Ghostscript plug-in

[Skippybox]

Lastly, do you know what is the best software application to create screen captures of active windows and then save them in a PDF format? I have been trying out SnagIt, but this application has a serious problem. When I save a screen capture of an active window, SnagIt adds unwanted margins.

Why not use IrfanView? Options>Capture/Screenshot... (C)



FastStone Capture has PDF support. Last freeware versions

You can always use other screen shot programs or web shot browser plugins that don't save as PDF. For instance, I like PicPick even though it doesn't offer PDF. Just make a one-click script that will convert them to PDF using IrfanView when you want.

[binar]

Followup Question

Skippybox,
Thanks for pointing me to the Irfanview Screen Capture feature. I hope you or any Irfanview advanced user out there could answer my question below:

How do I change this filename rule formula "capture_%d%m%Y_%H%M%S" so that it produces a filename that looks like this: "09-04-07 (20 38).pdf" which is, "Year-Month-Day (24 hour military time).pdf" ?

Is it possible to set up a filename like this in Irfanview? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[binar]

Ghostscript Version Comparison

Frank,
Do you or anyone out there know what the difference is between Ghostscript Version 8.54 and Ghostscript Version 8.64? I'm wondering what version is better to install in terms of stability. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Frank]

Why is it better to install GPL Ghostscript?

short answer:

• Because something has changed between the last AFPL and the current GPL version!

detailed answer:

• Ghostscript orients itself at the commercial original Adobe Acrobat!
• And since the year 2006 (AFPL Ghostscript 8.54) there are some changings!
• Also the pdf format has its own version history!
  Now the pdf version 1.7 is the most current version!
• It's very probable that some characteristics of this pdf version are not supported by
  AFPL Ghostscript!

see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Acrobat
"Adobe Supplement to ISO 32000, BaseVersion 1.7, ExtensionLevel 3" (PDF format, size=1.3MB)
(This document provide specification for PDF as implemented in Acrobat 9.0.)

@binar
I hope these informations are a help to show you the differences between AFPL and GPL Ghostscript and
to understand why there is now a recommendation to use GPL Ghostscript!

[Al]

Ghostscripts fonts

Hi Frank
Thanks for the clear explanation. I have uninstalled the AFPL 8.54 and the fonts and installed GPL 8.64. Works fine. However I noticed that this version did not install the GS fonts directory. Is this not required for the operation of Ghostscript GPL 8.64? Appreciate your guidance - thanks Al

[Frank]

RE: Ghostscripts fonts

I've searched in internet/Google and http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostscript/
and have found the following answer:

see:

(Click to view full size!)

quote:

[Al]

Many thanks Frank - Al

[kelston]

Still get error message

Hi Laurent
I did all you said, I got my circle but when I try to open an eps file I get "Invalid EPS File (no EPS preview image available, try AFPL Ghostscript Plugin).

The only thing I have different from is Irfanview exe file is 4.2.3.0 and Postscript dll file is 4.2.2.0. Both taken from latest releases, I thought.

Is there anything one has to do in options\properties to make eps work?

[Laurent]

Hi kelston,

Since the time I wrote this, IrfanView and its plug-ins have evolved. It seems IrfanView now needs a proper header to recognize an EPS file. Try adding the following as the first line of your EPS:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-2.0

Laurent

[Pyta]

For me it took a whole afternoon to make PS viewing work.
I have 64bit Vista, so I installed nearly all existing versions of GS (both AFPL and GPL), of course their 64bit variaints. This was no good, IrfanView was still reporting missing GS.
Then I got a silly idea to try 32bit version - and here we go, it worked. So you shlouldn't pick 32/64 according to your OS, but according to program which should use it. And since IV is 32bit-only, there is no other choice than 32bit GS.


But one thing is still unsolved: when I try to view multipage PS document, it displays only the first page and there is no possibility to view other pages ("previous page" and "next page" buttons are inactive). But multipage PDFs are OK.

Any ideas??

[xizzling]

Decode error for ghostscript

I installled a fresh version and this messy problem still didnt go (as above). On top of it all, for a freshly downloaded piece of software the dll version and iview version turned out to be different ! now from where the 'hell' would i find a compatible version if the makers themselves dont SHIPPPP them correctly???????

Its been hours of trying again and again and again but your ghostscript decode error simply does NOTgo away !!!
using: WinXP
Irfanview 4.2.5
dll: 4.2.4

Both came in the same package !!!!

[Al]

"Fixed: v4.25: Create multipage PDF doesn't work!" Thread may help
Al

[Pyta]

I installled a fresh version and this messy problem still didnt go (as above). On top of it all, for a freshly downloaded piece of software the dll version and iview version turned out to be different ! now from where the 'hell' would i find a compatible version if the makers themselves dont SHIPPPP them correctly???????

Its been hours of trying again and again and again but your ghostscript decode error simply does NOTgo away !!!
using: WinXP
Irfanview 4.2.5
dll: 4.2.4

Both came in the same package !!!!

Ad 1: If you would stay calm, you would read in stickies that you should fill out specs about your system (32/64bit is what I miss in your message). Until you specify it, nobody will be able to help you.

Ad 2: Who says, that "compatible" = "same number of version" ???
See? Nobody. I have same versions as you posted and it WORKS !! So problem is somewhere else.

So try to fix that thing in No.1. You could also post, which version of Ghostscript have you installed (please exact name of the installer).

And believe me, at least viewing PDF and PS works for me, so problem is in you and not in the developer

[pglpm]

Hi, I write about the famous "Decode error! Can't load Ghostscript or Ghostscript error" that has been with us for so long and is now afflicting me too. I don't understand why I'm getting this error when opening a particular pdf file; in fact, the story goes as follows:

1. I have smoothly and successfully installed Ghostscript 8.70, IrfanView 4.25, and IrfanView plug-ins 4.25 on a Vista 32-bit and a XP Home SP3 32-bit. On those machines I can open that particular pdf file with IrfanView.

2. Made the same installation (Ghostscript 8.70, IrfanView 4.25, and IrfanView plug-ins 4.25) on my own machine, an XP Pro SP3 32-bit - but I cannot open that same pdf file. I get the "Can't load Ghostscript" error.


Obviously the problem cannot lie in the pdf file (which I can open with Ghostview 4.9 with no problems), nor in the Ghostscript version, nor in IrfanView & plug-ins. Nor in the directory tree because it's the same in all three machines. To exclude other problem sources, I re-tried the installation on my machine

a. rebooting after the installation of each piece of software (gs, iv, etc);
b. disabling the anti-virus during installation.

I have even:

c. looked in my hard-disk to see whether other programs had their own (old) Ghostscript libraries installed, and uninstalled them;
d. checked the registry for strange entries referring to Ghostscript.

Yet, the problem is still here. Short of re-installing the whole operating system, I do not know what to do. I wonder if anyone of you has any solution ideas to kindly share.

A question: how does IrfanView or the postscript plug-in determine where the Ghostscript libraries lie? (This would also be useful for this topic)

A remark: yes, I know of and have other pdf readers like Foxit and PDF X-Change. But IrfanView is invaluable to quickly browse through a directory containing pdf, ps, and djvu files.

Many thanks and wishes for the new year,
PGLPM

[pglpm]

Hi again.

I found the problem. In the registry there was a key,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AFPL Ghostscript

evidently left over from previous old (pre-GPL) Ghostscript installations. Having deleted that key, IrfanView now works wonderfully. So if other users have problems similar to mine: it may be worth checking your registry (use caution! A useful tool is RegSeeker).

Thanks to everybody for your good will and happy new year again,
PGLPM