How to print 4 odd pages per sheet (in front), and 4 even pages (in back)?

Solution 1:

i would use pdftk for the job, because it can do some pretty nice things: it can count the pages, burst the pdf and combine the pdf...

1. get $PAGECOUNT pdftk really_big.pdf data_dump|grep NumberOfPages
2. burst the big pdf. for each site a single pdf. pdftk really_big.pdf burst

Actually, the file has 1312 pages

so you will get 1312 pdf files with step 2 (:

3. merge -pdftk page1.pdf page2.pdf page3.pdf cat output newfile.pdf simply write a shell script, which counts your pattern [1,3,5,7,4,2,6,8] up to your $PAGECOUNT and print the pagecount into the merge code. finally all your 1312 pages will be combined in your patttern into a single pdf, which can be printed on every printer like so:

4. print - lp -d $PRINTERNAME newfile.pdf