[PLUG] Postscript CD labels

[Keith Lofstrom]

Rich writes:
>    Has anyone created and printed cd-rom labels using OO.o or another linux
> app? If so, please share with me what application you used.

My Knoppix disk labels are hand-coded postscript with some graphics
lifted out of other postscript.  Zero dependencies, but pretty extreme.

In the best of all worlds, I would use a Postscript massage package
that could lift elements out of the postscript generated by Gimp or
another tool, replace text elements and graphics includes with 
editable variable fields at the top of the document, then place two
or three images on the printed page according to adjustable coordinates.
There are some things where editable text is far superior to a gui or
a form-based program, and Postscript variables are dead-easy to edit.

In general, most gui design programs are rather sucky in that they do 
not permit "late binding" of information in their output.  A program
that produces an editable "your name here" postscript output would
be good.  One that emitted postscript that could elegantly place blocks
of text (drop the font size if it does not fit) would be even better. 
Postscript is a programming language, and damned few tools make use
of that.  Repeated labels should be subroutines!

But to solve Rich's immediate problem, I would suggest building a
single label with gimp and print that.

Later, as time permits, experiment with wrapping the post-header,
pre-showpage portion of the postscript with a "/CDimage { gsave"
in front and a "grestore } def" before the showpage.  Then you 
can do something like:

/CenterOne { 203 580 } def
/CenterTwo { 410 207 } def
gsave CenterOne translate  CDimage  grestore
gsave CenterTwo translate  CDimage  grestore
showpage

...at the end of the program.   Tweak the centers of the labels (in
72dpi picas) to match the scale and offset of your particular printer.  

The biggest problem with labels is that different manufacturers have
different centers, and different printers have different offsets (and
slightly different scales).   Tweaking these in GIMP every time I changed
printers would drive me nuts.

But then, I already am crazy, so it might be best to ignore my advice. :-)

Keith
(currently in Charlotte, NC - visiting CharLUG tonight!)