On Sunday 13 September 2015 12:01:16 Lisi Reisz wrote: > On Sunday 13 September 2015 15:11:07 Gene Heskett wrote: > > On Sunday 13 September 2015 06:17:04 Lisi Reisz wrote: > > > On Saturday 12 September 2015 23:28:46 Gene Heskett wrote: > > > > The filter is primarily because in order for the current gs to > > > > print it, there needs to be a translation between a pdf and a > > > > ps. > > > > > > Thanks, Gene. But my question was why?? Why does it have to be > > > translated? > > > > > > Lisi > > > > GS, aka Ghostscript, back in v5 days, had a very good pdf level 2 > > renderer. It was also hell to compile, I did it twice on a big box > > amiga in the '90's. > > > > Somewhere along the line, someone decided the best way to handle the > > bloat was to excise the pdf stuffs from ghostscript and let it > > concentrate on postscript only. Hence the need for a pipeing > > filter, called pdftops, to translate and expand the pdf into > > postscript that gs understands. > > > > Both are random access file formats, but pdf uses a second lookup > > depth I haven't fully understood, and that must be translated and > > piped into gs as pure postscript. > > > > FWIW, a properly done Level 3 pdf is the ultimate file compression > > when applied to a large document. This particular file that > > generates a 740 page, with lots of graphics, manual is just north of > > 121 megabytes. By the time pdftops has unpacked it and sent it to > > gs, it is still quite conmpressed, but the translation makes about > > 546 megabytes that gets sent over the pipe to gs. The resultant > > data that flows down the cat5 (or the slower USB if your printer > > doesn't have a network presence) to the printer is probably in > > excess of 5 terrabytes. > > > > In the old days, I did not have a duplex capable printer, so I would > > command gs to make a file per page, then wrote an arexx script to > > send all odd pages to the printer, then when that was done, turn the > > pile over and then then send all the even numbered pages. But that > > filled up a 1Gb seagate drive , so had to be cleaned up if I wanted > > to do it to a different big pdf, else it was out of disk. > > > > But I had to make the arexx script check the file size, and if it > > was under 100 bytes, it was nothing but the setup and teardown for > > the page, so rather than send that file to the printer, which if it > > was sitting at TOF, ignored a formfeed, so I sent it a line feed to > > get it off of TOF position, then the formfeed, which would eject the > > desired blank page, keeping the printout in the order desired, even > > for a 500+ page document. Without that, the binding ditch was > > fubar. Thats the space at the left edge of an odd page, or the > > right edge of an even page where a wider margin is used so the 3 > > hole punch misses the text. > > > > I had an extended, and fruitless discussion with the gs maintainer > > at the time who couldn't conceive of a printer ignoring a formfeed > > if it was sitting at the top of the page already, but every Merican > > printer I ever had did ignore it including a couple Brother Daisy > > wheelers. Writing the arexx script was less hassle than trying to > > convince that person that he needed to add one linefeed byte in > > front of the formfeed. Sigh... > > > > Your daily dose of ancient ghsotscript trivia. ;-) > > > > Cheers Lisi, Gene Heskett > > > :-)) > > If the hard way will do, why use the easy way, eh, Gene. ;-) The > harder and more abstruse the better. :-) > > Lisi > My history at this computing thing goes back, way back. Software, except kpdf, has been fine tuned a bunch since those days 20 years ago. kpdf was the culprit, it can't handle ALL variation of a png that have ever been generated. okular and evince both work. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>