Re: Acrobat, Distiller. and Acrobat Distiller setup: Beating the dead horse

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxxxxx>]

*** The original message appeared on the FrameUsers mailing list.
*** This reply is sent only to the framers@omsys.com mailing list.
*** If this message is useful, consider copying it to FrameUsers.

From: "Sean Brierley" <seanb_us@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 5:47 PM
> I have an outstanding question re: setting up Acrobat.
> "In the Distiller printer properties, what is the
> purpose of having duplicate settings in General >
> Printing Preferences > Advanced and Advanced >
> Printing Defaults > Advanced. And, if these settings
> differ, which get used? Is there a need to manually
> synchronize these?"

Have you received any answer to the above?

> Otherwise, what do you think of the following FAQ?
> This covers pretty much everything Dov has said; that
> is, while I was doing some of this before Dov gave
> clear direction, everything in here is included in
> what Dov has told Framers over the years, it is not my
> original content (and so, should be reliable ;?).
> Let me know if you think I missed the boat somewhere.

Perhaps you should make it clear that it only covers Acrobat 5
and perhaps Windows 2000/XP. It doesn't correctly address
Windows NT, which I still use on my computer at home.

> Why the Distiller PostScript printer? Well, creating
> PDFs is not a conversion process, it is a
> PostScript-printing process. The Distiller printer
> creates device-independent PostScript, whereas the
> PostScript printer driver that came with your HP,
> Canon, or other "real" printer is device-dependent;
> that is, it has built-in limitations that pertain to
> the device in question.

The above is not entirely correct. Even though PostScript
was designed to be device-independent, that is very seldom
the fact nowadays. Even the PostScript created by the
Distiller printer is device-dependent, where the "device"
in question is the Acrobat Distiller application. In fact,
that's the very point of creating a Distiller printer.
Device-dependency is not defined as having limitations,
it simply means that the produced code is dependent upon,
or intended for, a particular device, which has certain
characteristics and may or may not support certain features.
This may or may not create problems for another device.
Device-dependent PostScript is created for a particular
device in mind, and this is most certainly true for the
Distiller printer.

For instance, the Distiller printer knows that the Acrobat
Distiller application has no limitations when it comes to
paper margins. Therefore, the "image" is not clipped or
cropped near the paper margin. Since this is not supported
by all devices, in fact most physical printers don't, it's
very much device-dependent. The same thing can be argued
for color support, and other features.

> How do I install Adobe Acrobat from the CD? Uninstall
> older versions of Acrobat first, using Control Panel >
> Add/Remove Programs. Then, install from the Adobe
> Acrobat CD using a "Typical" setup.

Perhaps clarify that you mean the Acrobat CD, not the
FrameMaker CD, which may contain outdated versions of
Acrobat or the Distiller printer.

> What else do I need to know or do? Unfortunately,
> Adobe has not gotten the Acrobat Installation right.
> You need to perform the following manual
> customizations.
> 
> 1) Customize the Distiller Printer.
> a) In Control Panel > Printers and Faxes, right-click
> the Distiller printer and select Properties.
> d) Click the General tab.
> e) Click Printing Preferences > Advanced.

This is not available in Windows NT and possibly other
versions of Windows.

> j) Click the Adobe PDF Settings tab. 

I think this is new in Acrobat 5, not available in version 4.

> 2) Set up your Acrobat Distiller job options. You need
> to set up job options in Acrobat Distiller to tailor
> your PDF for your intended audience. Read the Acrobat
> documentation for more on these options, but for
> general use, these should do fine:
> a) Open Adobe Distiller.
> b) Choose Settings > Job Options.

The same thing here: some of these features and settings are
not available in Acrobat 4.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
Technical Writer, Uppsala, Sweden
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com
http://go.to/framers/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **