Trying to produce usable PCL from PDF

[Tony Wood]

Looking back at this it seems long - sorry. I hope it provides the information 
you need to assist.

Symptoms:
Submitting a landscape PDF file but getting the output landscape oriented on 
portrait page. Also trying to generate a file in PCL format (DEVICE=ljet3 and 
DEVICE-ljet4) produces output the printer can not deal with.

Ghostscript version:
GNU Ghostscript 7.05 (2002-04-22)
Copyright (C) 2002 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
 -g<width>x<height>  page size in pixels   | -r<res>  pixels/inch resolution
 -sDEVICE=<devname>  select device         | -dBATCH  exit after last file
 -sOutputFile=<file> select output file: - for stdout, |command for pipe,
                                         embed %d or %ld for page #
Input formats: PostScript PostScriptLevel1 PostScriptLevel2 PDF
Available devices:
   x11 x11alpha x11cmyk x11gray2 x11gray4 x11mono bmpmono bmpgray bmpsep1
   bmpsep8 bmp16 bmp256 bmp16m bmp32b deskjet djet500 laserjet ljetplus
   ljet2p ljet3 ljet3d ljet4 ljet4d lj5mono lj5gray cdeskjet cdjcolor
   cdjmono cdj550 pj pjxl pjxl300 uniprint ijs omni bj10e bj200 bjc600
   bjc800 faxg3 faxg32d faxg4 pcxmono pcxgray pcx16 pcx256 pcx24b pcxcmyk
   pbm pbmraw pgm pgmraw pgnm pgnmraw pnm pnmraw ppm ppmraw pkm pkmraw pksm
   pksmraw tiffcrle tiffg3 tiffg32d tiffg4 tifflzw tiffpack tiff12nc
   tiff24nc psmono psgray psrgb bit bitrgb bitcmyk pngmono pnggray png16
   png256 png16m jpeg jpeggray pdfwrite pswrite epswrite pxlmono pxlcolor
   bbox dmprt cdj880 ap3250 appledmp atx23 atx24 atx38 bmpa16 bmpa16m
   bmpa256 bmpa32b bmpamono bmpasep1 bmpasep8 ccr cdj1600 cdj500 cdj670
   cdj850 cdj890 cdj970 cfax cgm24 cgm8 cgmmono cljet5pr coslw2p coslwxl
   cp50 declj250 dfaxlow dfaxhigh djet500c dl2100 dnj650c eps9high eps9mid
   epson epsonc escp fs600 hl1250 hl7x0 ibmpro imagen inferno iwhi iwlo iwlq
   jetp3852 la50 la70 la75 la75plus lbp8 lj250 lj3100sw lj4dith ln03 lp2563
   lp8000 lq850 lxm5700m m8510 mgr4 mgr8 mgrgray2 mgrgray4 mgrgray8 mgrmono
   miff24 necp6 oce9050 oki182 okiibm paintjet photoex pjetxl plan9bm sgirgb
   r4081 sj48 st800 stcolor sunhmono t4693d2 t4693d4 t4693d8 tek4696 xes
   x11cmyk2 x11cmyk4 x11cmyk8 x11rg16x x11rg32x ljet4pjl lj4dithp dj505j
   picty180 pr201 pr150 pr1000 pr1000_4 jj100 bj10v bj10vh mag16 mag256
   mj700v2c mj500c mj6000c mj8000c fmpr fmlbp ml600 lbp310 lbp320 lips2p
   bjc880j lips4 lips4v escpage lp2000 npdl md50Mono md50Eco md1xMono DJ630
   DJ6xx DJ6xxP DJ8xx DJ9xx DJ9xxVIP AP21xx pcl3 md2k md5k stp lxm3200
   lx5000 lex7000 lex5700 lex3200 lex2050 gdi epl5800 epl2050 epl2050p
   alc8500 alc2000 cups cljet5 cljet5c nullpage
Search path:
   . : /usr/share/ghostscript/7.05/lib : /usr/share/ghostscript/7.05/vflib :
   /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts : /usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript :
   /usr/share/fonts/default/Type1 : /usr/share/fonts/default/amspsfnt/pfb :
   /usr/share/fonts/default/cmpsfont/pfb
For more information, see /usr/share/doc/ghostscript-7.05/Use.htm.
Report bugs to address@hidden, using the form in Bug-form.htm.

Where you got Ghostscript: Redhat Enterprise 3 rpm

Hardware system you are using (including printer model if the problem involves 
printing):
Printer: Kyocera FS3800
Computer:

Operating system you are using: 
uname -osrv
Linux 2.4.21-20.EL #1 Wed Aug 18 20:58:25 EDT 2004 GNU/Linux

Not using Xwindows
Not compiled by us

Environment variables:

GS_DEVICE
GS_FONTPATH
GS_LIB
GS_OPTIONS

All appear not to be set.

Command line used:
/usr/bin/gs -q -dBATCH -dPARANOIDSAFER -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=ljet4 
-sOutputFile=ERAFormL.pcl ERAFormL.pdf

I don't have anywhere to host the PDF file. If you would like a copy ask and I 
can email to you as it's not very big.
-r--r--r--    1 tonyw    era          7959 Nov 10 10:16 ERAFormL.pdf

Other Comments:
The PDF is generated by our software.

Both the Linux box and my PC can print to the same Kyocera - networked.

If I try sending the result of the above command to the printer the printer 
produces several pages of unreadable smear with the occasional readable but 
non-sensical characters.

I have tested the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader and it prints OK. I have 
also used gsview on my PC. This shows the file correctly but prints it with the 
incorrect orientation when using the windows gdi drivers. If I use the 
ghostscript driver ljet3/ljet4 it produces the same/similar unreadable rubbish 
extending across several pages.

If I throw the PDF file at the printer through CUPS it works! (although the 
scaling needs tweaking). This is not a practical solution as I also need to 
send escape sequences and prescribe commands from other jobs to the printer. I 
can get PCL files from other sources to work without a problem.

To summarise: two problems
1) The orientation of the PDF page is not correctly applied in ghostscript
2) The PCL generated is not usable to a printer capable of printing PCL.

Any suggestions, I am working to a deadline.

Regards,

Tony Wood,
 
Senior Analyst Programmer
Reynolds & Reynolds
 
ph:  61 3 9535 2222
fax: 61 3 9535 2281
 
www.reynolds.com.au
www.partsales.com.au
www.carservice.com.au
www.carsales.com.au