david poehlman writes:
>ONe big issue is that with each successive version, the platform
>availability shrinks.  It's down to 2k and nt and xp now with version 7.

        How sad.  I am glad I gave up on the Windows world about 5
years ago in favor of Linux and another open-source variant of UNIX
called FreeBSD.

        If your job simply can't be done without shoveling endless
dump-truck loads of cash in to Windows-based solutions that seem to
always be one upgrade step behind what everybody else is using, then
you don't have much choice, but I think my general frustration level
is lower on a daily basis since I wint UNIX.

        What I have discovered is that the pstotext and ps2ascii
utilities in UNIX that can sometimes read PDF documents get stopped
cold if either the document is a photographic image or if some of the
newer PDF's are formatted a certain way which seems to blow certain
internal structures in the PDF reader to pieces.  In other words, you
try to read something and the PDF2txt or ps2ascii conversion tools
will simply exit with an error about a stack or something similar.

        The PDF documents that turn out to be images simply exit with
no errors and not a single readable word.

        I recently tried to read the data sheet for a SSM2164
variable-gain amplifier chip and was very confused because I got a lot
of readable text which was fine, but I couldn't find that
all-important pin connection map which tells you which signals go to
which pins.

        A friend viewed the PDF and it turns out that that one part is
a small in-set photo or image which is why I couldn't read it.

        Of course, that is simply the way the person who composed the
data sheet elected to build the PDF.

        I hope the open-source tools grow along with the commercial
ones since PDF has a lot of potential if it is done right.

        The UNIX PS utilities will not only read PDF's but can many
times properly read PostScript files and do pretty well except for
charts and tables which sometimes get mangled beyond trustworthiness.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
OSU Information Technology Division Network Operations Group