Wordstar 4 to PDF

[Markus Kern]

Hello!

I want to convert old Wordstar 4 files to PDF.
Up to know i couldn't find any solution for that.

I thought i might be possible to create a postscript file,
that you can convert to pdf using ghostscript.
Do you think that possible? Or maybe someone got
another idea how to convert the Wordstar files.

Any help apreciated!

Thx in advance,
Markus

[Philip A. Viton]

Post by Markus Kern
Hello!
I want to convert old Wordstar 4 files to PDF.
Up to know i couldn't find any solution for that.
I thought i might be possible to create a postscript file,
that you can convert to pdf using ghostscript.
Do you think that possible? Or maybe someone got
another idea how to convert the Wordstar files.
Any help apreciated!
Thx in advance,
Markus

Yes, I think printing to disk on a PS printer
and then running ghostscript will almost certainly work.
Try it; and then tell us if you have problems.

[Markus Kern]

Post by Philip A. Viton
Yes, I think printing to disk on a PS printer
and then running ghostscript will almost certainly work.
Try it; and then tell us if you have problems.

Hm yea i'll try - i am still searching for a PS printer driver that
i can use with Wordstar 4.

[Jeppe Uhd]

Post by Markus Kern

Post by Philip A. Viton
Yes, I think printing to disk on a PS printer
and then running ghostscript will almost certainly work.
Try it; and then tell us if you have problems.

Hm yea i'll try - i am still searching for a PS printer driver that
i can use with Wordstar 4.

Apple LaserWriter is in almost all the "oldies"

[Markus Kern]

Post by Jeppe Uhd
Apple LaserWriter is in almost all the "oldies"

Thanks for this hint - i'll check it out this evening!

Do i only have to select this driver for the print job, and
it will generate a postscript file?

[Norbert Hahn]

Post by Markus Kern
Hello!
I want to convert old Wordstar 4 files to PDF.
Up to know i couldn't find any solution for that.

There's a one step way: Install OpenOffice along with the
Wordstar 4 input filters. OO has an icon to directly
generate a PDF from the current document. No need to
install a PS driver and "distill" from that.
OO is free.

Norbert

[Markus Kern]

Post by Norbert Hahn
There's a one step way: Install OpenOffice along with the
Wordstar 4 input filters. OO has an icon to directly
generate a PDF from the current document. No need to
install a PS driver and "distill" from that.
OO is free.

Hey Norbert, also big thanks for that advice!

I didn't knew there are import filters for Wordstar 4. Are they
included with OpenOffice?

I'll download OO this evening, and check it out. It would be great
if it would work that way.
I am only a little curious if that import into OO won't cause troubble
concerning the document's formatation. I'll see ...

Thanx so far!
I'll later post here how far i got.

Greetings
Markus

[Norbert Hahn]

Post by Markus Kern
I didn't knew there are import filters for Wordstar 4. Are they
included with OpenOffice?

I use the import filters for WordStar 3.4 with either StarOffice 5.2
or OpenOffice 1.1 (don't know which one) as I have access to several
computers. The filters for WS 3.4 work quite well so I assume that
later versions of WS are equally well supported.

During the installation of OO you need to check for those filters.
If I'm not mistaken the filters are not part of the OO writer but
part of addons down in the list of installable parts.

I used the PDF generator of OO several times in cases when some
MS Windows printer drivers produced faulty results. Another advantage
by not using printer drivers is that hyperlinks are passed into the
PDF file and will function there.

Norbert

[Philip Griffin-Allwood]

** Reply to message from "Markus Kern" <***@gmx.de> on Thu, 22 Apr
2004 18:42:45 +0200

Thursday 22 April 2004

Post by Markus Kern

Post by Norbert Hahn
There's a one step way: Install OpenOffice along with the
Wordstar 4 input filters. OO has an icon to directly
generate a PDF from the current document. No need to
install a PS driver and "distill" from that.
OO is free.

Hey Norbert, also big thanks for that advice!
I didn't knew there are import filters for Wordstar 4. Are they
included with OpenOffice?

OOo will open WS4 files using the text filter. If the files were
micro-justified, then you will get significant garbage. OOo does not
have a specific WS4 filter (WS3 and WS4 have the same file format with
minor exceptions which comes from WS4 being a rebadged NewWord). Star
Office 7 is OOo plus Mastersoft filters and CorrectSpell dictionaries.

Phil

===========================

(Rev.) Philip Griffin-Allwood, Ph.D.
Halifax, HRM, and Kentville, Kings Co., N.S., Canada
***@auracom.com
http://www.glinx.com/~grifwood
http://users.eastlink.ca/~standrewsunited

[Markus Kern]

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood
OOo will open WS4 files using the text filter. If the files were
micro-justified, then you will get significant garbage. OOo does not
have a specific WS4 filter (WS3 and WS4 have the same file format with
minor exceptions which comes from WS4 being a rebadged NewWord). Star
Office 7 is OOo plus Mastersoft filters and CorrectSpell dictionaries.

I tested it with Staroffice 7 and OO.
You can import WS4 files, but the result was bad. You loose a lot of the
formatations...

So i think i need to find a postscript printer that i can use with WS4, up to
know i couldn't find anything about that.

[Philip Griffin-Allwood]

** Reply to message from "Markus Kern" <***@gmx.de> on Wed, 21 Apr
2004 23:01:38 +0200

Wednesday 21 April 2004

Hi Markus!

Post by Markus Kern
I want to convert old Wordstar 4 files to PDF.
Up to know i couldn't find any solution for that.
I thought i might be possible to create a postscript file,

While WS4 does have PS drivers, I have never modified them (or figured
out how to) to print to file.

Post by Markus Kern
that you can convert to pdf using ghostscript.

Without the ability to print to file, it cannot be done.

Post by Markus Kern
Do you think that possible? Or maybe someone got
another idea how to convert the Wordstar files.

There are three ways of which I know.

[1] Upgrade to WS5 to 7. I have a PS driver for these versions which
is designed specifically for creation of PDF files. Got to
www.wordstar.org for information on available sources for purchase of
WS7 and WS6.

[2] The old program which had the ability to convert WS4 to PDF was
Word for Word for Windows for Win3x.

[3] Currently available at beta release 0.97 is WriteandSet,
www.writeandset.com. W&S is a 32 bit WS clone plus using the WS4
format. Included is the ability to convert files to PDF.

Phil

===========================

(Rev.) Philip Griffin-Allwood, Ph.D.
Halifax, HRM, and Kentville, Kings Co., N.S., Canada
***@auracom.com
http://www.glinx.com/~grifwood
http://users.eastlink.ca/~standrewsunited

[Rod Smith]

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood
2004 23:01:38 +0200

Post by Markus Kern
that you can convert to pdf using ghostscript.

Without the ability to print to file, it cannot be done.

More as an intellectual exercise than as a real suggestion, I can think of
a few possibilities:

1) Set up a physical cable so that one computer can read another's printer
port output and save it to disk. This would definitely require a
special cable (similar to one used for computer-to-computer
parallel-port networking), and some sort of custom software on the
"receiving" computer. The software's the big question mark in my mind;
you might need to write it from scratch, although it's conceivable that
software to do the job already exists somewhere.
2) If WS4 can print to a network printer, you could use that ability and
configure a print server to save files to disk rather than print them.
(Samba is very easy to configure this way, for instance.) Actually, I'm
pretty sure that DOS SMB/CIFS clients can redirect parallel-port output
in this way, so I don't think special softwar support would be required
in WordStar to do the job.
3) You could set up a printer port redirector, like RedMon
(http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/redmon/), to capture output directed to
a parallel port to a file. I don't know if RedMon in particular would
work with WordStar 4, though.
4) You could run WS4 in an emulator (VMware, Bochs, or whatnot) that
supports redirecting the parallel port output to a file. I'm not sure
exactly what specific emulators support in this respect, but I'd be
surprised if you couldn't find one that would do the job.

As I say, these are more intellectual exercises than anything else; others
have suggested other alternatives that I'd try before attempting any of
these.

[Markus Kern]

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood
While WS4 does have PS drivers, I have never modified them (or figured
out how to) to print to file.

Post by Markus Kern
that you can convert to pdf using ghostscript.

Without the ability to print to file, it cannot be done.

So you also don't know how to print to a PS file with WS4?

As i researched the net for info, i found out that you did alot with Wordstar,
and i also read you website about it. So i think if anyone can help me, it's you.

Did i get you right that in WS 7 you know how to do it, but WS4 is the
problem?
I found those pages you wrote about converting WS to PDF:
http://www.glinx.com/~grifwood/WS2PDF.HTM
http://www.glinx.com/~grifwood/GSPrint.html
Can't i use this method under WS4?

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood

Post by Markus Kern
Do you think that possible? Or maybe someone got
another idea how to convert the Wordstar files.

There are three ways of which I know.
[1] Upgrade to WS5 to 7. I have a PS driver for these versions which
is designed specifically for creation of PDF files. Got to
www.wordstar.org for information on available sources for purchase of
WS7 and WS6.

I am doing this reseach about converting for my mother, it's her who works
with Wordstar, so i don't really know the program myself. But as i know,
we already tryed once to upgrade to a higher version of Wordstar, and only
got problems. I know that we also bought Wordstar for Windows once,
but couldn't use it really.
And please tell me again, what the special problem about WS4?

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood
[2] The old program which had the ability to convert WS4 to PDF was
Word for Word for Windows for Win3x.

Hm i couldn't find that program.

Post by Philip Griffin-Allwood
[3] Currently available at beta release 0.97 is WriteandSet,
www.writeandset.com. W&S is a 32 bit WS clone plus using the WS4
format. Included is the ability to convert files to PDF.

This seems to be not that bad for the task, but as i don't know much about
Wordstar, i have my problems with that program. =(

Would it be perhaps possible that i send you a short WS4 files that i want
to convert? I don't know much more to try ...

My mother asked our software guys already, they found a program that
seems to do the conversion quite good. But it's really expensive.
I don't really understand how that program works. If you want have a short
look at it maybe you can tell me who you can use it and if thats maybe
another way you can do it...
www.redtitan.com -> EscapeE (you can download a demo version)

Thx so far!
Greetings
Markus

[Rev. Dr. Philip Griffin-Allwood]

Sunday, April 25, 2004

I number of things briefly (I am on the road daily, so only get time to
respond sporadically). Yes I am familiar with getting WS files to PDF
through PS. It has proved to be the means for printing from DOS
programs using GUI printer drivers on Win4x and OS/2 with USB connected
printers.

First, the Mastersoft filter in SO7 has been implemented improperly
with the extension switch being defined as WSD (the extension for
WordStar for Windows). To get a clean import the WS4 format has to be
chosen. Even then, one will be asked if one wants to use the WS4 or
Text filter. OOo only has a Text filter.

Second, there is no effective PS driver for WS4. WS4 started life in
CP/M and reflects that beginning. WS PS printer driver development
began with WS2000 (a disaster). I mentioned earlier options for
getting WS4 to PS. The easiest option remains the one I mentioned--the
fully compatible WS4 program, WriteandSet. Install a PDF creating
printer driver such as PDF995 (a GS front end at www.pdf995.com), open
a WS4 file in WSformat form W&S, format it and print to the PDF995
printer driver and your PDF should be created automatically. If you
want to merge the resultant PS files or want more control over creating
the PDFs, I recommend FreeDistiller (follow the instructions at
http://home.hccnet.nl/s.vd.palen/).

Phil

===========================

(Rev.) Philip Griffin-Allwood, Ph.D.
Supply Minister,
St. Andrew's United Church,
Halifax, N.S.
***@eastlink.ca
http://users.eastlink.ca/~standrewsunited

[Markus Kern]

So, i found a little DOS-tool prntofile with that you can
redirect the data stream to lpt1 into a file.

When using my default hpljet printer driver in Wordstar 4,
i get a PCL file that i can then convert to PDF using the
EscapeE Program from www.redtitan.com. The result is
quite good!

So what i need to find now would be a free PCL to PDF
converter, or a postscript printer driver for Wordstar 4 to
get a postscript file that i can convert then.

Do you know such PCL to PDF converters?
Or could you perhaps tell me what PS printer driver i
could test with WS4?
I don't even know how to install new printer drivers in WS4.

Would be great if you could drop me a line how i could do that.

At least the problem to redirect the print job into a file seems to
be solved.

Thx for all your help!
Greetings from Germany

Markus

[Markus Kern]

I now also figured out how to setup Wordstar 4 so
that it will directly print into a file, and i found out
how to install a new printer driver.
You do all this with the tool wschange. You have to
start it like this : wschange.exe ws

Now i only need a postscript driver that works with
WS4. I tryed the one from griff's page, but those don't
seem to work with WS4. It says teh driver files end to
*.drv ...

[Aandi Inston]

Post by Markus Kern
Now i only need a postscript driver that works with
WS4. I tryed the one from griff's page, but those don't
seem to work with WS4. It says teh driver files end to
*.drv ...

If such a driver exists, it would almost certainly have come with the
product. Look for a printer called Apple LaserWriter IINTX.

But do not expect to find this is if the product was older than around
1987.

----------------------------------------
Aandi Inston ***@dial.pipex.com http://www.quite.com
Please support usenet! Post replies and follow-ups, don't e-mail them.

[Markus Kern]

Alright guys,

i found i solution now, with the Worstar tool wschange.exe i
could set Worstar to print to file. Then i used my HP Laserjet
driver in Wordstar to print. The file you get then is a PCL file.
I then found GhostPCL very similar to Ghostscript. Using that
you can convert PCL files to PDF.

I am really happy that it now works that good!

Thanx for all your help!
Greetings
Markus