On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 10:43:07AM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote: > On 06/27/08 10:12, Mike Mestnik wrote: > > On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 08:18:08PM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote: > >> On 06/25/08 17:33, Mike Mestnik wrote: > >>> Over the past few mouths I've received more unusable PDFs then I've > >>> ever received usable PDFs. Well maybe that's an exaggeration, but it > >>> still doesn't excuse the large number of broken documents in this format > >>> I've received. > >>> > >>> I have asked senders to choose a better format, but they keep coming. > >>> Many sites that have PDFs as part of there content do not seam to be > >>> having this problem it's when I get PDFs send via email that there are > >>> issues. I just got an email from NetApp with a PDF I can't read, so > >>> the problem is starting to manifest itself in the form of missed > >>> important communications. > >>> > >>> Mostly I'd just like a forum to complain, but if some one has a > >>> suggestion I'm willing to hear them out. > >>> > >>> As this issue does effect Debian the issue is not specific to Debian. > >>> There are several Debian packages that will help, but they are not > >>> available every where and keeping these packages updated would be hard. > >>> > >>> Perhaps I could use gs or something on a webserver, then at least I'd > >>> only have to worried about keeping a single copy working. That still > >>> doesn't solve the problem of PDS that simply can't be read by any > >>> usual means. > >> You aren't giving us much to work with... > >> > > Thank you for replying. Please CC me as I'm no-longer on the list. > > > > I'm CCing Ron as I don't expect my comment will be un-delayed > > reaching the rest of the list. Any advice for posting by non-list > > members? > > > > I think the problem lies in education of the makers of PDFs. I'd like > > to just plain see them use another format, but if I can get them to > > use software that's better supported then that would make every one > > happier. > > > > I'm also not happy with the usage and support of ShockWaveFlash, but > > the issue there is much more under control then this PDF problem. > > > >> (a) What DE & PDF reader are you using? > >> > > What could be better then any copy of GS made after 2000? > > > > GPL Ghostscript 8.15 (2004-09-22) > > That's kinda old. Debian Sid uses v8.62 (2008-02-29). > > > I've attempted to recompile a newer copy, but the OS(SunOS 5.8) I'm on > > won't support it. "File / Save as -> Office 1997?" I'm sure many of > > the users will still remember as I do. > > Hmmm. That's Not Debian, and a pretty ancient Not Debian... > > Are you sure that you're on the correct list, or am I misreading you? > This is just one example of what I'm talking about, there are more.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ uname -a Linux mephisto 2.6.18-4-ppc64 #1 SMP Fri Mar 30 13:01:29 UTC 2007 ppc64 GNU/Linux [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ gs -v ESP Ghostscript 8.15.3 (2006-08-25) Copyright (C) 2004 artofcode LLC, Benicia, CA. All rights reserved. [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ schroot uname -- -a I: [ppc32 chroot] Running command: "uname -a" Linux mephisto 2.6.18-4-ppc64 #1 SMP Fri Mar 30 13:01:29 UTC 2007 ppc GNU/Linux [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ schroot gs -- -v I: [ppc32 chroot] Running command: "gs -v" ESP Ghostscript 8.15.3 (2006-08-25) Copyright (C) 2004 artofcode LLC, Benicia, CA. All rights reserved. The usage of PDFs is crippling my abbility to read things, I thought I would find others here that felt the same. It would be nice if I could upload PDFs to google, or something local, so I could read them. > > I'm sure it doesn't matter or at least it shouldn't. If there are > > differences between readers, then that's the problem I'm complaining > > about. It's not useful if I need to be using 3 readers to read all > > the documents that I come across. > > > > Perhaps a PDF chooser should be written to look at the features used in > > the documents that then forward to the correct reader. It would be > > better to have a PDF sanitizer that would correct errors and un-role > > features that are less supported, but I feel if such a program existed > > it would make a better reader. > > > > I would not at all mind having to install a PDF wrapper, that depends > > on and makes use of a wide variety of readers. Making each reader use > > a similar skin would be a worth-while effort. > > > >> (b) Have you tried acroread? > >> > > This will not work on many handheld device? As well as most of my > > Desktops(PPC64 and FreeBSD). Ohh, but it will work on my Sparc. Is > > it text-only for my ssh sessions or will I need to bother with X over > > slow links? I'll find out. > > > > I'm using a reader that works on all the platforms Debian works on. > > Perhaps if I'm on another platform it's not nessissary to use the same > > reader I use on every other platform, so long as I'm using a reader > > that's able to open most documents. Maybe acroread should be made to > > work on other platforms using virtual machine technology, like qemu. > > > > Mostly the issue is the work needed to install it. No-longer part of > > Debian. > > > >> (c) What kind of errors are you receiving? > >> > > All kinds, usually beginning with "%%". The last error I got reported > > that EOF had trailing garbage. Basically every type of I don't > > understand this feature, true type font not included, I couldn't parse > > input at BLAH. > > > > I'm sure all of these are related to poor software creating the PDFs. > > Perhaps I'd like to see there being a black list, so I could direct > > ppl to it and either suggest they upgrade or that they should use one > > of these other programs that will work. > > > > -- > Ron Johnson, Jr. > Jefferson LA USA > > "Kittens give Morbo gas. In lighter news, the city of New New > York is doomed." -- /**************************************************************** * Mike Mestnik: Junior Admin 612-395-8932 * * [EMAIL PROTECTED] VISI * ****************************************************************/ Alt address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
