
   - the key ARCHIVEDAYS is not supported.
   - INPORT an OUTPORT keys are not supported, you may realize them using
     shell scripts.

5. For integration hints within CUPS please have a look here:
   http://stethos.com/install-cups


For further help please contact:

stethos Systemhaus GmbH
Weimarer Str. 48
D-71065 Sindelfingen
Germany
Tel.   [+49] (0) 7031-860910
Fax    [+49] (0) 7031-871444
info@stethos.com
www.stethos.com
