neotoppm

Generate the PPM image as output for an Atari Neochrome NEO file as input

$ neotoppm [path/to/file.neo]

$ neotoppm [[-v|-version]]

neotoppm [-verbose] [neofile]

-verbose
    Displays informative messages about the conversion process, such as image dimensions and color depth, to standard error.

neofile
    The path to the input NeoPaint .NEO image file. If this argument is omitted, neotoppm reads the image data from standard input.

neotoppm is a command-line utility from the Netpbm toolkit. It serves the specific purpose of converting proprietary NeoPaint .NEO image files into the standard Netpbm PPM (Portable Pixmap) format. NeoPaint was a popular drawing program, and its .NEO files contained raster image data. By transforming these files into PPM, neotoppm enables users to integrate NeoPaint images into the wider ecosystem of image processing tools. The PPM format, being a simple and widely supported intermediate format, allows the converted images to be further manipulated, viewed, or transformed into other common formats like JPEG, PNG, or GIF using subsequent Netpbm utilities or other image manipulation software. This command is particularly useful for preserving or accessing content from legacy NeoPaint projects.

neotoppm is designed specifically for the NeoPaint .NEO image format. It may not correctly process corrupted or non-standard .NEO files, which could lead to errors or unexpected output. The command exclusively outputs a Netpbm PPM (Portable Pixmap) file. To convert the image to other common formats (e.g., JPEG, PNG, GIF), further processing with other Netpbm utilities (like ppmtojpeg or ppmtogif) or external image converters is required. This tool functions best as part of a larger image processing pipeline, typical for the Netpbm suite.

By default, neotoppm reads the NeoPaint file from standard input if no neofile argument is provided. It always writes the resulting PPM image to standard output. This design facilitates piping output from other commands as input or piping its output to subsequent Netpbm utilities for further processing, adhering to the Unix philosophy of small, specialized tools that can be chained together.

neotoppm is a component of the comprehensive Netpbm image processing toolkit. The Netpbm project itself evolved from the PBMplus package, which originated in the early 1990s. neotoppm specifically became part of the Netpbm suite around Release 10.3 in July 2002. Its inclusion reflects the toolkit's ongoing development to support conversions from a wide array of image formats, especially those popular during its development period, allowing for broader interoperability and preservation of legacy image data.

netpbm(1), ppm(5), anytopnm(1), ppmtogif(1), ppmtopng(1)