Alternative Pages and Methods
There are excellent instructions for NT?2000/XP at
http://www.matt.zipguy.net.
He also has excellent instructions for 9x/ME
Another version of this page is available
here. This version has the same content but
may be easier read as it is in black and white and has no frills and no website
links. It's great for printing.
Here's a 10/07/02 PDF print of this New
"Configuration" page PDF (right click on it and do a "Save Target
as") from the website which is FAR SUPERIOR to the one inside the v0.95 Public
Beta Download.
It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you Download this PDF, in addition
(as a supplemental download), and use it as your installation and
conguration guide INSTEAD of the configuration page contained in the
v0.95 Public Beta Download.
Here's an Alternative Method of Using Free PDF
which bypasses RedMon (and RedRun) but is not as slick or seamless, when
printing from Windows applications. It can be used as a supplemental way
to create PDF's.
If you have difficulty and need help, you can post
questions
on "The ZipGuy's Message Board" at
http://www.mb.zipguy.net
There is gobs of good informations there (>700 posts).
Requirements
To use Free PDF, you will need a Windows machine and these (links
Current of 10/07/2002):
-
Free PDF Download - (N.B.Changed 10/07/2002)
| Choices: |
Free PDF Currently v0.95 Public Beta (776k) - This has the installer,
the Free PDF program files you need, a short HTML file, the source code,
and the OLD Config.PDF file
This is the recommended "Normal
Download". This is the
minimum you need.
Download Free PDF v0.95
Public Beta from Simtel network. (over 90,000 downloads!)
or
Download
Free PDF v0.95 Public Beta from PCWorld
However, you should also download the newer
Free PDF Configuration PDF Only (Zipped) which
has the latest instructions and will make your configuration much
easier.
Free PDF Configuration PDF Only (Zipped) (318k
Current as of 10/07/2002 ) -
This is the STRONGLY
Recommended
Configuration PDF, rather than using
the one in the "Normal Downlaod". Download
and use this configration PDF, as it is NEWER and BETTER (than the
one that is included is in the "Recommended Download"), and is the
best one to use when configuring.
For example, the "Important Change to Instructions", mentioned above, is
included in this version,
As a last resort, if the above link doesn't work ,
and you're having problems downloading, then you can dowload
from
www.webxd.com. |
| Free PDF Executable
Only Currently v0.95 Public Beta 623k (included in the "Normal
Download"). |
| Free PDF Configuration PDF Only (373k Current
as of 10/07/2002 ) (NOT included in the "Normal Download").
This is the same as unzipping Free PDF Configuration
PDF Only (Zipped) above. |
Free PDF v0.98f Private Beta 1.1 Mb (Executables
only. No DOCS).is available from the "Sneak Peek"
Page. This release has many new features. See the "Sneak
Peek" page for details.
Please make sure to read the instructions on the "Sneak
Peek" Page, as the configuration of the RPT1 port has changed, and that
is where the information you will need resides.
It is recommended to get v0.95 working first and then upgrade to the new
version. The upgrade is very easy.
-
Ghostscript -
GhostScript
look under the Windows section
gs704w32.exe,
AFPL Ghostscript 7.04 for Win32 6208000 bytes
-
RedMon -
Redmon (a Printer Port Redirection creation enabler and
Monitorer)
RedMon version 1.7 can be downloaded from
ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/ghostgum/redmon17.zip
-
Acrobat Reader - Acrobat
Reader (which you probably already have or you wouldn't be interested
in this program)
NT/2000
The ZipGuy can't test NT or Windows 2000. There may security issues with
these because of NT/2000's security model. The File created will be
owned by whomever started the printer spooler. So, if they have more
privileges than you do, you may not be able to access the output. If
you can log onto an Id which has high enough privileges it shouldn't be a
problem.
Many people are happily running on Free PDF Windows NT/2000/XP.
There are excellent instructions for NT?2000/XP at
http://www.matt.zipguy.net
Installation and Configuration
The Setup is a pain but then again the price is right! Mostly the setup is
hard because you need to
-
get four programs (probably only three)
-
install them
-
configure them properly so they can work together
like this
If you don't understand this diagram, then read the
Background page
BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY TRY TO INSTALL AND CONFIGURE!
Make sure you have read these web pages and
understand what you are trying to do.
If you have, you should be able to get this version to work.
If you haven't, all bets are off, and you're on your own.
Once you do understand the above diagram you are ready.
You should have Downloaded
-
Free PDF Currently v0.95 Public Beta (776k) The "Normal" download. It now
has the installer, the Free PDF program files you need, a short HTML file,
the Config.PDF file and the source code. (These webpages are included
in the Free PDF Download )
-
GhostScript for Windows
-
Redmon for Windows
-
Acrobat
Reader (which you probably already have or you wou;dn't be interested
in this program)
-
Install
-
Ghostscript (put it in the default directory or Free PDF will require more
configuring! So just use the default. i.e. C:\gs )
-
Install RedMon - Unzip ot into a directory under Ghostscript
like this C:\gs\redmon.
-
Free PDF can be in any directory, but to be in sync with this doucmentation
use C:\FREEPDF\. This is easy because the installer defaults to this
directory.
If you put RedMon or Free PDF in a directories other than the recommended
ones,
it's up to your make sure to adjust the RPT1 properties accordingly in Step
4 below.
So under you C:\ drive things look like this:
From this point on, these directions assume that you've used the default
folders
-
Installation and Configuration OverView:
-
Install Redmon and RedRun
-
Add a magic redirected printer port
(Using the properties of any existing printer)
-
Add a PostScript printer Using the "Add Printer" Wizard
and Configure that printer's redirected port the way Free PDF wants
it.
That is:
-
Modify the PostScript
settings of this printer (a little) to make Ghostscript happy
-
Install RedMon and RedRun
Install Redmon (run Setup in the RedMon Directory)
Click "Yes" and now you can create "Redirected Ports". All you see is
-
Add a magic redirected printer port
(Using the properties of any existing printer) Create the New
RPT1 printer port.
Add the "Apple LaserWriter II NT" Driver
-
View the printer properties of any existing printer,
select the Details tab.
-
Take note of the port to which port it
is printing, because you will have to change it back to this later.
Adding a port changes this value without asking. Nice huh?
-
Select the Add Port button.
-
Select Other, Redirected Port then OK
-
The RedMon Add Port dialog will appear. Accept the defaults.
-
After doing this, remember that this is an existing printer! So
make sure to change the"Print to the following port"
back to LPT1 of what ever it was before you started to add a port.
or you will screw up your existing working printer! You were told to take
note of it's orginal setting above.
-
Add a new Printer with a PostScript printer driver
-
Using the Add Printer wizard,
create a new printer object for a PostScript printer.
A suitable one is Apple LaserWriter II NT.
Set it to use the new RPT1 port and then click the Configure Printer button
-
Set up the "RPT1 Properties" dialog the way that Free PDF
wants it.
Fill in the RPT1 Properties dialog with:
-
Enter the "Redirect this port to the program" as
C:\gs\redmon\redrun.exe
-
Set the "Arguments for this program:" as
C:\freepdf\frpdf095.EXE "%1"
MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE SPACE
between the ".EXE" and the Quotation Mark
If you do not, IT WILL NOT WORK.
The SAFEST way to do this is to
use copy and paste from here.
-
Set "Output" to:
Program Handles Output
-
Set "Run" as:
Minimized
-
Check the "Log File" check box
-
Then hit the "Log File" Button
-
When you do this the the "RPT1: Log File Properties Box" appears. Configure
this as follows:
-
Check the "Use Log File" checkbox
-
Set the "Write standard Ouput to the file" to
C:\freepdf\freepdf.log
-
Check the "Debug" checkbox on as this will give
you more information (even though it may be too much)
-
Configure it as above and a log file will get written each time you print
a file to the "Create PDF" printer.
You can look in this file to see what happenned rather than having to guess.
The good information for debugging is at the top, and way down at the
bottom
-
After you have done correctly configured these two dialog boxes, double check
them and then click "Ok" to accept them
-
You will be back in the "Add Printer" Wiazard . Hit "Next"
-
Name ther Printer something appropriate and hit Next
-
Change the test page option to NO since you still have change to make to
the PostScript Settings before you can try printing. Then hit the "Finish"
button.
-
Modify the PostScript settings of this printer (a little) to make Ghostscript
happy.
-
Adjust the Postscript settings
From the printer properties of this PostScript printer, select the PostScript
tab.
-
Since numerous releases of both Ghostscript and Acrovat Reader have
occurred since Free PDF v0.95 Public Beta was released, the locations where
Free PDF expects to find the Ghostscript executable and Acrobat Reader are
out of date and incorrect becasue the folder names have changed.
To Fix this, the first time you run Free PDF you will need to reconfigure
it to modify these two locations.
To do this, the first time the Free PDF window pops up when you
print, click the "Configure" button and then click on each of the two blue
links there (pdfConverter and pdfViewer) in turn and use the standard Windows
"Open File" Dialog boxes to point to the correct locations for these
programs.
Optional, but strongly Recommend further
steps
Once you get Free PDF working you may want to add another printer just like
your "Create PDF" printer, but instead use a the "HP
Color LaserJet PS" printer driver to get
JPG's in your created PDFs to come out in color instead of greyscale
(mix of black and white). Thanks go out to
Eric Santos, a happy Free PDF Customer (see
his 7/5/00 post in the message board) who found that using the "HP Color
LaserJet PS" printer driver yields PDFs which have the jpg's in color! Well,
he did have some help from the ZipGuy, but he's the one who found the
printer driver that works in making color for jpg's.
It is now recommend that once you get Free PDF working you create
another printer which uses this driver if you want
to do color jpgs in your PDFs. Make sure to leave the "Use
PostScript Level 2 features" option turned on in the "Advanced Postscript
Options" which you get to by hitting the "Advanced" button from
the "Postscript" tab of the printer's properties.
PDF (Portable Document Format) is
Copyright ©2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.\
Brought to you Courtesy of The ZipGuy
These pages, and their contents, are Copyright ©2000-2005 BMRWare. All rights reserved
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