Alladin's Ghostscript option for PDF Distiller

Andrew Parker · Post by **Andrew Parker** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 8:17 am

I am responding to Mike Everman's post in the pulsejet forum regarding pdf distillers. For those of us who are particularly thrifty, Alladin's Ghostscript package is a free alternative to Adobe. PDF output is a bit of a workaround, but not annoyingly so. If you are adept at figuring out software without a training seminar, you will probably enjoy working with it.

My personal preference is to avoid using PDF for scanned pages. It makes for very large files, not very low-bandwidth friendly. For original output it is outstanding. Make sure, though, that your output resolution is set for at least 300 dpi. For some reason, Adobe defaults to screen resolution (95 dpi). Resolution shouldn't make any difference in the size of the file, but you won't get decent resolution in your printouts if you don't set your original output settings for it.

Now, a slightly related rant against Microsoft Publisher. Don't use it -- ever. It is, imho, a piece of proprietary crap that doesn't even work within the Microsoft suite of productivity software. Many print shops and real publishers hate it because it won't convert (there is a workaround using postscript print to file as .eps, but it is a pain in the butt and the postscript output does not always match the the original) and the output resolution is very low.

Andrew Parker

bobdickgus · Post by **bobdickgus** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 9:25 pm

Open Office runs in linux/windows/mac osx
And you can export your docs/spread sheets/ diagrams to pdf, export presentations to swf too.

If you use linux then there are otherways availible immediately aswell.