Tip
Use the “gs -h” command to check for all built-in “devices” on your Ghostscript
version. If you specify a parameter of
-sDEVICE=png256
on your Ghostscript command
line, you are asking Ghostscript to convert the input into a PNG file. Naming a “device” on the
command line is the most important single parameter to tell Ghostscript exactly how it should render the
input. New Ghostscript versions are released at fairly regular intervals, now by artofcode LLC. They are
initially put under the “AFPL” license, but re-released under the GNU GPL as soon as the next
AFPL version appears. GNU Ghostscript is probably the version installed on most Samba systems. But it has some
deficiencies.
Therefore, ESP Ghostscript was developed as an enhancement over GNU Ghostscript,
with lots of bug-fixes, additional devices, and improvements. It is jointly maintained by developers from
CUPS, Gimp-Print, MandrakeSoft, SuSE, Red Hat, and Debian. It includes the “cups” device
(essential to print to non-PS printers from CUPS).