[scribus] Ghostscript

[Henry Hartley]

mick simpson wrote:

>> I have just downloaded Scribus to my Windows laptop which is
>> running XP Home. My eventual aim is to leave windows behind in
>> favour of Linux and/or MAC but because I need to produce a magazine
>> I have to remain with Windows while I become proficient in Scribus. 
>> I can start Scribus but get a warning about Ghostscript not being
>> installed so have downloaded it form the 'net'. I can't see
>> anywhere in the stuff that's been downloaded anything that will
>> help me to install it on my machine. Any assistance will be
>> gratefully received. I ought to warn, I can operate a computer but
>> am not all that technically blessed so please make replies
>> relatively easy to follow.

First of all, you can ignore the message about not having Ghostscript and use Scribus without any trouble. The only thing is that you won't be able to create PDF files of your documents. Since that's often important, it's worth getting Ghostscript, but again, you can get to work in the meantime.

You don't say were or what, exactly, you downloaded for Ghostscript but the current release (GPL Ghostscript 9.02) is available from this page: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/GPL/gpl902.htm

Download either the 32 or 64 bit version (depending on your computer) for MS Windows (towards the bottom of the page). Save that file somewhere and then double click on it to run the installation. If you have any problems with the installation, let us know and we'll see what needs to be done, based on the problems you have. During the installation you will be asked for the "Destination Folder" for ghostscript. The default is fine but make a note of where it is being put (i.e. C:\Program Files\gs\gs9.02).

Then, open Scribus and click on File -> Preferences. On the left-hand side of the preferences dialog, scroll down to External Tools and click on that. In the PostScript Interpreter section (top right, which should be blank) click on the Change button and navigate to gswin32c.exe in the "bin" subdirectory of the location noted above (i.e. C:\Program Files\gs\gs9.02\bin\gswin32c.exe). Click OK to close the dialog and you should be all set.

Again, if you have any specific problems with that, let us know.

-- 
Henry