Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Felix Natter]

hi Jason,

Jason  writes:
> According to the screenshot you included, the 'Print to File' option is
> checked. This is my guess as to why a postscript was produced. That option
> should not be checked when printing to cups-pdf.

Yes, that makes sense. If I don't check this, no output is produced.
So the openjdk printing dialog seems broken or is wrongly used.
But there is some hope: The print preview looks fine.

I will work with Freeplane and OpenJDK to try to fix this.

Many Thanks and Best Regards,
-- 
Felix Natter

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Felix Natter]

Brian  writes:

> On Tue 02 May 2017 at 20:04:55 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:
>
>> hello Brian,
>
> Hello Felix.

hi Brian,

>> Brian  writes:
>> > On Tue 02 May 2017 at 18:12:18 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:
>> >
>> >> does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
>> >> that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?
>> >> 
>> >> The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
>> >> is really bad, see:
>> >> http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
>> >> (might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
>> >> evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font 
>> >> rendering)
>> >> 
>> >> The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
>> >> own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).
>> >> 
>> >> There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.
>> >> 
>> >> Any hints?
>> >
>> > brian@desktop:~$ file freeplane.pdf 
>> > freeplane.pdf: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0
>> >
>> > Do you want to start again? :)
>> 
>> I tried renaming the file to freeplane.ps, and get the same result when
>> viewing with evince ;-)
>
> Which you would. Renaming the file does not alter its contents. The
> point is that freeplane file has not been produced by cups-pdf. It is
> not (as you assert) the output of printer-driver-cups-pdf.
>
>> > What application produced this PostScript file?
>> 
>> Freeplane, a java mind map editor. I strongly assume that this is the
>> built-in java printing functionality. A screenshot of the printing
>> dialog is attached.
>
> If freeplane produced the PostScript file it is highly unlikely any
> post-processing of it would produce any better output.

Makes sense, yes. On the other hand, Freeplane's print preview looks
just fine.

> The print dialog is not quite gtkprint (see the one for Firefox or
> Evince). Whatever it is doing, it does not appear to be producing a PDF
> with the PDF printer it displays. (Producing a PDF is the raison d'être
> for cups-pdf).

Yes, if I do not select [x] Print to File, no output is produced. So it
looks like the openjdk print dialog is broken, or wrongly used.

The print preview in Freeplane looks fine, though. So I will have a look
at the source code and maybe work with the openjdk people on fixing
this.

Many Thanks and Best Regards,
-- 
Felix Natter

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Jason]

On Tue, 02 May 2017 20:04:55 +0200
Felix Natter  wrote:

>hello Brian,
>
>Brian  writes:
>> On Tue 02 May 2017 at 18:12:18 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:
>>
>>> does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
>>> that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?
>>> 
>>> The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
>>> is really bad, see:
>>> http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
>>> (might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
>>> evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font
>>> rendering)
>>> 
>>> The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
>>> own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).
>>> 
>>> There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.
>>> 
>>> Any hints?
>>
>> brian@desktop:~$ file freeplane.pdf 
>> freeplane.pdf: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0
>>
>> Do you want to start again? :)
>
>I tried renaming the file to freeplane.ps, and get the same result when
>viewing with evince ;-)
>
>> What application produced this PostScript file?
>
>Freeplane, a java mind map editor. I strongly assume that this is the
>built-in java printing functionality. A screenshot of the printing
>dialog is attached.
>
>Thanks and Best Regards,


According to the screenshot you included, the 'Print to File' option is
checked. This is my guess as to why a postscript was produced. That option
should not be checked when printing to cups-pdf.

Jason

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Brian]

On Tue 02 May 2017 at 20:04:55 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:

> hello Brian,

Hello Felix.
 
> Brian  writes:
> > On Tue 02 May 2017 at 18:12:18 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:
> >
> >> does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
> >> that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?
> >> 
> >> The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
> >> is really bad, see:
> >> http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
> >> (might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
> >> evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font 
> >> rendering)
> >> 
> >> The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
> >> own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).
> >> 
> >> There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.
> >> 
> >> Any hints?
> >
> > brian@desktop:~$ file freeplane.pdf 
> > freeplane.pdf: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0
> >
> > Do you want to start again? :)
> 
> I tried renaming the file to freeplane.ps, and get the same result when
> viewing with evince ;-)

Which you would. Renaming the file does not alter its contents. The
point is that freeplane file has not been produced by cups-pdf. It is
not (as you assert) the output of printer-driver-cups-pdf.
 
> > What application produced this PostScript file?
> 
> Freeplane, a java mind map editor. I strongly assume that this is the
> built-in java printing functionality. A screenshot of the printing
> dialog is attached.

If freeplane produced the PostScript file it is highly unlikely any
post-processing of it would produce any better output.

The print dialog is not quite gtkprint (see the one for Firefox or
Evince). Whatever it is doing, it does not appear to be producing a PDF
with the PDF printer it displays. (Producing a PDF is the raison d'être
for cups-pdf).

-- 
Brian.

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Lisi Reisz]

On Tuesday 02 May 2017 19:04:55 Felix Natter wrote:
> I tried renaming the file to freeplane.ps, and get the same result when
> viewing with evince ;-)

Renaming is generally a waste of time in Linux, which looks at the file not 
the file extension.  You are thinking of Another OS. ;-)

Lisi

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Felix Natter]

hello Brian,

Brian  writes:
> On Tue 02 May 2017 at 18:12:18 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:
>
>> does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
>> that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?
>> 
>> The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
>> is really bad, see:
>> http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
>> (might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
>> evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font 
>> rendering)
>> 
>> The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
>> own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).
>> 
>> There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.
>> 
>> Any hints?
>
> brian@desktop:~$ file freeplane.pdf 
> freeplane.pdf: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0
>
> Do you want to start again? :)

I tried renaming the file to freeplane.ps, and get the same result when
viewing with evince ;-)

> What application produced this PostScript file?

Freeplane, a java mind map editor. I strongly assume that this is the
built-in java printing functionality. A screenshot of the printing
dialog is attached.

Thanks and Best Regards,
-- 
Felix Natter

Re: Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Brian]

On Tue 02 May 2017 at 18:12:18 +0200, Felix Natter wrote:

> does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
> that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?
> 
> The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
> is really bad, see:
> http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
> (might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
> evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font rendering)
> 
> The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
> own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).
> 
> There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.
> 
> Any hints?

brian@desktop:~$ file freeplane.pdf 
freeplane.pdf: PostScript document text conforming DSC level 3.0

Do you want to start again? :)

What application produced this PostScript file?

-- 
Brian.

Alternative for printer-driver-cups-pdf?

[Felix Natter]

hello Debian users!

does anybody know an alternative for PDF printing (from any application
that can print) to printer-driver-cups-pdf?

The output of printer-driver-cups-pdf (in jessie and sid)
is really bad, see:
http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~fnatte2s/freeplane.pdf
(might not be viewable by in-browser pdf-viewer, save and open with
evince/okular to see the broken content: jagged edges, useless font rendering)

The application I am using (Freeplane 1.6) cannot produce PDFs on its
own (due to incompatibility with the new SVG rendering).

There was a bug #847462, but it's resolved and didn't seem to help.

Any hints?

Cheers and Best Regards,
-- 
Felix Natter