Y&Y, Inc. wrote -- > Just as we had then to struggle with buggy PS clone interpreters I recall having to purchase non-Adobe interpreters becuase of memory leaks etc in the Adobe version ... but perhaps that predates your memor= ies? chris =20 so we > now have a bit of a struggle working around bugs in PDF Readers - > including unfortunately the ones from Adobe. But it can be done. >=20 > >The only reliable ``fix'' for Adobe PDF is to convert > >it to an Adobe PostScript language file and, if necessary (which it > >frequently is), forcefully by manual editting dumb it down to langua= ge > >level 1. Nothing else works reliably. >=20 > Really? Before we had PDF we had endless threads on how useless PS i= s > because so many clone PS interpreters fail... >=20 > >PDF fails more frequently than > >anything else---most printers fail if given a PDF directly. >=20 > Of course, why would you feed PDF to a printer? (OK, lets ignore PS 3= ). > And I find printing from HTML browsers completely unreliable, while > printing from Acrobat Reader works with properly prepared PDF. >=20 > >As far as I can tell the _only_ reason for PDF is to protect Adobe's= fonts for Adobe. >=20 > What? How does it do that? It is almost as easy to steal fonts from= PDF than from PDF. > PDF is an output format that removes the > programmatic aspects of PS (which lead to problems with clone PS inte= rpreters) > the result is smaller and easier to interrpret (does not require a fu= ll PS interpreter). >=20 > >Ghostview does not handle PDF files as input in any version that I a= m > >aware of. >=20 > While I never us it, I understand recent versions do. >=20 > >PDF files are frequently encrypted which causes problems by > >cryptography being illegal to export from several countries as milit= ary > >munitions and illegal to import into others without special permissi= ons > >(e.g. France, Russia and the Peoples' Reuplic of China). >=20 > What? The compression schemes are described in detail so you > can undo them. You can password protect the files, but with a low gr= ade > scheme that any government has the resources to break. I have never > heard of such complaints. (Some unethical types on the net > supply code to break PDF encryption - or provide an online service > to do it for you - so you can print and alter PDF files that the auth= or > did not want you to print, alter or plagerize). >=20 > >time. And, there are quite a few printers still in active use which= > >are only Adobe PostScript language level 1. These printers are not > >going to be withdrawn from service just to make it convenient for yo= u, > >Adobe or any one else. >=20 > We are talking about PDF here, and while you can certainly generate P= DF from > PS level II code, that does not mean you need a PS level II printer t= o print it - at all! > The Acrobat Reader can print to anything that has a working printer d= river. >=20 > >I _am quite willing to accept_ a stage of conversion from TeX DVI to= > >Adobe PostScript language files. Until there are converters as > >competent as dvips and dvipsk are for converting DVI to Adobe PostSc= ript > >language files for converting Adobe PDF to Adobe PostScript level 1 > >language files, I have no interest in a LaTeX that produces Adobe PD= F > >instead of DVI. >=20 > This is a separate issue. It is in fact not clear that TeX -> PDF is= now or > will be a viable alternative to TeX -> DVI. But none of the issues y= ou > or Hans have raised show anything but your lack of knowledge about Ac= robat - > not anything to do with why PDF may or may not be a good target langu= age. >=20 > >|Maybe tune in to comp.text.pdf? >=20 > > There does not seem to be much there: >=20 > Fix your news reader or news server than. Although, it is definitely= not as > swamped with the volume of comp.text.tex No long flame wars :-) >=20 > >|Maybe read http://www.YandY.com/download/pdf_from.pdf >=20 > > If you want this to be read, then put it up as an > > Adobe PostScript level 1 language file so that it > > generally can be read. >=20 > Absolutely not. PS is a poor distribution format. And if you are in= terested > in Acrobat PDF, the least you can do is install the free Acrobat Read= er. >=20 > > Furthermore, to demonstrate the quality of that file: >=20 > ># xpdf pdf_from.pdf > >xpdf version 0.7a > >Copyright =A9 1996-1998 Derek B. Noonburg > >Error (0): PDF file is damaged - attempting to reconstruct xref tabl= e... > >Error: Top-level pages object is wrong type (null) > >Error: Couldn't read page catalog > ># pdf2ps pdf_from.pdf pdf_from.ps > >Error: /invalidaccess in --fileposition-- >=20 > (1) Transfer the file in binary more, not ASCII! > (2) Get a decent PDF reader. >=20 > >|Maybe check out Donald Story's `AcroTeX' web page: > >|http://www.math.uakron.edu/~dpstory/ >=20 > > I tried it. I fail to see how it helps. I did see that it = also > > has the same problems with respect to Adobe PDF that many WW= W sites > > have with respect to html---you have to have ``bleeding'' ed= ge > > software in order to use the material. Which is without > > consideration of the users' needs, wants, wishes or capaciti= es. >=20 > > For example, general use WWW pages should be written to be u= sable > > by Lynx and Mosaic web browsers. If nothing else, then prov= ide > > a text only button and a separate set of pages. If not, the= n, > > for example, provide alt=3D tags for images. >=20 > I'll have to ask Donald to rewrite his web site in plain ASCII (or EB= CDIC?) >=20 > Regards, Berthold. >=20 >=20 > Y&Y, Inc. http://www.YandY.com/news.htm mailto:[log in to unmask] >=20