[pdftex] Harlequin RIP 5.3 and PDFTeX

[Tom Kacvinsky]

I still need to know what is wrong with the file.  The offending command
stuff you sent before is not of any help.  I would like to see the the PDF
file you made (instead of using the sample TeX code you provided).  A debug
report from Harlequin would go a long way in helping to get the problem
solved.

Also. despite the claims that Level 3 RIPs handle PDF file, not all of them
do, and obviously, not all handle them the same way.  I'd like to try the file
with some other tools I have.

Tom

On Sat, 6 Oct 2001, Jeffrey McArthur wrote:

> On Sat, 6 Oct 2001 14:41:11 -0400 (EDT), you wrote:
>
> >Sounds like a RIP issue to me.  If Acrobat is able to make a "clean" PS
> >file from the PDF file, and the newly distilled PDF file looks the same as
> >the original, then I tend to think the original PDF file is good.
>
> Actually I know the original PDF is not good.  We have the same RIP as at
> least one of the printers we work with.  And we know they will would not
> install a new version of the RIP software even if it was free since we are
> supposedly the only group that produces PDFs that have any problems.
>
> >So you are using a Harlequin RIP.  Which imagesetting device are you using?
>
> It really does not matter.  If the PDF out of PDFTeX will not run through
> any level 3 RIP, then we are stuck.
>
> The problem is very political.  A lot of people we deal with want files from
> PDFTeX to fail.  They will find any excuse they can to say that PDFTeX does
> not produce "press-quality" PDF files.
>
> So far, they have a point.  You cannot send a PDF generated by PDFTeX to a
> printer and expect them to be able to print your book with it.  You have to
> flip the PDF from PDFTeX back to postscript and then re-distill it to
> produce a "press-quality" PDF file.
>
> This is sort of a shame, since now PDFWriter and MS-Word can produce a file
> that will go through the RIP without any problems, so Word is now
> "press-quality" but PDFTeX is not.
>