John Sayers Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Alternative to acrobat reader It's free and fast. cheers john Studio Design Forum Studios Under Construction Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Clematide Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 John, you know of a free program for making PDF's? -Peace, Love, and Potahhhhto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue1 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 For a free and quite decent PDF maker, try Software995 ( http://www.software995.com ). I used PDF SpeedUp ( http://www.planetpdf.com/tools.asp?webpageid=550&TBToolID=2130 ) which goes into the Acrobat reader and removes a bunch of plug-ins that almost no one needs. (Adobe was desperate to try to turn Acrobat into some kind of browser and started putting all kinds of unnecessary crap in the Acrobat reader.) I didn't do before and after time trials, but I can tell you that Acrobat was very slow loading on my machine after the last few updates. After I ran PDF SpeedUp, it was like a whole new program. Seriously, a much, much better, faster program. I really don't even groan when I hit a page that's a PDF instead of HTML. It loads very, very quickly. Highly recommended for those who want to stay with Acrobat. (And don't get me going on Adobe. Since they bought Macromedia to get Flash and Dreamweaver, I've been in a permanent bad mood. I use DW almost every day -- and while I'm closely attuned to it, it is clearly such a cobbled togehter mess that it's impossible to imagine that Adobe won't totally screw the pooch and turn it into something horrifically bloated like so many of their products. And heaven forfend they turn their GoLive team loose on it... I've been helping out a non profit art project where the Mac using graphic designer was using an 'aquired' copy of GoLive to do his pages. What a nightmare. Too bad for the project, he accidentally left a page titled as GoLive titles them by default -- "Welcome to GoLive!" Adobe supposedly used that to find him and bust him for piracy. (Well, I think it was more a cease & desist thing. Aside from his pretty new G5 [best looking case ever] he has, like, zero assets.) bookmark these: news.google.com | m-w dictionary | wikipedia encyclopedia | Columbia Encyclopedia TK Major / one blue nine | myspace.com/onebluenine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Angelo, I believe Open Office will save in pdf format. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 I use CUTE PDF for my PDF printing needs and it works great! Like other free PDF printers, it uses Ghostscript, but unlike others it doesn't have any internet popups when you print. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Originally posted by theblue1: For a free and quite decent PDF maker, try Software995 ( http://www.software995.com ). I used PDF SpeedUp ( http://www.planetpdf.com/tools.asp?webpageid=550&TBToolID=2130 ) which goes into the Acrobat reader and removes a bunch of plug-ins that almost no one needs. (Adobe was desperate to try to turn Acrobat into some kind of browser and started putting all kinds of unnecessary crap in the Acrobat reader.) Cool! I'm gonna check that out. I'm still on Acrobat 5.0 on my Macs, because anything after that takes five times longer to load. AppleWorks will save as PDF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Clematide Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 very nice - will make a lot of pdf's in the future.... -Peace, Love, and Potahhhhto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioMaverick Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Open Office DOES save in PDF. Also, www.CutePDF.com is much easier to install than Sofatware995. And, it doesn't watermark. And, it doesn't pop up web pages saying to buy it and stop seeing the pop ups. "It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 theblue1Thanks for the Acrobat speedup utility link. I just threw it on here and it's amazingly fast compared to what it was before, especially opening a pdf from a browser. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 http://www.openoffice.org is awesome. And it makes great* PDF's. *Well, that depends on your abilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshananigan Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Anyone else use Open Office? I'm a grad student/clinician/researcher and I'm seriously considering switching from office (hate it!). Also, since it's open source, does that mean there is a greater security risk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioMaverick Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by Hanshananigan: Anyone else use Open Office? I'm a grad student/clinician/researcher and I'm seriously considering switching from office (hate it!). Also, since it's open source, does that mean there is a greater security risk? Yes, I use it. It is geared just for your situation. There are some limitations with advanced functions. But, you can create and open documents with Microsoft formatting (i.e. - DOC & XLS). You can also make presentation that work just like Power Point. I highly recommend it for a student or someone on a budget... or slower PC. It is a low-overhead application. The only limitation that I have found has to do with Outlook & Outlook Express email, which utilizes MS Word for its spell checker. If you use Mozilla or Netscape, there is no issue of this kind. "It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshananigan Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Thanks AM! I'm trying to decide whether to wait for the 2.0beta to become fully functioning or download the older version... probably will just download the older version and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioMaverick Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by 4-Dak Recorder: theblue1Thanks for the Acrobat speedup utility link. I just threw it on here and it's amazingly fast compared to what it was before, especially opening a pdf from a browser. YES, Thanks! That was totally awesome! All thereasons I complain about Acrobat Reader just vanished... It works with version 7, even though the website only goes up to 6. "It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by Hanshananigan: Thanks AM! I'm trying to decide whether to wait for the 2.0beta to become fully functioning or download the older version... probably will just download the older version and go from there. Hopefully you remembered to grab the security patch for 1.1.4. . Don't use that version without it. The latest beta should be fine, though. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue1 Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by Hanshananigan: Anyone else use Open Office? I'm a grad student/clinician/researcher and I'm seriously considering switching from office (hate it!). Also, since it's open source, does that mean there is a greater security risk? I have Open Office on my desktop. I don't know if it's the latest version. It's great for free (watch out for people 'branding' and reselling it for as much as $50-$100 though!). But it is not, by any means, on the same level as Office or WordPerfect Suite. There are a number of functionalities which are awkwardly implemented -- it at all. Still, it's a great project and I'd like to see it supported so that it can survive and grow. bookmark these: news.google.com | m-w dictionary | wikipedia encyclopedia | Columbia Encyclopedia TK Major / one blue nine | myspace.com/onebluenine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue1 Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 PS... it's been a while since I installed PDF995 but, if I recall, it was a simple, straightforward install. The one thing I did forget to mention is that the free version (of any of their software) wants to pop up a simple browser page for Software995 when you use it. You can get rid of the self-ad if you buy the license. But it's such a minimal intrusion, it's never bothered me. PS... Yeah! Ain't PDF Speedup great? It's utterly amazing that simply stripping out all those stupid little media player type plug-ins can make the Adobe PDF Reader (I guess they don't call it Acrobat anymore?) into a usable tool. It really made me stop hating PDF's. Which is amazing, since I've hated them since the first time Acrobat lumbered onto one of my machines around a decade ago. bookmark these: news.google.com | m-w dictionary | wikipedia encyclopedia | Columbia Encyclopedia TK Major / one blue nine | myspace.com/onebluenine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 If Open Office were 100% compatible with Microsoft Word I would use it all the time. It doesn't hold all the formatting as claimed, particularly on non-standard stuff. One of those is business card layouts. Though there are O.O. templates available you can't use the Microsoft layouts. I also find that Microsoft Publisher layouts won't transfer to Open Office very well. Much of the spreadsheet stuff will transfer but will sometimes change the layout of the cells. I haven't tried the presentation part of the suite. I still have it on this computer and use it for standard word processing for non-business related needs but pulled it from the business laptop. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshananigan Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 thanks all!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioMaverick Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 Thanks for the link on the security patch, Dr. Taz. Since it only affects opening corrupted *DOC* files created in MS Word, I'll wait for version 2.0 to come out and upgrade. Dak, I agree about the various incompatibilities with Open Office, when interchanging between other MS Office applications. It is a free application. And, it will create MS compatible files for people who need to hand them to users of Microsoft Office. For a student-on-a-budget who is told to turn in their homework in a specific format, this is the ticket. As a recent inductee to the Microsoft Partner Program, I am now privy to the full Office 2003 suite. But, I still use and recommend cheap and free alternatives to those with limited funds. "It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted June 5, 2005 Share Posted June 5, 2005 AM, I couldn't agree more. I wasn't dissing Open Office at all. I love the program and if it were not for the full compatabilty needs I'd never use Microsoft Office again. I've recommended Open Office to quite a few folks as a great alternative to Microsoft Office at a price that can't be beat. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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