Re: Increase of un-usable PDF usage.
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.
mmestnik@mephisto:~$ uname -a
Linux mephisto 2.6.18-4-ppc64 #1 SMP Fri Mar 30 13:01:29 UTC 2007
ppc64 GNU/Linux
mmestnik@mephisto:~$ gs -v
ESP Ghostscript 8.15.3 (2006-08-25)
Copyright (C) 2004 artofcode LLC, Benicia, CA. All rights reserved.
mmestnik@mephisto:~$ 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
mmestnik@mephisto:~$ 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."
--
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