Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[vasan999]

Hi, I am a newbie.

I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
per portrait page like this:

+---------------+--------------+
|                 |               |
|                 |               |
+---------------+--------------+

I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
pages in an era before pdf.

So there are two problems:
(1) split the ps into single pages
(2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
(3) then combine all the ps
(4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
searcheable, if possible.

Steps 1-2 are the most important.

Vasantha

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[Helge Blischke]

vasan999@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi, I am a newbie.
> 
> I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
> per portrait page like this:
> 
> +---------------+--------------+
> |                 |               |
> |                 |               |
> +---------------+--------------+
> 
> I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
> make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
> a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
> author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
> pages in an era before pdf.
> 
> So there are two problems:
> (1) split the ps into single pages
> (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> (3) then combine all the ps
> (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> searcheable, if possible.
> 
> Steps 1-2 are the most important.
> 
> Vasantha
> 

Could you please post (an URL to) a sample of that file
(the first 2 or 3 pages would be sufficient). If steps 1 and
2 can be done and, if yes, which what effort, can only be estimated
after looking into the file.

Helge


-- 
Helge Blischke
Softwareentwicklung

H.Blischke@acm.org

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[Hector C]

Do you have access to Adobe Acrobat? (If not, download the trial
version for 30 days...)

1) Open your document with pdf distiller. It will create a pdf out of
the ps file.
2) Crop the pages so that you get even pages showing.
3) Print that file TO THE PDF PRINTER (sorry the caps but I want to
make the point)
4) Open the generated pdf and export all pages.
5) Rename (use a dos batch file) those pages to something that shows
their being even.
6) Repeat for odd pages.
7) Create pdf from the exported pages.
8) Send me a postcard.

++Hector C.

PS. I know it works because I use this method (minus the even/odd) to
get rid of footnotes/magin notes and I still get a searchable pdf.

On Oct 11, 5:41 am, Helge Blischke <h.blisc...@srz.de> wrote:
> vasan...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Hi, I am a newbie.
>
> > I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
> > per portrait page like this:
>
> > +---------------+--------------+
> > |                 |               |
> > |                 |               |
> > +---------------+--------------+
>
> > I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
> > make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
> > a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
> > author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
> > pages in an era before pdf.
>
> > So there are two problems:
> > (1) split the ps into single pages
> > (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> > (3) then combine all the ps
> > (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> > searcheable, if possible.
>
> > Steps 1-2 are the most important.
>
> > Vasantha
>
> Could you please post (an URL to) a sample of that file
> (the first 2 or 3 pages would be sufficient). If steps 1 and
> 2 can be done and, if yes, which what effort, can only be estimated
> after looking into the file.
>
> Helge
>
> --
> Helge Blischke
> Softwareentwicklung
>
> H.Blisc...@acm.org

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[J.S.Milne]

On Oct 10, 4:30 pm, vasan...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi, I am a newbie.
>
> I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
> per portrait page like this:
>
> +---------------+--------------+
> |                 |               |
> |                 |               |
> +---------------+--------------+
>
> I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
> make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
> a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
> author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
> pages in an era before pdf.
>
> So there are two problems:
> (1) split the ps into single pages
> (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> (3) then combine all the ps
> (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> searcheable, if possible.
>
> Steps 1-2 are the most important.
>
> Vasantha

You could convert it to pdf and then use pdfpages to split the pages
in two and then collate using this file
http://www.jmilne.org/math/Books/two2one.tex
However, I don't know whether this preserves the embedded fonts etc.
(the file is intended for scanned pages).
J.S. Milne

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[Ross Presser]

On Oct 10, 4:30 pm, vasan...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi, I am a newbie.
>
> I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
> per portrait page like this:
>
> +---------------+--------------+
> |                 |               |
> |                 |               |
> +---------------+--------------+
>
> I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
> make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
> a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
> author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
> pages in an era before pdf.
>
> So there are two problems:
> (1) split the ps into single pages
> (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> (3) then combine all the ps
> (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> searcheable, if possible.
>
> Steps 1-2 are the most important.
>
> Vasantha

I can't help but think that all the solutions proposed so far are
overthinking the problem. There are only a few good ways to 2-up a
document in postscript, and it seems likely that a suitable perl
script (or, if you're insane like Don Lancaster, a postscript program)
could do the job without having to go through a PDF phase.

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[Alexey Pustyntsev]

vasan999@hotmail.com writes:

> So there are two problems:
> (1) split the ps into single pages
> (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> (3) then combine all the ps
> (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> searcheable, if possible.
>
> Steps 1-2 are the most important.
>
> Vasantha

Hi

I think a ghostsript mail list is more appropriate for this
discussion.

Anyway, you may wish to try pdftk. If you have ghostscript, first,
convert ps to pdf with ps2pdf, then use pdftk.

,----[ pdftk - A handy tool for manipulating PDF ]
| 
|        If  PDF  is  electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic
|        staple-remover, hole-punch,  binder,  secret-decoder-ring,
|        and  X-Ray-glasses.   Pdftk  is  a  simple  tool for doing
|        everyday things with PDF documents.  Use it to:
| 
|        * Merge PDF Documents
|        * Split PDF Pages into a New Document
|        * Decrypt Input as Necessary (Password Required)
|        * Encrypt Output as Desired
|        * Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data and/or Flatten Forms
|        * Apply a Background Watermark
|        * Report PDF Metrics such as Metadata and Bookmarks
|        * Update PDF Metadata
|        * Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document
|        * Unpack PDF Attachments
|        * Burst a PDF Document into Single Pages
|        * Uncompress and Re-Compress Page Streams
|        * Repair Corrupted PDF (Where Possible)
`----

Check if this link is not dead
http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/

-- 
Rgds
Alexey

Today is Setting Orange, the 66th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3173

Re: Splitting 2 pages/page landscape postscript file into two single page portrait pages

[Brian Blackmore]

In comp.text.tex Ross Presser <rpresser@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Oct 10, 4:30 pm, vasan...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Hi, I am a newbie.
> >
> > I have a book.ps file which has all the pages, having two facing pages
> > per portrait page like this:
> >
> > +---------------+--------------+
> > |                 |               |
> > |                 |               |
> > +---------------+--------------+
> >
> > I want to split the two pages. I dont want to scan the pages and then
> > make bulky images out of compact pdf file. The file was generated from
> > a dvi and latex that are no longer available. The
> > author has died. The ps was made to save the number of printed
> > pages in an era before pdf.
> >
> > So there are two problems:
> > (1) split the ps into single pages
> > (2) split each page in the center to to two successive pages.
> > (3) then combine all the ps
> > (4) I would like the ps to be converted to pdf so that it is
> > searcheable, if possible.
> >
> > Steps 1-2 are the most important.
> >
> > Vasantha

> I can't help but think that all the solutions proposed so far are
> overthinking the problem. There are only a few good ways to 2-up a
> document in postscript, and it seems likely that a suitable perl
> script (or, if you're insane like Don Lancaster, a postscript program)
> could do the job without having to go through a PDF phase.

It's easy to think this because you're correct.  It would be nice to see
the first few pages, as was requested, simply so we could discern what
2-upper was used.  If the document was created through a reasonable
process like latex->dvips->psnup, then the data should nicely be in
unmunged form whence all that is required is to remove the two-up stuff,
which is easily found after the %%EndSetup as the PStoPS stuff.  In this
case, the pages are preserved (TeXDict begin ... bop ... eop end) so
removing the PStoPS rotation/scaling is all that's required.

Incidentally, I'm sure it would be fairly easy to right a postscript
header that would disable the PStoPS commands and create the same
effect.  :)

It seems to me that going through PDf, etc., is way overkill, and likely
to cause more problems.  The ability to search PDf is, of course,
somewhat dependent on the fonts used; the more steps you carry out, the
more likely it is that it becomes bitmapped.

If you just want to search, I suggest ps2ascii or a more capable
document (postscript) viewer.

-- 
Brian Blackmore
blb8 at po dot cwru dot edu