Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes

[John Hodgson]

Thanks everyone for all the replies that arrived overnight.

Some time ago my son bought me a coffee mug with RTFM written on it - I
should have paid attention to the mug (though the answer is not in the
DVIPSONE manual - which only gives default sizes - but in the commflag.txt
file). Basically DVISPONE has to be called from the command line with -l
flag giving the page size in points, so for my 138x216mm book

Dvipsone -d=[postscriptfile] -l=391*612 [dvifile]

Gives a correctly sized PDF file when distilled. (It goes without saying
that the margins and paper size have to be set properly in .CLS!)

Thanks again for your help

John



-----Original Message-----
From: Support for users of Y&Y's TeX system [mailto:YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE]
On Behalf Of Ganz, Frank, SV USA
Sent: 10 June 2004 19:53
To: YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE
Subject: Re: Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes

Hi John,

The -l= flag will envoke DVIPSONE to write into the PostScript file a call
to a procedure with the name following the = (e.g.: letter), which is
already known to Y&Y's dvidict. To customize page size via the command line
flag -l=, you would need to add a procedure to this dictionary (dvidict).
Only then would it work. This is too complicated and shouldn't be necessary.

Have you tried not using -l= command flag at all? This is part of my 6-step
solution I posted earlier.

Thanks,
Frank

>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Hodgson [mailto:john at HWA.TO]
>Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:11 PM
>To: YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE
>Subject: Re: Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes
>
>
>Sue
>
>Thanks! I've tried most of these: setting the \pageheight and
>\pagewidth and adding extra PaperOptions in the book.cls file and
>calling them in my own .cls file
>
>I've also tried fiddling with the -l flag in DVIPSONE, but I think the
>one I need to change is the -l flag in DVIWINDO but that only accepts
>certain values, none being appropriate in this case
>
>Adjusting the page size in the printer setup in DVIWINDO before
>printing doesn't seem to have any effect either
>
>It seems as though Distiller ignores any settings for page sizes if
>there is a page size in the PS .ps file it is processing, and lets that
>page size override its own job options settings
>
>Best wishes
>
>John
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Support for users of Y&Y's TeX system
>[mailto:YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE] On Behalf Of LMS journals
>Sent: 10 June 2004 16:49
>To: YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE
>Subject: Re: Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes
>
>My understanding is that you have to set up \paperheight (and/or
>\textheight) and \paperwidth in your style file; otherwise Latex will
>default to either letter paper or A4.  Would it help to set up a
>"custom"
>size paper in your general printer setup, so that you have that as an
>option?
>
>I work on a non-standard size, but the system was set up for me before
>I took it on -- I understand, though, that this is how it was done --
>there are certainly things like "\paperheight{49\baselineskip}" in my
>class file).
>For printing to file, I have to specify letter paper (chosen from the
>"advanced" printer options in dviwindo) with an added top margin of 2"
>(-y
>142 in the DVIPSONE command line).  This actually centers it
>beautifully on the A4 paper that I use, so I suspect the whole thing
>may be some sort of "bodge" -- so I'd be interested to hear if and how
>you solve the problem!
>
>But I reckon the basic steps are to
>1. make sure your latex is generating the size you want 2. use printer
>options to select paper size 3. use the command line to put it where
>you want on the page.
>4. set up a page of appropriate size in distiller.
>
>All the best
>
>Sue
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Support for users of Y&Y's TeX system
>> [mailto:YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE] On Behalf Of John Hodgson
>> Sent: 10 June 2004 14:37
>> To: YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE
>> Subject: Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes
>>
>>
>> Hi everyone
>>
>> I am trying to produce a PDF of a book to a non-standard page size
>> (though it is a standard book size) The publishers we are working for
>> require that the PDF has a logical page size of 216x138 mm. Try as I
>> might I haven't been able to produce a .PS file with this page size,
>> and Acrobat Distiller doesn't/won't/can't override the page size when
>> producing the PDF. We've tried cropping the page size in Acrobat,
>> which works when you view the PDF in Acrobat, but apparently the
>> underlying page size remains in the PDF file and gives the printers
>> (ie the firm who are printing the book) impossible problems when
>> trying to send the book to plate. I've tried messing with the -l flag
>> in DVIPSONE with no success.
>>
>> Has anyone run up against this problem and know what the solution is?
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>> John Hodgson
>>
>> PS I'm a listserv newbie and apologise for any contravention of
>> listserv etiquette!!
>>
>