Converting a duplex PCL print stream to PDF and need to have blank back pages preserved in the emitted PDF. Input PCL has page front and page back, but in PDF (which does not understand duplex) blank backs need to be included to maintain print fidelity.
Please provide a sample file, a command line, and a description of the anticipated behavior. Thanks.
Created attachment 9260 [details] Source PCL and GhostPCL generated PDF (in error) and Benchmark PDF The 00227151.scramble.good.PDF correctly has a blank page 2, and correctly laid out page 4. Page 3 from 00227151.scramble.ghostpcl.pdf is "equivilent" to good page 4, showing how the back of page offsets have not been correctly interpreted, probably due to the omitted page 2 (back of page 1). Input PCL file has had the text scrambled to obfuscate sensitive data, but I've compared the scrambled output to the original output, and the formatting/offset error is correctly illustrated. Command: ~/ghostpcl/ghostpcl6 -dNOPAUSE -r600 -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -sOutputFile=/home/mulhernm/Test_PCL/00227151.scramble.ghostpcl.pdf /home/mulhernm/Test_PCL/00227151.scramble.pcl
error is identical with Linux 9.06 and Win32 9.06 binaries
Sending the attached PCL file to an HP LaserJet P4105X and a Color LaserJet CP3505dn resulted in the same output: page 1 front: text back: blank page 2 front: text back: text page 3 front: text back: text page 4: front: text back: blank page 5: front: text back: text ... The pattern is that page 1+3*N (where N is an integer >=0) is blank on the back. All other sides/pages contain text.
Based on your description it is possibly you should be pursing a support contract. Commercial use of PCL's fonts which are needed for normal PCL operation is prohibited. The fonts are licensed under the AFPL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_Free_Public_License Here is the contact info: scott.sackett@artifex.com He is also added to the recipient list of the bug report.
Thanks I also notice in our output there are a few pages flush against the physical left margin and clipped, it doesn't look like that can be right. Does that match your HP duplexed output? (In reply to comment #4) > Sending the attached PCL file to an HP LaserJet P4105X and a Color LaserJet > CP3505dn resulted in the same output: > > page 1 > front: text > back: blank > > page 2 > front: text > back: text > > page 3 > front: text > back: text > > page 4: > front: text > back: blank > > page 5: > front: text > back: text > > ... > > The pattern is that page 1+3*N (where N is an integer >=0) is blank on the > back. All other sides/pages contain text.
Yes, the pages that are "flush" against the left edge, are actually offset beyond the left edge, ie., clipped. I suspect that this is a result of this page actually being a back of sheet, being fitted to a front of sheet as a result of the missing blank back of sheets. As to non/commercial use - this is currently a "proof of concept" where I'm piping the spooled "print ready" PCL files to a conversion queue where they will be converted to PDF for print and post-processing. Currently this PDF conversion could be performed with one of several alternate Win32 products, but I'm inclined to perform this function on the Linux box that receives the PCL, and also does the post-print work. If the client was proceed with GhostPCL, appropriate licences will be obtained.
commit a14ef732dade2dce6de07edf3a4c10294671a11e Author: Henry Stiles <henry.stiles@artifex.com> Date: Mon Feb 4 14:01:09 2013 -0700 Fix bug #693608 duplexing command not feeding page. The PCL select side duplex command does a formfeed unconditionally, the other duplex command which sets the duplexing mode does a conditional (if page is marked form feed). Before this fix we had both conditionally feed.