Subsistute for Arcobat Reader?

[videobruce 0]

Does anyone know of a program that can read .pdf files?

Adobe is too large and slow for me.

[CUViper 0]

GSview can view PostScript and PDF files...

[videobruce 0]

Thanks, someone else suggested that.

 

I will look at that. Really don't like Acrobat, it's a hog as is I.E and Norton!

[jimf43 0]

Quote:

Thanks, someone else suggested that.

I will look at that. Really don't like Acrobat, it's a hog as is I.E and Norton!

Look at that reference page. It's a PITA to set up but GSview and Ghostscript will allow you to create your own pdf files. Once set up, this is very nice. You can get rid of Adobe altogether

[nebulus 0]

Quote:

(...) It's a PITA to set up but GSview and Ghostscript will allow you to create your own pdf files.

It wasn't that hard to set it up, not at all.. But I'd recommend MiKTeX for creating your own PDFs.

PS: Get Universal PostScript Printer Driver if you want your own PSs.

[jimf43 0]

Quote:

Quote:

(...) It's a PITA to set up but GSview and Ghostscript will allow you to create your own pdf files.

It wasn't that hard to set it up, not at all.. But I'd recommend MiKTeX for creating your own PDFs.

PS: Get Universal PostScript Printer Driver if you want your own PSs.

All I ment by that, was that it wasn't your typical windows install.
I think I ended up using a HP Deskjet 1200C postscript driver which worked fine.

I just set up on my new rig. there used to be a program called makepdf which provided a front end for Ghostscript. Seems that the link is no longer any good, although I still have a copy. Is that what you're using Miktex for?

[nebulus 0]

"MiKTeX (pronounced mick-tech) is an up-to-date implementation of TeX and related programs for Window (all current variants) on x86 systems. TeX is a famous typesetting system invented by D. E. Knuth." (quote is from MiKTeX's manual)

You may find a bit more concrete explanation here:

http://www.tug.org/whatis.html

 

Some other useful links

TeX User Group

Comprehensive TeX Archive Network

MiKTeX

TeXnic Center (front end to MiKTeX, kind of)

Almost forgot this one:

Introduction Guide to LaTeX (PDF) - this one was made using TeX system

[jimf43 0]

Thanks, but now you're way beond where I want to go ;(

[nebulus 0]

I know what you mean

It's not WYSIWYG, so it might be a bit difficult to use right a way.. But once you learn it, it's really an amazing tool

[Davros 0]

I use Win2pdf at our company. Pretty damn cheap compared to full blown Acrobat for users who only need to make pdf's, and very easy for them to handle.

[videobruce 0]

I looked at the GhostView or whatever it is called and ruled that out right off the bat. Too complicated. I don't know what type of program that is called, but it's over my head. I'm not at the level of being a developer or anything like that. It only allows you to view the document, no print or anything like that without using another program.

 

I just want a trimmed down version of Arcobat to view and print pages. It would be nice to edit those also, but after trying the full version of Acrobat I gave up on that. Learning the O/S from scratch was easier.

 

Are most of these subsistutes similar to that Ghostview?

[videobruce 0]

Quote:

Look at that reference page. It's a PITA to set up but GSview and Ghostscript will allow you to create your own pdf files. Once set up, this is very nice. You can get rid of Adobe altogether

First off, you click on the shortcut in the start menu and all you get is a open window similar to wordpad with no menu bar! Useless. I clicked on a pdf document and it opened it up, but still no tool/menu bar. Still useless. I right clicked on the image; nothing again still dito!

Sorry that isn't my idea of a Windows program!

[jimf43 0]

Quote:

Quote:

Look at that reference page. It's a PITA to set up but GSview and Ghostscript will allow you to create your own pdf files. Once set up, this is very nice. You can get rid of Adobe altogether

First off, you click on the shortcut in the start menu and all you get is a open window similar to wordpad with no menu bar! Useless. I clicked on a pdf document and it opened it up, but still no tool/menu bar. Still useless. I right clicked on the image; nothing again still dito!

Sorry that isn't my idea of a Windows program!

Told ya it was a PITA, and, not your typical windoz install. If that's beyond you then I'm afraid your stuck with the Adobe reader. pdf is, after all, a proprietary format ;(

[nebulus 0]

Quote:

First off, you click on the shortcut in the start menu and all you get is a open window similar to wordpad with no menu bar! Useless. I clicked on a pdf document and it opened it up, but still no tool/menu bar. Still useless. I right clicked on the image; nothing again still dito!

Sorry that isn't my idea of a Windows program!

1) Install GhostScript (AFPL 8.0 or GNU 7.05)
2) Install GView (v4.3)
3) Go to Start Menu and click on GView 4.3 link
4) In a window that opens go to Options -> Easy Configure -> choose GhostScript version and click OK
That's all.. How hard can it be? Of course, if you're going to produce your own PDFs you have 2 choices: convert PS to PDF using GView (File -> Convert -> pdfwrite) or use GhostScript (this can be complicated)

Finally, about tool/menu bar.. You didn't by any chance run GhostScript instead of GView?? Anyway, in GView go to Options and mark Button Bar.

[videobruce 0]

Guess what?

I did that before you wrote it, or at least before I read it and it worked!

I then uninstalled Acrobat!

 

Just wished that the D/L page was clearer on:

a. which file to d/l

b. what order to install without hunting it up.

 

After you install GS, then install View all is fine after you delete all those other shortcuts since the View is all you use. I also renamed the 'Gum' to 'View' since it is the name of the program.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Gang,

Personally I like the Adobe Acrobat Reader just fine aside from the "Are you sure you want to check for an update?" feature. I wish it'd just check and shut up already.

 

Nebulus,

I installed that MikTeX program and I don't see a working application after installing it. Sure there's a start menu group and it has some .exes in it, but they all seem to be configuration utilities, none of which appear to be a word processor. Here's what the start menu contains, I ran every last one of these:

01/12/2003 09:47p 478 DVI Viewer.lnk

01/12/2003 09:47p 474 MiKTeX Options.lnk

01/12/2003 09:47p 478 MiKTeX Package Manager.lnk

01/12/2003 09:47p 1,502 MiKTeX Update Wizard.lnk

 

I ran Setup.exe v6.0.2800.1106 to install this program. Really I don't know what the distributor was thinking naming their downloadable binary setup.exe. That's just plain stupid. How many programs are named setup.exe? Oh I don't know a trillion!

Come on it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a self-extracting installer should be named with the program title and the version number:

IP Notify 0.23.exe

for example.

 

Thanks for any and all help Nebulus.

 

Has anyone else tried both GSView vs MikTeX?

It sounds to me like I installed the wrong app. Also can I just use GSView/Ghostscript to make PDF files, I'm happy with the Adobe viewer?

Is GhostScript the editor and GSView the viewer as the names would imply? Can I install one and not the other?

 

Thanks Guys,

Christian

[nebulus 0]

Quote:

Personally I like the Adobe Acrobat Reader just fine aside from the "Are you sure you want to check for an update?" feature. I wish it'd just check and shut up already.

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Update and uncheck Show Auto-Update confirmation dialog.. Or choose Manually in Check for updates drop-down menu..

Quote:

Nebulus,
I installed that MikTeX program and I don't see a working application after installing it. Sure there's a start menu group and it has some .exes in it, but they all seem to be configuration utilities, none of which appear to be a word processor. Here's what the start menu contains, I ran every last one of these:
01/12/2003 09:47p 478 DVI Viewer.lnk
01/12/2003 09:47p 474 MiKTeX Options.lnk
01/12/2003 09:47p 478 MiKTeX Package Manager.lnk
01/12/2003 09:47p 1,502 MiKTeX Update Wizard.lnk

I ran Setup.exe v6.0.2800.1106 to install this program. Really I don't know what the distributor was thinking naming their downloadable binary setup.exe. That's just plain stupid. How many programs are named setup.exe? Oh I don't know a trillion!
Come on it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a self-extracting installer should be named with the program title and the version number:
IP Notify 0.23.exe
for example.

Ok, binaries are in the \Miktex_installation_folder (or whatever you called it)\texmf\miktex\bin
All you need now is a front-end, like Texnic Center

Quote:

Has anyone else tried both GSView vs MikTeX?
It sounds to me like I installed the wrong app. Also can I just use GSView/Ghostscript to make PDF files, I'm happy with the Adobe viewer?
Is GhostScript the editor and GSView the viewer as the names would imply? Can I install one and not the other?

GSview is a graphical interface, so yes, you can use GhostScript only, but GView requires GhostScript to run.

PS: Here's TeX code example:

Code:

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,titlepage]{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage[colorlinks=true, linkcolor=black]{hyperref}\author{by\\\\interested readers of the Internet newsgroup \textsf{rec.games.chess}\\\\Coordinated by Steven J. Edwards (\textsf{sje@world.std.com})}\title{\textbf{Portable Game Notation Specification and Implementation Guide}}\begin{document}\maketitle\tableofcontents\newpage\section*{Notes}This is a PDF version of "Portable Game Notation Specification \\and Implementation Guide" by interested readers of the Internet \\newsgroup \textsf{rec.games.chess}, coordinated by Steven J. Edwards \\(\textsf{sje@world.std.com}) and last revised on March 12th, 1994. \\Please note that I've taken the liberty of modifying Section 15, \\since it was quite outdated.\section*{Preface}From the Tower of Babel story:\begin{quote}\textit{"If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they havestarted to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever theypropose to do."}\begin{flushright}Genesis XI, v.6, 'New American Bible'\end{flushright}\end{quote}\end{document}

[Christianb 8]

Hi Nebulus,

Thanks for the Code. It would seem to me like I would have to learn some syntax to yet another proprietary language. Is GView/GhostScript WSYWIG? That's what I'm looking for is a freeware WSYWIG PDF creator. If there isn't one I'll just bag the whole thing. Being able to create searchable PDF files isn't that big of deal to me .

Thanks for all the help,

Christian

[nebulus 0]

Hey!

 

I don't think Ghostscript is "What You See Is What You Get", but there're some front-ends that might be.

Anyway, there's another way to create PDF files.. Make a PS file first (eg. print to file; you'll need Postscript Printer Driver; use FILE port instead of LPT1) and then convert it to PDF, for example, using GView's Convert -> pdfwrite function. If you'll get an "ugly" PDF then you probably don't have right postscript fonts; you can substitute fonts in printer's properties -> Device settings -> Font substitution table. One more thing, when you're converting PS with GView, click on properties and set EmbedAllFonts to true.

 

PS: Actually it's not that hard to write in TeX. Read this introduction guide and you won't have any troubles making PDF's.