Silly me! The -f is the correct option designed to specify the number of
patches.
Egg on my face.
I must say I found the answer here http://www.marcelpatek.com/argyll.php
/ Roger
From: argyllcms-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:argyllcms-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Roger Breton
Sent: 9 juin 2016 09:57
To: argyllcms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [argyllcms] Is generating an RGB target with less than 836 patches
possible with targen?
Looking at all the options, only the -f seems to be remotely related to what
I'm looking for but that's not it at all.
Sure, I can edit the generated RGB target to my heart's content and dispread
will honor it.
/ Roger