can't open PageMaker v5 files

[clueless]

After a major Mac upgrade (Tiger to Mtn Lion, G4 to i7), on a techie friend's suggestion, I downloaded & installed Scribus.  I saw a note that said Ghostscript was also required, which I downloaded & installed, but there was NO CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS exactly how to link Scribus to Ghostscript in Preferences that I can find anywhere.  (I'm not even sure I put Ghostscript in a proper location!)

Still, I tried opening old PageMaker files with Scribus.  Scribus can't recognize the files & open them, no matter what I do, & I'm not much of a techie, so I'm completely stuck.

Help?  (Please!)

[Wena]

If I remember correctly you need to have installed GS first!
Wena

[clueless]

Should I trash Scribus & reinstall, or trash both Scribus & GS, reinstalling GS before Scribus?

Where should I install GS?  (Applications, Utilities, or someplace else?)

Where specifically within Preferences do I link GS to Scribus?

I understood that GS only pertains to printing, so it seems to me this still won't help me access & modify my old PageMaker files.  (This is the reason I got Scribus, since PM won't run on my new iMac!)

Thank you!

[Nermander]

Scribus can not (as far as I know) open Pagemaker files. The file format is proprietary so it is very hard to make Scribus able to open them.

http://forums.scribus.net/index.php?topic=267.0

[clueless]

Thank you, Nermander. 

A lot of what I read in that thread was WAY over my head.  The project mentioned might still be unfinished, but appears it would require having PageMaker installed on the same Mac as Scribus, so files could be "exported" from within PM & "imported" with Scribus?

Right now, I use a *very* old version of PM running in "Classic" mode (OS9) on my G4 Mac Mini.  I open that an average of once per year to tweak & print copies of old documents, & *rarely* create new ones. 

Rather than spending $hundreds (that I can't spare) for one application (InDesign) that barely gets used, or paying someone for something I can easily do (& would prefer to do myself), I was pursuing the suggestion of using Scribus. 

And I'd rather not keep an old G4 Mac running Tiger/Classic (OS9) simply to use once a year.  Or paying someone else to do what I prefer to do myself.  Scribus was recommended for letting me access, modify & print my PM files, my reason for *trying* to get it to work on my new iMac.  Looks like I'm stuck with distasteful choices.....

If I *DO* choose to keep Scribus, how do I make it connect with GS, & what's the proper location for placing GS?

Thanks to all!

[GarryP]

If Scribus can't read Pagemaker files (as mentioned above), have you thought about dual-booting your new Mac?

At first glance it might be thought that you could have Mountain Lion in your main partition and Tiger (for Intel) in the secondary one but your copy of Pagemaker will be for PowerPC so it will be incompatible. Tiger was never a universal as far as I know, except later Server versions. (Someone correct me if I've got myself mixed up here.)

But, if the Pagemaker installation disk also contains the Windows version (this sometimes happens), you can use "Boot Camp" (or a virtual machine like "Parallels") to install a secondary Windows partition (or VM) and install it there (if you have a spare copy of Windows lying around too). You'll need Windows installation knowledge but it's not that difficult. It just takes time and patience and faith. (You can also buy a used copy of Pagemaker for Windows if it's not on the disk you have.)

There are loads of how-tos on the web and you should be able to find something useful in Apple's support area. Please don't ask me how; I'm not tech-savvy enough to give instructions or support. It worked for me once but I can't remember how I did it now.

Neither of these options is particularly "pretty" but they would let you edit your old projects while you move to Scribus for your new stuff.

As for GS: I think if you install Scribus before GS you need to then tell Scribus where GS is (Preferences -> External Tools -> PostScript Interpreter , mine is set to "/usr/local/bin/gs"). The other way round, Scribus automatically finds it so trashing Scribus then installing GS, then reinstalling Scribus might be easier. From what I remember the GS installer just put it where it wanted and Scribus picked it up just fine.

I hope this has been of some help and isn't too confusing. I'm a bit confused myself and I've written it!

[clueless]

I have been exploring dual booting to Snow Leopard, GarryP.  But that seems to be a slightly tortured process (find an older Mac that came with SL, install SL on an external drive, clone it to a new partition on my iMac & *hope* it works).

I'm pretty sure my copies of Tiger only install to PPC Macs, & PageMaker only ran on OS9 (Classic mode in Tiger, which WON'T work on my iMac).  Even getting Tiger in an Intel/Universal version wouldn't let me run PM.

The PM floppies I have are only for Mac.

I might be forced to find a really cheap & old copy of InDesign (CS3 or CS4 version), if I can confirm it will run on my iMac, as well as open PM5 files. 

But if I DO someday create new page layout files & choose to use Scribus, I still need to know for sure: If I move Scribus to Trash & reinstall it, will it find GS on its own?  Or do I need to move both apps to Trash & begin again?

I'm pretty sure GS asked me where on my HD to install it, it wasn't automatic.  I put it in Applications -> Utilities, but never could find WHERE in Preferences to link Scribus to GS.  It wasn't obvious to me, at least.

Thanks!

[utnik]

hi clueless

...but never could find WHERE in Preferences to link Scribus to GS...

to tell scribus where it'll find ghostscript, go to 'properties' → 'external tools' → 'postscript-interpreter'  – should work without reinstalling anything...

utnik

[clueless]

Under Preferences, there's a section called External Tools & a heading Postscript Interpreter.  In the text field there's already something entered: "gs"

When I look through the Ghostscript folder, I can't find any file that's simply named "gs" 

(Perhaps hundreds of files that begin with "gs", but I have no idea which one Scribus is looking for.)

Like my username, I need a bit more help!  #:-0

[utnik]

hi clueless

...there's already something entered: "gs"

When I look through the Ghostscript folder, I can't find any file that's simply named "gs" 

is it only 'gs'? – on my system (snow leopard) the path is '/usr/local/bin/gs'. under this path ('usr' is invisible), there is a unix file called 'gs'...

utnik

[GarryP]

If the path given by myself (a few posts ago) and utnik (just above) doesn't work you could try going to the Terminal and entering the commands:

Code Select Expand

cd /
sudo find usr -name gs -print
After entering an administrator password you should get something that looks like this:
usr/local/bin/gs
Just copy the entire path and paste it into the Postscript Interpreter text box with a "/" at the start, e.g. /usr/local/bin/gs
If you get more than one path name then just try each until one works.
(The "gs" is just a link to another actual file - on my system it's /usr/local/bin/gs-X11 - so you could try looking for "gs-x11" too if you get no joy with gs.)

[clueless]

is it only 'gs'? – on my system (snow leopard) the path is '/usr/local/bin/gs'. under this path ('usr' is invisible), there is a unix file called 'gs'...

Should I be able to type that pathname you gave into the Preferences: External Tools: Postscript Interpreter text box?  (As opposed to using Browse to locate the proper file.)  Might that work?

I'm leery of messing around with Terminal & screwing up System code....

A friend with an older Mac is helping me convert my files to PM 6.5 & then to ID format.  From there I gather I can possibly open them & manipulate them with Scribus, once this GS issue is sorted out....

Thanks again!

[utnik]

...Should I be able to type that pathname you gave into the Preferences: External Tools: Postscript Interpreter text box?  (As opposed to using Browse to locate the proper file.)  Might that work?

you can try – it may, or may not work...
i would check, if the file exists at this place – either by the command garryp mentioned or by typing 'defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true;killall Finder' into the terminal to show all files. (the opposite command is 'defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean false;killall Finder'...)

utnik

[GarryP]

It's worth noting, in case anyone is interested, that a normal Mac user can't, by default, access the /usr folder through the browse dialog (and other Finder windows) because of the way OSX works.

By default OSX hides certain files and folders because the average user doesn't need to see them and certainly shouldn't be messing around with them. /usr is one of these folders.

So, for the average user, the only way you can set the location of Ghostscript is to type the path into the text box.

There are certain switches you can set to remove this "shield" but I wouldn't recommend doing so unless absolutely necessary. You'd open yourself up to the possibility of a whole load of pain if you accidentally do something you didn't want to do.

However, and this is more specifically relevant to the exchange above, if you've got something like Macports installed you may have a /opt folder within the root folder of your startup disk, and if you have installed Ghostscript through Macports you can browse to the gs link via /opt/local/bin/gs instead.

Anyway, I hope you get your GS issue sorted and don't have too much more trouble making the move to Scribus.