[plug] acrobat reader and printing

[Bret Busby]

Christian wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Sep 05, 2000 at 09:10:00PM +0800, BillK wrote:
> > Anybody have any experiance of viewing acrobat files made by exporting
> > from MSword 8.0 (as pdf's of course).  One of the lecturers at Murdoch
> > has decided to distibute his notes in this form (on a unix based
> > subject!) and I am unable to print them under linux using acrobat
> > reader.  I am also unable to use another program as they are password
> > protected which means kghostview etc cannot get a look in!  My thoughts
> > are that MSword is producing a slightly nonstandard file that upsets the
> > print drivers when printing under Linux.  Other pdf's print and seem
> > OK.  There was also the bug where you have to run X in 16bit mode (in my
> > case) to enable acrobat to even startup! - seems a bit of a dud of a
> > program under linux!
> > And of course, they work flawlessly under acrobat reader on windows:(
> 
> On my systems I've found that the Acrobat reader from Adobe virtually
> *never* works correctly.  It either stuffs up all the colours or just
> segfaults and dies.  My advice is to either use gv or xpdf.  In my
> experience gv works fine with short PDF files (although the translation
> process occurs per-page and is obviously slower than displaying PS; as a
> tip, don't hit print and then close the window straight away until the
> little banner at the top tells you it's finished processing or your
> print job will get totally botched and your Postscript printer may go
> crazy -- happens with mine).  For longer PDF files (approx. > 25 pages)
> I recommend using xpdf or the utilities that come with it.  I've had
> problems where gv totally botches the printing for these longer
> documents (no idea why).  As for the choice of PDF for a unit on Unix,
> it sounds like a good idea to me.  Most Windows lusers wouldn't have the
> faintest clue what to do with Postscript and PDF is basically portable
> enough to work on both platforms (given the right tools!).
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Christian.

Without being an expert (expert = a drip under pressure) on the subject,
in my opinion, the problem is that of an academic using an application
that produces non-standard output, apparently with the desired (by the
product manufacturer) effect that the output product can only be
accessed efectively, by another instance of the application that
produced the malformed output in the first instance.

Academics appear to be too involved in using such restrictive,
proprietary oriented applications, rather than teaching and practising
portability.

It's just another symptom of the poor standards of education.

I agree, in principle, with Christian; PDF files are platform
independent (in theory), and their use should be expanded. However, the
generation of PDF files should be done either by using the Acrobat
application for producing them (which the university should be able to
afford), or, some other application, that is guaranteed to produce
standard PDF files, without any proprietary muck in them, that can be
accessed and read, by any reasonable PDF file viewer.

The other problem with it, is the possessive, proprietary nature of the
files, with the password access, which, in effect, goes against the
purpose of universities; the unrestricted dissemination and sharing of
knowledge. Given that, under the Intellectual property regulations of
the university, all materials produced by academics at the university,
belong to the university, it may be a policy of the university, that
needs changing, to free up the disssemination of knowledge...

-- 

Bret Busby

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