RE: Print PDF from iSeries

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Or even better, set up a FreeBSD box on your LAN and send the PDF file to
that.  Have it run through acrobat reader with the appropriate switches to
convert from PDF to PostScript.  Run the postscript through GhostScript to
convert it to the printer's language.

That can all be done in a background task ("batch job") and can be
controlled from an iSeries program so that the user has no idea that you
didn't do it on the iSeries.

Of course, neither Paul's answer nor mine are actually iSeries
solutions...  I thought you were looking for an iSeries solution?  If so,
you either have to write a program that converts PDF to AFP, or you have
to convince Adobe to write an Acrobat Reader for the iSeries.  Either way,
good luck.

Too bad nobody has written Acrobat Reader or Ghostscript for the iSeries.
It seems more and more I have to run my apps on a PC or Unix machine
because of the huge lack of good/cheap software for the iSeries.  I guess
that's why PASE is so popular.


On Tue, 13 Jul 2004, Paul Tykodi wrote:
> The answer is yes.
>
> 1. For printers that support PDF printing directly,
> you can create an externally described printer file in
> the OS/400 partition with a Printer Device Type of
> *USERASCII. You will also want to configure the
> printer file to direct output to the OS/400 queue
> servicing the target LAN attached printer. You can
> then copy the pdf file residing on the IFS to the
> OS/400 printer file when it needs to be printed.
>
> 2. For printers that don't support PDF printing
> directly.
>
> a) Install Adobe Acrobat Reader on the IFS.
>
> b) Write a small VB application to open a pdf file
> with Adobe Acrobat Reader, print the file using an
> appropriate Windows print driver visible from the IFS,
> and then close Adobe Acrobat Reader all without
> requiring any end user intervention.
>
> c) The print driver from point b) is then mapped to
> send its output to an appropriate OS/400 output queue.
>