(OT) Open source PCL to PDF converters?

[Fairlight]

On Mon, Mar 12, 2007 at 01:52:18PM -0400, after drawing runes in goat's blood,
Walter Vaughan cast forth these immortal, mystical words:
> I don't have a solution, but just a comment that we accept a system that 
> generates PCL5 code as "normal", but pdf creation as something "abnormal" and 
> needs a converter.
> 
> What has happened to us to allow this as normal?
> 
> Golly it's 2007. I accepted it in 1997. But come on, what happened to us?

Blame Adobe.  The same was true of PostScript for years.  I remember when
PS-enabled printers cost an extra $1k for the module that let them do it.

Adobe came up with a new document format that has no relationship to the
printer, and -something- has to sit as a shim between the PDF and the print
spool.  You don't have that problem with PCL5 because it can go directly to
the printer.  You did have that problem with PS because unless you had a
PS-enabled printer, you needed something, again, to translate.

Find a PDF-enabled printer, then.  I'd swear I've heard such creatures
exist.  Goodbye problems.

There's a difference between document representations that abstract the
output, and document specifications that determine the actual mechanics of
printing.  One is descriptive, the other is commanding.  But the latter
isn't universal across all hardware, and the former isn't universally
supported by (much) hardware natively.

I maintain PDFs are evil, period.  Then again, I don't do printing.  But
they're very abused for non-printing purposes, IMNSHO.  You get PDFs all
the time for game manuals now.  They're not even text representations that
you can copy and paste from--they're embedded images.  If I wanted that,
TIFF existed years before PDF.  Case in point.  Oh, wait, TIFF doesn't come
with that hampering DRM crap that companies love.  Yeah, that's a good
point--until you realise there isn't a DRM yet that hasn't been cracked
one way or another.

mark->
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