A good Amiga PDF reader

source · 12 April 2014, 04:58

Does anyone know of a good pdf viewer for the Amiga? I am currently using apdf, but it seems to have problems with many of the pdf files. I am currently running amigaos 3.9.
Thanks

gulliver · 12 April 2014, 05:18

Apdf sucks as it supports a very old subset of the PDF format, which means you wont be able to see most of your pdf files.

You should install GhostScript 8.70 and use as a front end either gsgui or easygs.
It is a pain to install and get GhostScript running, but it is worth the trouble.

source · 12 April 2014, 05:56

Is it a problem with installing ghost script 8.7 when ghostscript 4 is installed with turboprint. Do I need to remove The version that came with turboprint And replace it with 8.7? Doi keep both versions installed? Thanks

gulliver · 12 April 2014, 13:38

Somewhere on the GhostScript 8.70 website there is a tip on getting it to work properly with Turboprint, I cant emember right now how it was, but it worked.

thyslo · 25 February 2019, 13:17

Does somebody know from where GostScript 8.70 and EasyGS for 68k can be downlaoded nowadays?

As I see it in Aminet is only the MorphOS version of GhostScript 8.70.

daxb · 25 February 2019, 15:40

Check out: http://www.whoosh777.com/

thyslo · 25 February 2019, 16:25

Thank you

And any idea from where to get EasyGS?

Couldn't somebody be so kind and put it into the zone?

thyslo · 26 February 2019, 09:03

So yesterday I tried the GhostScript 8.70 package for pdf rendering. I was using the gs command for rendering. And it went well..but I was a bit baffled how slow it was.

On an emulated 68040 (as fast as possible but no JIT, SysInfo states it as 1.8 x as fast as an A4000/25) I could see how a pdf was "painted" line by line. It took e.g. forty seconds to display one page. I tried different pdfs, always the same.

I'm just wondering, because on the same system displaying some jpeg images using PicShow didn't take nearly as long.

So is there any known speed-up option in GhostScript?

daxb · 26 February 2019, 12:33

Lower dpi value speeds up a bit. b/w is faster then grey then color then more colors.

Generally higher quality = lower speed. The documentation is good, so have at least a read here: http://www.whoosh777.com/index.php?txt=1#usage

thyslo · 26 February 2019, 14:08

Thank you, I'll try that out.

jPV · 26 February 2019, 17:21

If you have an RTG setup, I'd suggest to try the RNOPDF program. It's a simple but quick PDF viewer, and is available for 68k, 68k+FPU, WarpOS, and several other platforms.

AMIGASYSTEM · 26 February 2019, 17:28

Also RNOPDF does not support many PDF formats.
It would be nice to have on Amiga "PDF-XChange Viewer" a free, small, light and powerful viewer.

alexh · 26 February 2019, 17:41

If you don't need the ability to search there are tools to render very fast into bitmap gfx files

I haven't used this myself but it is the most recent on Aminet

http://aminet.net/text/misc/xpdftools_400_m68k.lha

And if your Amiga is connected to the internet you can of course use a free online PDF->TIFF converter which usually give you the PDF back as a zip containing a TIFF for each page.

jPV · 26 February 2019, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

Also RNOPDF does not support many PDF formats.

Do you have any example PDFs that don't open? It has shown all files I've tried so far...

AMIGASYSTEM · 26 February 2019, 22:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jPV

Do you have any example PDFs that don't open? It has shown all files I've tried so far...

I've tried so many files, could it be that in my systems something is missing?

EDIT:

I have to repeat the tests in my system was missing the Holliwood library "polybios.ext" now always open many more PDF documents.

jPV · 27 February 2019, 09:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

I have to repeat the tests in my system was missing the Holliwood library "polybios.ext" now always open many more PDF documents.

Funny that it opened any files in that case... what's your system and was the polybios.ext missing from the RNOPDF distribution archive for that system?

AMIGASYSTEM · 27 February 2019, 10:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by jPV

Funny that it opened any files in that case...

You now many versions of PDF open quietly

Quote:

what's your system and was the polybios.ext missing from the RNOPDF distribution archive for that system?

No I had only forgotten to copy polybios.ext in Libs/Hollywood

there are still some "simple" PDF files that are not supported, although RNOPDF supports even complex PDF files.
The only problem is the Zoom that does not work well. it does not maintain the status

Daedalus · 27 February 2019, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by thyslo

So yesterday I tried the GhostScript 8.70 package for pdf rendering. I was using the gs command for rendering. And it went well..but I was a bit baffled how slow it was.

On an emulated 68040 (as fast as possible but no JIT, SysInfo states it as 1.8 x as fast as an A4000/25) I could see how a pdf was "painted" line by line. It took e.g. forty seconds to display one page. I tried different pdfs, always the same.

Emulation speed depends on a lot of things, but one key thing is the underlying hardware. You should be aware however that emulating a faster CPU doesn't mean the end result is faster. It's not magic

and in some cases, emulating a 68030 can be faster than emulating a 68040 that has more exceptions to be handled by the emulated machine.

Also, is there any particular reason you're not using JIT? Some games don't like it due to their funky coding tricks, but then they're less likely to run on a 68040 anyway. If you're emulating a top-end Amiga, turn on JIT and enjoy the massive speed boost it gives you.

Ultimately, rendering PDFs, like rendering web pages, is as simple or as complicated as the document itself is. That means there's nothing to stop a very complicated document taking a huge amount of processing power to render, power which is taken for granted on modern platforms. Reducing the render quality/accuracy will help, but ultimately there's no getting away from the fact that there's a lot of computation involved.

thyslo · 28 February 2019, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Also, is there any particular reason you're not using JIT?

I needed to disable JIT because I'm using StormC4. And the included debugger is acting strange if JIT is enabled.

Daedalus · 28 February 2019, 12:36

Ah, I take it the debugger is using some sort of funky tricks then. Well it might be worth trying it as an emulated 68020 with JIT instead. The simpler CPU has fewer pitfalls for exotic code, and speed should get a massive boost. Ultimately, rendering PDFs in a non-JIT environment is simply pouring away CPU cycles, so if it still doesn't work I'd suggest using the host OS to open PDFs, maybe using a second display.

12 April 2014, 04:58	#1
source Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 734	A good Amiga PDF reader Does anyone know of a good pdf viewer for the Amiga? I am currently using apdf, but it seems to have problems with many of the pdf files. I am currently running amigaos 3.9. Thanks

26 February 2019, 17:28	#12
AMIGASYSTEM Registered User Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Brindisi (Italy) Age: 70 Posts: 8,248	Also RNOPDF does not support many PDF formats. It would be nice to have on Amiga "PDF-XChange Viewer" a free, small, light and powerful viewer. Last edited by AMIGASYSTEM; 26 February 2019 at 17:35.

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12 April 2014, 05:18	#2
gulliver BoingBagged Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The South of nowhere Age: 46 Posts: 2,358	Apdf sucks as it supports a very old subset of the PDF format, which means you wont be able to see most of your pdf files. You should install GhostScript 8.70 and use as a front end either gsgui or easygs. It is a pain to install and get GhostScript running, but it is worth the trouble.

12 April 2014, 05:56	#3
source Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 734	Is it a problem with installing ghost script 8.7 when ghostscript 4 is installed with turboprint. Do I need to remove The version that came with turboprint And replace it with 8.7? Doi keep both versions installed? Thanks

12 April 2014, 13:38	#4
gulliver BoingBagged Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The South of nowhere Age: 46 Posts: 2,358	Somewhere on the GhostScript 8.70 website there is a tip on getting it to work properly with Turboprint, I cant emember right now how it was, but it worked.

25 February 2019, 13:17	#5
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	Does somebody know from where GostScript 8.70 and EasyGS for 68k can be downlaoded nowadays? As I see it in Aminet is only the MorphOS version of GhostScript 8.70.

25 February 2019, 15:40	#6
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	Check out: http://www.whoosh777.com/

25 February 2019, 16:25	#7
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	Thank you And any idea from where to get EasyGS? Couldn't somebody be so kind and put it into the zone?

26 February 2019, 09:03	#8
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	So yesterday I tried the GhostScript 8.70 package for pdf rendering. I was using the gs command for rendering. And it went well..but I was a bit baffled how slow it was. On an emulated 68040 (as fast as possible but no JIT, SysInfo states it as 1.8 x as fast as an A4000/25) I could see how a pdf was "painted" line by line. It took e.g. forty seconds to display one page. I tried different pdfs, always the same. I'm just wondering, because on the same system displaying some jpeg images using PicShow didn't take nearly as long. So is there any known speed-up option in GhostScript?

26 February 2019, 12:33	#9
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	Lower dpi value speeds up a bit. b/w is faster then grey then color then more colors. Generally higher quality = lower speed. The documentation is good, so have at least a read here: http://www.whoosh777.com/index.php?txt=1#usage

26 February 2019, 14:08	#10
thyslo Registered User Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Germany Posts: 189	Thank you, I'll try that out.

26 February 2019, 17:21	#11
jPV Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: RNO Posts: 1,006	If you have an RTG setup, I'd suggest to try the RNOPDF program. It's a simple but quick PDF viewer, and is available for 68k, 68k+FPU, WarpOS, and several other platforms.

26 February 2019, 17:41	#13
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	If you don't need the ability to search there are tools to render very fast into bitmap gfx files I haven't used this myself but it is the most recent on Aminet http://aminet.net/text/misc/xpdftools_400_m68k.lha And if your Amiga is connected to the internet you can of course use a free online PDF->TIFF converter which usually give you the PDF back as a zip containing a TIFF for each page.

28 February 2019, 12:36	#20
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	Ah, I take it the debugger is using some sort of funky tricks then. Well it might be worth trying it as an emulated 68020 with JIT instead. The simpler CPU has fewer pitfalls for exotic code, and speed should get a massive boost. Ultimately, rendering PDFs in a non-JIT environment is simply pouring away CPU cycles, so if it still doesn't work I'd suggest using the host OS to open PDFs, maybe using a second display.

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