[NTLK] Announcement: PDFConvert v0.1.3

From: Eric Schneck (eschneck_at_mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Feb 18 2003 - 06:33:31 PST


I have made some changes to Hendrik Lipka's PDFConvert program, and uploaded it to UNNA.

The PDF Converter is designed to convert a PDF file into an image format that is suitable for display on a Newton MessagePad or eMate. The program can generate output for a Web Browser, or for Newton Book Maker. The output could probably also be used for Newton Press, if uou can get that program to work correctly.

The output is in an image format, rather than HTML or some other formatted text. The reason is that it is virtually impossible to render a page accurately outside of a PDF, especially on a Newton. Many page elements, such as rotated text, are not available outside of PDF, at least on a Newton.

Therefore, PDFConvert writes its output to image files that can then be loaded onto the Newton and viewed in precisely their original format, with all of their fonts, graphics, shading, etc. Note that depending on the desired resolution, and on how many graphics the original PDF contained, the converted document will be two to ten times larger than the original PDF.

The PDFConverter program itself is written in Java 2, and should run on any computer that supports Java 1.3 or 1.4. Unfortunately, the "classic" MacOS (8.x or 9.x) does not have a Java 2 runtime available, and therefore can not run PDFConverter, although the BookMaker output is formatted for the Mac version of BookMaker.

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