FreeCheck v0.30.1, March 11, 2014
Eric Sandeen, <[email protected]>
James Klicman, <[email protected]>
Caleb Maclennan, <[email protected]>

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| READ THE "WARNING" FILE BEFORE YOU PROCEED! |
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WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS?
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I wanted a free alternative to MIPS/VersaCheck.  'nuff said.

REQUIREMENTS
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The first thing that you MUST have to be able to use FreeCheck is a
good Type 1 MICR font.  I have created one, called "GnuMICR" that I think
is pretty excellent - but it has not been well tested.  :)  There are also
commercial fonts you can buy, if that floats your boat.  See
www.bizfonts.com, for example.

You must also have either a PostScript printer, or a recent version
of GhostScript.  FreeCheck generates the check as a PostScript file.

Technically, you must also use MICR toner.  At a minimum, use a real
laser printer.

Also, you should use security blank check stock, not just plain
paper.

INSTALLATION
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    make prefix=/ install

CONFIGURATION
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On first run the program will copy the system default configuration file to
your home directory. From there you can edit it with your accounts and any
custom check styles or layouts.

Edit the file ~/.freecheck.cfg to add your account information, and define
any new check blanks or styles you want.   Take a look at the [Global]
section, too, to set things up for your system.  Pay close attention
to the MICR line specification instructions.  Most configuration instructions
can be found in this file.  If something's too confusing, let me know.

USAGE
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FreeCheck just prints a PostScript file to STDOUT.  That means that you
must either redirect it to a file, a printer, or a viewer (ggv accepts
a file on STDIN - I don't think gv does).

So, to print (assuming a PostScript printer, or GhostView filter):
freecheck.pl <options> | lpr

To view:
freecheck.pl <options> | ggv

To save a file:
freecheck.pl <options> > mycheckfile.ps

OPTIONS
-------
freecheck doesn't require any options, unless you want it to do something
useful.  By itself, it will print a couple sheets of standard checks
with a dummy account.

Type "freecheck --help" to see what options are available

For now, if you get tired of typing all those command line options, just
edit the defaults at the top of the main script.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
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FreeCheck is a Frankenstein-like combination of PostScript and Perl,
at this point.  The guts of the check layout are in PostScript, which
is embedded at the end of the Perl script.  This PostScript depends on
lots of variable definitions to decide what it should actually print.
That's where the Perl comes in - reading a config file, and generating
lots of lines of the type
	/foo {bar} def
which define what's shown on the page.