Printing PDF documents on OpenVms 7.3-2

[Avia Gaetz]

Hello.
We need a simple way to print PDF documents on the OpenVms system.
Is there and simple way ? using : Print/Queue ?

Thanks
Avia

[Hein van den Heuvel]

Google, or search the OpenVMS freeware, for GHOSTSCRIPT or GHOSTVIEW.

Also, there was a recent announcement for an itanium port of that on www.openvms.org.

hth,
Hein.

[Avia Gaetz]

I'm looking for an automatic process. So I can send a command from and application.

Thanks

[John Abbott_2]

Assuming your files are in PDF format and that you have printer queues already set-up with printers that accept PDF files... you could amend your app to issue a LIB$SPAWN command which could contain a carefully constructed DCL command to print the output required to the queue selected within the app. Downsides (amonst other things) are having to maintain a list of printer queues within your app.

Just one idea.

Regards,
John.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

As Hein said, Ghostcript can convert formats. So, it can convert PDF to PS (postscript). And postscript is accepted by most printers.

Only pitty that the command syntax of GS is hard to learn.

Wim

[John Abbott_2]

There is an up to date version of GHOSTSCRIPT shown here

http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=06/08/16/6936194

(I had problems with the 8.11 version)

J.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Here is an example. Horrible syntax. Bad error handling. Note the ps devices.

$ mc sys$common:[gs.bin]gs.exe_axp -help
AFPL Ghostscript 8.11 (2003-08-16)
Copyright (C) 2003 artofcode LLC, Benicia, CA. All rights reserved.
Usage: gs [switches] [file1.ps file2.ps ...]
Most frequently used switches: (you can use # in place of =)
-dNOPAUSE no pause after page | -q `quiet', fewer messages
-gx page size in pixels | -r pixels/inch resolution
-sDEVICE= select device | -dBATCH exit after last file
-sOutputFile= select output file: - for stdout, |command for pipe,
embed %d or %ld for page #
Input formats: PostScript PostScriptLevel1 PostScriptLevel2 PostScriptLevel3 PDF
Default output device: x11
Available devices:
bbox bit bitcmyk bitrgb bj10e bj200 bjc600 bjc800 cdeskjet cdj550
cdjcolor cdjmono deskjet djet500 epswrite faxg3 faxg32d faxg4 jpeg
jpeggray laserjet ljet2p ljet3 ljet3d ljet4 ljet4d ljetplus nullpage pbm
pbmraw pcx16 pcx24b pcx256 pcxcmyk pcxgray pcxmono pdfwrite pgm pgmraw
pgnm pgnmraw pj pjxl pjxl300 pkm pkmraw pksm pksmraw png16 png16m png256
pngalpha pnggray pngmono pnm pnmraw ppm ppmraw psgray psmono psrgb
pswrite pxlcolor pxlmono tiff12nc tiff24nc tiffcrle tiffg3 tiffg32d
tiffg4 tifflzw tiffpack uniprint x11 x11alpha x11cmyk x11gray2 x11gray4
x11mono
Search path:
[] , GS_LIB
For more information, see GS_DOC:Use.htm.
Report bugs to bug-gs@ghostscript.com, using the form in Bug-form.htm.

$ mc sys$common:[gs.bin]gs.exe_axp "-dNOPAUSE" "-sOutputFile=wim.ps" "-sDEVICE=psmono" "-q" howtovmstolinux.pdf
GS> Exit

$ ty/pa wim.ps

%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Pages: (atend)
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 595 842
%%HiResBoundingBox: 0.000000 0.000000 594.959999 841.920021
%%Creator: AFPL G
hostscript 811 (psmono)

[Pim van Velzen]

Some of the HP printers (e.g. CLJ 9500)have 'Direct PDF' functionality, which means that you can simply send the PDF-document to the printer (using LPD or FTP) and it will process and print it.

Note that the PDF-document will be printed 'as is', like it is generated; no rescaling and all other stuff that can be done when printing from Acrobat on Windows.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Found this nice article on PS and PDF.
http://www.adobe.com/print/features/psvspdf/index.html

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Not on subject but I just discovered

$ convert/doc

which can convert e.g. text to ps.

Wim