It looks like ps2pdf depends on Ghostscript. Does your ps2pdf package include Ghostscript or do you need to install that separately?

Ghostscript PDF Printer Description

To assist with creating a PostScript file suitable for conversion to PDF, ghostscript includes ghostpdf.ppd, a PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file. This allows some distiller parameters to be set when a PostScript file is generated.

Source: https://ghostscript.com/doc/current/Ps2pdf.htm

According to this page, the last Ghostscript version to support 16-bit Windows 3.1 was Ghostscript 4.03:

https://www.ghostscript.com/doc/9.21/Install.htm

Thanks for your reply.

I was thinking about using latest version of Ghostscript on a Windows 10 machine to do the conversion. Looking at my post, I didn't say that I was planning to use the ps2pdf included in GS, not a standalone build. The information about ghostpdf.ppd is the same I was talking about. I know how to use ppd files in Linux and Mac, and I've seen that there is a PS printer driver in Windows 2000 an later that can use any ppd file. I don't know if it is possible to use that ppd file in Windows 3.1.

That information about Ghostscript 4.03 is very interesing. I'm going to download it and see if there are instructions to use ps2pdf in Windows 3.1 (and which PS printer to use).

Zup wrote:

I'm running some experiments using Windows 3.1, and I'd like to produce PDF files using that. I'm using DOSBox 0.74 and Windows […]
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I'm running some experiments using Windows 3.1, and I'd like to produce PDF files using that. I'm using DOSBox 0.74 and Windows 3.1 (not for Workgroups), but the question is not related to DOSBox.

My plan is to print a PS to FILE, and then using ps2pdf to convert it. Currently I've got two issues:
- I remember that there was a printer driver recommended to do this job, but I've been unable to find what driver was it.
- I've found some documentation pointing that there is a ppd description file that matches the PDF conversor, but I don't know how to use a ppd file in Windows 3.1.

Can anybody help me?

(BTW, I've been looking for PDF printers for Windows 3.1, but I haven't found none. I guess there was an Acrobat PDF Writer or Acrobat Distiller for Windows 3.1, but I'd like not to use illegal apps)

Might I recommend a virtual printer shared via Samba?

No info in Ghostscript 4.03 about which printer to use for ps2pdf.

gdjacobs wrote:

Might I recommend a virtual printer shared via Samba?

You reminded me that I have a Raspberry Pi acting as a print server in my network. It has my USB printer installed but, just in case, it has a CUPS-PDF printer installed too.

The important thing is that CUPS-PDF documentation states that is compatible with HP Laserjet 4550 PS (so you can install a 4550 PS driver in Windows, print using a LPR port and get a PDF file). I've downloaded HP Laserjet 4550 PS driver for Windows 3.1, so I'll try to use ps2pdf using that (or, if I get TCP/IP working, print directly to the Raspberry).

Zup wrote on 2018-08-15, 11:47:

Thanks for your reply.

I was thinking about using latest version of Ghostscript on a Windows 10 machine to do the conversion. Looking at my post, I didn't say that I was planning to use the ps2pdf included in GS, not a standalone build. The information about ghostpdf.ppd is the same I was talking about. I know how to use ppd files in Linux and Mac, and I've seen that there is a PS printer driver in Windows 2000 an later that can use any ppd file. I don't know if it is possible to use that ppd file in Windows 3.1.

That information about Ghostscript 4.03 is very interesing. I'm going to download it and see if there are instructions to use ps2pdf in Windows 3.1 (and which PS printer to use).

I have a need to use Ghostscript 4.03, as the current platform I'm working on uses an older version of DOSBox (0.72). This (at least the version I am using) does not have the slow 486 CPU option which I believe is needed for many Win32s applications to work under Windows 3.1 (including the available version of Adobe Distiller, and GSView 2.1 which I believe can convert PS to PDF in a GUI interface). However if Adobe Acrobat Professional 2.0 is ever archived that might also be an option, as it includes an alternate Adobe Distiller which is presumably 16 bit.

So, I am trying Ghostscript 4.03 as an alternative, and I have managed to get it working.

For anyone trying to use Ghostscript 4.03 for Postscript to PDF conversion, I found that the included batch files refer to a file gs.exe (or gs.bat) which does not exist. Renaming gswin16.exe to "gs.exe" results in an error: "Interpreter revision (261) does not match gs_init.ps revision"

The exe that should be run is gs386.exe. This can be copied to gs.exe to avoid editing the batch files. I was successfully able to convert the golfer.ps and tiger.ps samples from the GS directory. Note that this tool runs in DOS mode, and does not require Windows. After this change, it should be able to convert PS to PDF out of the box, at least the provided sample files.

To install is a little tricky as it comes in separate zips. (I believe this is because it was meant to be installed on different OSes, and some of the zips could be swapped out per OS).

Most of the files are located here.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/fre … ostscript/4.03/

You only need the following files:

gs403dos.zip
gs403fn1.zip
gs403ini.zip
gs403win.zip

You can also add the additional fonts, found here:

http://cd.textfiles.com/hobbesos29804/disk2/P … PT/GS403FN2.ZIP

To install, take the contents of gs403dos.zip, gs403ini.zip and gs403win.zip and unzip them so that their files are all in the same directory. ("C:\GS" might be appropriate, as it seems to be the default path for GhostScript.). The files should be in the root of your directory with no subdirectories. Don't worry about overwriting zip.txt.

Now put the files from gs403fn1.zip an gs403fn2.zip in a subdirectory "fonts" of your "GS" directory from the last step. You should now have a directory C:\GS with a lot of files, and a directory C:\GS\fonts with all the font files.

Copy gs386.exe to gs.exe, so you now have two copies of the file.

You can test by running "ps2pdf tiger.ps tiger.pdf". This command also worked from 386 enhanced mode in Windows 3.1.

I have found another alternative that works, for those who don't mind using Adobe software. GSView 1.4 comes with GhostScript 3.53, and an installer for both: https://bertola.eu/file/ftp/winutil/ghostscript/gsview14.zip

This version either does not support converting PDFs via command line, or it was not compiled with that ability. However, GSView is able to open and print PostScript files. Using this in conjunction with Adobe PDF Writer printer driver, it provides another route for converting PS files to PDF. (select device mswinprn or mswinpr2, one of these should work, don't print to file, and don't worry about selecting port LPT1. You will be presented with a standard print dialog after this for the PDF printer options.)

At the speed I was running my emulator at, GSView 1.4 took a very long time for tiger.ps and golfer.ps on "Ejecting Page", (and very fast on chess.ps) but it does complete eventually. You do have to wait for this to complete, or the PDF will be corrupt. It is possible to have both GhostScript 4.03, as well as GhostScript 3.53 and GSView 1.4 on the same system, and thus have a couple options available for converting PS files to PDF. Note that if you have installed GSView 1.4 with GS 3.53, and you also have Ghostscript 4.03, and you attempt to open PS files by double clicking on them in file manager, it seems to have trouble opening .PS files directly from the Ghostscript 4.03 directory. Copying them out of this directory makes them openable. (this is a very minor issue) It can, however, open PS files without trouble from the Ghostscript 3.53 directory. (which GSView is using as a backend). GSView 1.4 does not work with Ghostscript 4.03 as a backend.

I found that the Adobe PDF printer driver was generating a smaller, but lower quality file compared to GhostScript, using an MS Paint monochrome image from Windows 1.0. This is because it the PDFWriter appears to have different default compression settings. These settings can be changed in Control Panel > Printers > Acrobat PDFWriter on DISK: > Compression. You can also increase the output DPI if desired, although it caused an error trying to print a 300DPI postscript file at 600DPI. (this was with no compression so it may have been system resources related)

I had the best results overall, both performance and quality wise just using Ghostscripts ps2pdf out of the box, as described in the above post.

HOWEVER: If win32s is working on your system, you should be able to use GSView 2.1 in conjunction with GhostScript 4.03, and not need GhostScript 3.53. You should also be able to use the extant win3.x version of Adobe Distiller (which was provided with Adobe Acrobat 3) in this scenario.

Superprint then just use another system to convert the bitmap or jpeg

Makes lineart jagged though