Header and Footer in handout using pgfpages

Question

I am trying to print out page number/total number of pages in the handout that I get from this code: This is my MWE:

\documentclass[11 pt, handout,xcolor=pdftex,x11names,table]{beamer}
\mode<beamer>{\usetheme{CambridgeUS}}
\usepackage{pgfpages}
\pgfpagesuselayout{2 on 1}[letterpaper,border shrink=10mm]
\pgfpageslogicalpageoptions{1}{border code=\pgfusepath{stroke}}
\pgfpageslogicalpageoptions{2}{border code=\pgfusepath{stroke}}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{First}
\begin{itemize}
\item check1
\item check 2
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
Text 1
\end{frame}

\end{document} 

I am well aware that I can do it using pDfpages as pointed out in Actual page number (and total number of pages) in the handout . However, the problem with using pDfpages is that it does not preserve the original document's bookmarks. I was wondering if this is possible to do using pGfpages or any other package?

Answer 1

Here's a possible solution using the lastpage package to get the total number of pages and the background package to place the text <current page> of <total pages>; I counted only physical (not logical) pages of the handout, but this can be easily changed if desired. I chose to place the text centered at the top, but this can also be easily changed:

\documentclass[11 pt, handout,xcolor=pdftex,x11names,table]{beamer}
\mode<beamer>{\usetheme{CambridgeUS}}
\usepackage{pgfpages}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage{refcount}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\pgfpagesuselayout{2 on 1}[letterpaper,border shrink=10mm]
\pgfpageslogicalpageoptions{1}{border code=\pgfusepath{stroke}}
\pgfpageslogicalpageoptions{2}{border code=\pgfusepath{stroke}}

\usepackage{background}
\SetBgAngle{0}
\SetBgScale{1}
\SetBgOpacity{1}
\SetBgColor{black}
\SetBgPosition{current page.north}
\SetBgVshift{10pt}
\SetBgContents{}
\makeatletter
\AddEverypageHook{%
\ifthenelse{\isodd{\thepage}}%
{\SetBgContents{\the\numexpr\thepage/2\relax\ of \the\numexpr\getpagerefnumber{LastPage}/2\relax}}%
{\SetBgContents{}}%
\bg@material}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{First}
\begin{itemize}
\item check1
\item check 2
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
Text 1
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
Text 2
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
Text 3
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
Text 4
\end{frame}

\end{document}