ghostscript converting text in pdf to graphics when converting to PCL

Question

I am using Ghostscript to convert a PDF to PCL. I was expecting the resulting PCL to include commands to output the text elements, instead it is essentially converting the text in the PDF to bitmap data. Is there any way to retain the textual data?

Answer 1

I assume you are referring the pxcolor and pxmono PCL XL (PCL6) devices. These are high level vector devices but do not support text - well it will output bitmap characters in very restricted circumstances.

We don't really have plans to implement this.

The PCL model is Truetype and Bitmap centered whereas PDF and PostScript are more Type 1. Also the encoding models (PCL vs. PDF/PS) are quite different. This is not to say it is not possible, just a lot of work with little perceived benefit.

The PCL XL devices are important for printing - they allow sending vectors to printers (instead of rasterizing to PCL bitmaps like other device) which is important for performance.

We haven't seen much interest for these devices to be used on the desktop where text would be important.