Ubuntu – Batch convert ai files to pdf / png etc

One workaround is to split the image generation and the PDF conversion. First convert the images via convert to A4@300dpi (i.e. 3508x2479), then use sam2p to convert them to PDF and then use sam2p_pdf_scale to convert them to A4.

convert -rotate "90>" -scale 3508x2479 -border 64x64 -bordercolor white in.png out.png
sam2p out.png out.pdf
sam2p_pdf_scale 595 842 out.pdf

Edit: A more complete script:

#!/bin/sh

A4_WIDTH=2479
A4_HEIGHT=3508

H_MARGIN=64
V_MARGIN=64
WIDTH=$((${A4_WIDTH} - ${H_MARGIN} * 2))
HEIGHT=$((${A4_HEIGHT} - ${V_MARGIN} * 2))

for i in "$@"; do
    TMP="/tmp/$(uuidgen).png"
    echo "$i"
    convert \
        -rotate "90>" \
        -scale "${WIDTH}x${HEIGHT}" \
        -border "${H_MARGIN}x${V_MARGIN}" -bordercolor white \
        -gravity center \
        -extent "${A4_WIDTH}x${A4_HEIGHT}" \
        -gravity center \
        -font helvetica -pointsize 80 \
        -fill white -draw \
        "push graphic-context
         translate $((${A4_WIDTH}/2 - 160)), 0
         rotate 90
         text -2,-2 '$i'
         text -2,2 '$i'
         text 2,-2 '$i'
         text 2,2 '$i'
         pop graphic-context
    " \
        -fill black -draw \
        "push graphic-context
         translate $((${A4_WIDTH}/2 - 160)), 0
         rotate 90
         text 0,0 '$i'
         pop graphic-context
    " \
        "$i" "$TMP"
    sam2p "$TMP" "${i}.pdf"
    sam2p_pdf_scale 595 842 "${i}.pdf"
done

# EOF #

There is an batch converter called DNGconverter. Parts of KDE might be dependencies but it's in the Software Center for installation so that will be taken care of.

Some of the comments on it in software center are saying there's a problem with a work around, you might want to investigate this. There are a few applications like UFRaw that handle raw files very well, you might want to see if there's batch processing capabilities with that one.