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Free PDF printer test mentioned in (May 2006) Nuts&Volts magazine. — Parallax Forums

Free PDF printer test mentioned in (May 2006) Nuts&Volts magazine.

Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,547
edited 2006-05-01 18:27 in Propeller 1
Bruce Bates,

This might be something along the lines of what you were looking for...

Nuts and Volts magazine is offering a free download of PrimoPDF

www.nutsvolts.com/toc_Pages/TOC_Related_Info/0605/qa.php

Simply run the program, and it will install as a PDF printer.

Now, any application that supports a printer can create a PDF file when you select
the "Primo PDF printer" to print to.


I tried it, and the only issue that I see that you might need to watch out for is word
wrapping. You have the option to turn off word wraps, but it truncates the right most
text if you do so.

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Beau Schwabe (Parallax)) : 4/29/2006 1:17:45 AM GMT
pdf
pdf
PDF_test.pdf
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Comments

  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2006-04-29 02:26
    Beau -

    Thanks for that. I'll give it a shot. Pain in the neck to have to re-create the PDF every time, but the price is right! Free is GOOD! smile.gif

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

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  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2006-04-29 02:38
    I used PrimoPDF to produce the PropSTICK docs from CorelDraw. I also have Adobe Acrobat with Distiller and PDFWriter. PrimoPDF produces better output than either of Adobe's drivers. I highly recommend it!

    -Phil
  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2006-04-29 04:14
    Hmm, Mac OSX users have been able to print a PDF from any program since OSX was released 5 years ago.
  • SSteveSSteve Posts: 808
    edited 2006-04-29 04:36
    I was holding myself back from pointing that out. smile.gif

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    OS-X: because making Unix user-friendly was easier than debugging Windows
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2006-04-29 09:08
    Gents -

    Before you gentlemen get a sprained arm from patting yourselves on the back too much, this is also true since Windows 3.0 many years ago. The real problem (since this thread was instigated by me), is MANIPULATING (add, modify, delete) a PDF file (per se) without having to recreate the whole darned thing all the time, which obviously necessitates that you keep it in some non-PDF source format.

    Perhaps the problem is that I just don't understand the theory of PDF input, since I've never seen or used any Adobe (or other) products which can perform ALL functions which might be available for PDF files.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

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  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2006-04-29 12:29
    All you ever wanted to know about Adobe Acrobat en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Acrobat and
    www.answers.com/Adobe%20Acrobat

    The bottom line is Adobe Acrobat was designed to create text and images that are viewable on a large number of computer platforms (thru Adobe's free Acrobat Reader) but keep the original content encrypted so it can't be modified. If you purchase Adobe Acrobat (there are several versions starting around $300) then you can create Acrobat documents that can be modified - such as entering text/numbers in certain fields.

    I don't think you understood my comment about OSX - Apple includes Display Postscript in their operating system so ANY OSX application can create an Acorbat file - including a screen capture. This flexible Acrobat output was never included in any version of Windows.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,547
    edited 2006-04-29 14:43
    Forrest said...

    Hmm, Mac OSX users have been able to print a PDF from any program since OSX was released 5 years ago.

    Not to create a deeper trench between Windows or Mac users, I wonder why I haven't seen this ability to create
    PDF files from a Linux system or a true UNIX system without using licensed Adobe software that lets you do so,
    since OSX is so close to both of those platforms

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2006-04-29 16:28
    You can use Ghostscript www.ghostscript.com/ to output and view Postscript and PDF files from just about any computer system including Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix and a few others. The big difference between Ghostscript and Acrobat Viewer or OSX Preview is Ghostscript uses public domain fonts that don't look as good as the ones from Adobe (which Apple's pays to license).
  • SSteveSSteve Posts: 808
    edited 2006-04-29 17:53
    Beau said...
    I wonder why I haven't seen this ability to create PDF files from a Linux system or a true UNIX system without using licensed Adobe software that lets you do so, since OSX is so close to both of those platforms
    OS X's Quartz display engine (which is above the Darwin/Unix layer) is based on the PDF model, so PDF output is automatically built in. (It was the NeXT operating system, OS X's predecessor, that used Display Postscript.) More info here.

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    OS-X: because making Unix user-friendly was easier than debugging Windows
  • Fe2o3FishFe2o3Fish Posts: 170
    edited 2006-05-01 18:27
    FWIW, JIC no one noticed, the PrimoPDF that PhPi mentioned uses Ghostscript.
    It just encapsulates GS for use as a printer driver under Windows. It's produced
    by the same people that sell a commercial version of Ghostscript, Aladdin.

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    -Rusty-
    --
    Rusty Haddock = KD4WLZ = rusty@fe2o3.lonestar.org
    **Out yonder in the Van Alstyne (TX) Metropolitan Area**
    Microsoft is to software what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
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