Ghostscript, GSPrint and GSView

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1. Ghostscript
2. GSView and GSPrint

Ghostscript and related software are GPL licensed software that allows one to take the postscript files generated by Synapse, and print them to non-postscript printers, or to create PDF files to upload to your server.

All of these programs should have been installed with the Synapse client installer, and typically they are found as

ghostscript - in c:\program files\gs\gs8.60\ where the numbers change with each new version.

gsprint in c:\program files\ghostgum\gsview\gsprint.exe
gsview in c:\program files\ghostgum\gsview\gsview.exe

If you do not have these programs installed, you should download and install both.

Ghostscript

This can usually be downloaded from the sourceforge website. You should download the gsnnnw32.exe version for 32 bit Windows and the gsnnnw64.exe for 64 bit Windows. The latest version as of this date is gs860w32.exe.

When you install the ghostscript package, my preference is to choose c:\gs rather than c:\program files\gs as it makes it easier to type the path in later on when setting the system path.

Ghostscript needs to be in the system path for it to work properly. This means you need to edit the system path by adding, as appropriate, C:\gs\gs8.60\bin; to the path so that it can be called by Synapse.

./sysprops-1.png

To do this, start the Windows Control Panel and double click on "System". Choose the Advanced tab, and then the Environment Variables button. In the System Variables window, select "Path" and then click on the "Edit" button.

./sysprops-2.png

The path should end in a semi-colon, and if it does not, then add one. Then add the path to the ghostscript bin directory to the end of the path. Then click "OK" and "OK" and it should now be done.

./path settings.png

You can now test it by starting up a command shell ( start menu - run - type "cmd" and enter ), and from the C:\> prompt, type "gswin32c". If a ghostscript interpreter appears, all is well. You can quit the interpreter by typing "quit" and enter. If the ghostscript interpreter does not appear, you will need to check the steps above to see where you have gone wrong.

./gswin32c.png

GSView and GSPrint

GSView and GSPrint are needed to provide a screen preview of postscript documents, or, to print a postscript document to a non-postscript printer. If not installed, it can be downloaded from the author's site. Typically it installs to c:\program files\ghostgum\gsview.

At present, Synapse does not need them to be in the system path, but you will need to enter the installed locations into Settings/User/PostScript. The image shows one possible setup.

./gsview.png