GhostFriend a friendly front-end GUI for GhostScript

Current release May 2008

The archive GhostFriend.zip contains the utility (just one executable file!) that can be used as a batch processing GUI for GhostScript. To simplify the use of GhostScript for conversion of PostScript and PDF to various other formats.

Status:

Alpha, beta, ..... ( work in progress...)

Commercial: NO! (I made this for my own use - and it works fine for me). You may use it at your own risk. You are not allowed to make money by selling this program. NOBODY but me has distribution rights. The only places where you should be able to find it is where I placed it for download (currently: http://www.noliturbare.com/)

Features:

• Select as many files as you want and convert them to the desired format with simple mouseclicks
• Output to rasterformats JPEG, PNG and TIFF
• Output to mixed formats PDF, EPS
• Output to vectorformats WMF and DXF. Options for DXF output to polylines or lines; map colors to layers
• Output to printformats PCL and RTL. These can be written to a file or directly spooled to a printer; in the latter case the driverproperties are read and a warning is given if the selected type of driver is suspected to be incompatible with the selected outputformat
• Reorder the list of files
• Automatically determine pagesize by reading the bounding box; for PostScript files that miss pagesize info, but contain a Bounding Box comment (as in AutoCAD PostScript files)
• Merge PDF output, so you can make one multipage document from a group of single PS and PDF files
• Preset joboptions for PDF output ("distiller parameters")
• Use custom joboptions files (as in Acrobat Distiller, or Indesign) for conversion of PostScript to PDF
• Multipage PDF's can now be converted to multiple single page DXF (and WMF) files
• Set the orientation of the output
• NEW (May '08)Customize the command line and then run it
• NEW (May '08) -dDITHERPPI= option added for screening halftones

Limitations:

• As far as processing is concerned: limitations as imposed by GhostScript and pstoedit
• GhostScript has numerous outputfile possibilities; I have only implemented the formats that I need now and then.
• Encapsulated PostScript files must be without preview image.

Known issues:

• Scaling works only with files created with the Adobe Windows driver, AutoCAD PostScript files, and in the case of a multipage document only for the first page

Installation:

Copy the executable file "GhostFriend.exe" to a folder on your harddisk; this could be a new folder that you create for this program, or the binaries directory of GhostScript; for the current version of GhostScript this would be typically: C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.53\bin. Then make a shortcut on your desktop and/or in the Programs Menu. Double click on its icon to start GhostFriend.

To use the DXF output option, it is necessary to also copy Wolfgang Glunz' PStoEdit program files (actually the exe and the dll) to a location as suggested in the documentation of PStoEdit.

For RTL output a UPP driver is used. As the current DesignJets are capable of at least 600 x 600 dpi, I have modified the UPP driver at this point. This driver is renamed to "DNJ1050C.UPP" (reflecting what I am using it for); this file is also included in the zipfile and should be copied to the library folder of GhostScript; for the current version of GhostScript typically C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.62\lib.

Configuration:

In the menu "Configure" select the directory where the GhostScript program binaries are located (typically C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.62\bin) and the directory where the PStoEdit program binaries are located (typically c:\Program Files\gs\pstoedit). Check the "Show commandline" output option if you want to view the command line for GhostScript or PStoEdit.

Leave the "Show GhostScript program window" option checked if you are not 100% sure that all your files will be processed correctly by GhostScript.

Make sure that you have plenty of disk space, especially on the disk that will be used to store the processed files.

Usage notes:

To re-order the list of files (useful if the program is used to merge PDF files) just drag the little grey cells left of each row up or down. To order the list alpha-numerically: click or shift-click on the list's (gray) title bar

To use this program for conversion of AutoCAD PostScript, in AutoCAD's plotter configuration uncheck all options on the custom properties dialog and select EPS as output format

Note:

This program does NOT write in the Windows registry, nor does it place hidden or other sneaky files anywhere on your system. The only files it writes during operation are 1. an .ini file in the program's directory to store the settings 2. the outputfiles (using GhostScript, obviously, this is the function of this program), 3. temporary files at the same location as the outputfiles, when you have selected the scaling option ("Scale PS"). The temp file that is created for scaling purposes is simply the modified PostScript file that will be processed by GhostScript rather than the original file. 4. GhostFriend creates a subdirectory under the directory where it is placed; this is a container for custom joboptions files.

Support:

None, but comments are always welcome (use Contact in my FAQ section). If you want something special, let me know and I'll think about it. As I am not a PostScript or GhostScript wizard, your tips for improvement of my program or improvement of the use of GhostScript and PStoEdit are also very welcome.

Govert J. Knopper