ubuntu and pdf printer(s)

[Fidel]

As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!

I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I
got an acceptable file of 50 kb.

Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
pixels per inch?

asks Fidel

[Wayne]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:21:09 +0200, Fidel wrote:

> As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
> and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
> with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!
>
> I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
> to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I got
> an acceptable file of 50 kb.
>
> Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
> document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
> pixels per inch?
>
> asks Fidel

Did you try using OpenOffice? It has an 'export as PDF' function.

Wayne
--
Registered Linux user #375994
[url]http://www.geocities.jp/rondonko/[/url]

[Tom Clydesdale]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:21:09 +0200, Fidel wrote:

> As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
> and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
> with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!
>
> I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
> to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I
> got an acceptable file of 50 kb.
>
> Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
> document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
> pixels per inch?
>
> asks Fidel

OCR the scan into a text or Open Office file and send that.

[Fidel]

Thank you Wayne, it worked. I tried OpenOffice Draw and exported the
picture. The new size was about 50 kB as it should be, and there were
possibilities to change the settings.

This means anyhow that if I make a picture in Gimp, I must open it later
in OpenOffice Draw to make a pdf file, which I feel quite complicated.
There should be a decent pdf printer to be used in every program which
can print... At least so one does in Windows world and it works fine there.

Fidel


Wayne wrote:

> On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:21:09 +0200, Fidel wrote:
>
>

>>As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
>>and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
>>with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!
>>
>>I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
>>to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I got
>>an acceptable file of 50 kb.
>>
>>Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
>>document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
>>pixels per inch?
>>
>>asks Fidel

>
>
> Did you try using OpenOffice? It has an 'export as PDF' function.
>
> Wayne

[Fidel]

Sorry, but cannot be done. Text is hand written with scandinavian
letters, so there is not much hope for OCR to recognize anything...

Fidel

Tom Clydesdale wrote:

> On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:21:09 +0200, Fidel wrote:
>
>

>>As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
>>and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
>>with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!
>>
>>I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
>>to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I
>>got an acceptable file of 50 kb.
>>
>>Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
>>document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
>>pixels per inch?
>>
>>asks Fidel

>
>
> OCR the scan into a text or Open Office file and send that.
>

[Florian Diesch]

Fidel <fidel@prontomail.com> wrote:

> Thank you Wayne, it worked. I tried OpenOffice Draw and exported the
> picture. The new size was about 50 kB as it should be, and there were
> possibilities to change the settings.
>
> This means anyhow that if I make a picture in Gimp, I must open it later
> in OpenOffice Draw to make a pdf file, which I feel quite complicated.
> There should be a decent pdf printer to be used in every program which
> can print... At least so one does in Windows world and it works fine there.

Quick and dirty:

Save this to a file e.g. /usr/local/bin/print2pdf and make it executable

========================<cut here>================================
#!/bin/sh

name="`zenity --title="Print to PDF file" --text='Enter filename:' --entry`"

if [ $? -gt 0 ]; then exit 1; fi
name="/tmp/$name.pdf"

ps2pdf - "$name"
========================<cut here>=================================

Make sure zenity is installed.

In Gimp's printing Dialog create a new printer. In the printer setup for
this printer use "PostScript Level 2" as printer, the filename from
above as printing command and leave the PPD file blank.

Now when using this printer you get a simple dialog to enter a filename.
Then the PDF is saved as /tmp/the_filename_you_entered.pdf


Florian
--
No no no! In maths things are usually named after Euler, or the first
person to discover them after Euler.
[Steven D'Aprano in <pan.2005.11.22.10.29.25.388240@REMOVETHIScyber.co m.au>]

[Centurion]

Fidel wrote:

> As a new Ubuntu user I've met a problem. I scanned a text document (A4)
> and wanted to mail it as a pdf file. I used the pdf printer which comes
> with Ubuntu, and it made the size of the pdf file 20 Mb. That's huge!
>
> I couldn't find any way to change the settings of that printer. So I had
> to open the old Win2k machine and make the pdf file there, and then I
> got an acceptable file of 50 kb.
>
> Now, is there a way to print pdf in Ubuntu so that one can choose the
> document size freely (A4, letter etc. + free size) with free choice of
> pixels per inch?

Yes - this is all buried under the "Properties..." button next to the
printer selection dialogue - but I use KDE. So if this functionality isn't
available in Gnome (wouldn't surprise me), you might want to consider
switching to KDE! :)

Cheers,

James
--
Try the Moo Shu Pork. It is especially good today.