pbmtobbnbg

Convert a PBM image to a BitGraph terminal Display Pixel Data sequence

$ pbmtobbnbg < [path/to/image.pbm] > [path/to/output.dpd]

$ pbmtobbnbg [3] < [path/to/image.pbm] > [path/to/output.dpd]

pbmtobbnbg [pbmfile]

pbmfile
    Optional. The path to the PBM (Portable BitMap) image file to be converted. If omitted, pbmtobbnbg reads the PBM data from standard input (stdin).

pbmtobbnbg is a specialized command-line utility provided as part of the extensive Netpbm package, a powerful toolkit for manipulating graphic images. Its primary function is to convert a Portable BitMap (PBM) image, which represents a monochrome bitmap, into the proprietary BitGraph format. The BitGraph format was specifically developed and utilized by BBN (Bolt Beranek and Newman), a historically significant research and development company, for their dedicated monochrome graphics workstations.

This tool is invaluable for environments that require interoperability with legacy BBN hardware or software applications that exclusively support the BitGraph image format. Given the highly specialized nature of the BitGraph format, pbmtobbnbg serves a niche but important role in historical data preservation, archival conversion, or interfacing with specific older systems.

Operationally, pbmtobbnbg follows the standard Unix philosophy. If a pbmfile argument is provided, it reads the PBM data from that specified file. However, if no input file is given, the command gracefully defaults to reading the PBM image data from standard input (stdin), making it suitable for use in command pipelines. The resulting BitGraph-formatted data is then written to standard output (stdout), allowing it to be redirected to a file or piped to another command for further processing.

This command converts to a highly specialized and largely obsolete proprietary format (BBN BitGraph), primarily for historical BBN workstations. The input must be a monochrome PBM image, as the BitGraph format itself is monochrome. It is part of the Netpbm suite, so Netpbm must be installed. This tool has limited modern-day applicability outside of niche legacy system interaction or historical data conversion.

As with most Netpbm tools, pbmtobbnbg is designed to be chained with other commands using pipes. For example, to convert an image in another format (like JPEG) to PBM, and then to BBN BitGraph, one might use:

djpeg image.jpg | pnmtopbm | pbmtobbnbg > output.bbnbg

This demonstrates how Netpbm tools can be combined in a pipeline to achieve complex conversions.

pbmtobbnbg is part of the Netpbm package, a widely used suite of graphics file format converters and editors. The Netpbm project itself evolved from the Pbmplus package, originally created by Jef Poskanzer in the late 1980s. The existence of this command reflects the need to support various hardware-specific image formats prevalent during that era, such as the BBN BitGraph displays developed by Bolt Beranek and Newman. Its development was driven by the necessity to bridge between the standard PBM format and the proprietary BitGraph format for use on BBN workstations.

pbm(5), netpbm(1), bbnbgtopbm(1)