Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

A couple of years ago I downloaded a copy of Adobe Reader 9 which worked well on my laptop. I am setting up a new laptop and was looking to see if their was an upgrade or source details. If you can offer a little direction I'd appreciate it. Thanks for reading.

OK, Let me pose another question, what is the best .pdf reader that works well in Xenialpup64. Thanks

Does XenialPup not have a PDF reader built-in?

qpdfview is the best. I don't remember if it is out of the box in Xenialpup.

qpdfview is built-in to XenialPup64

This is Puppy Linux.

Get out of the idea you always need to upgrade programs.

Is there something specific you need to be able to do that Qpdfview or the older version of Adobe PDF cannot do?

Adobe has stopped supporting Linux. The last official Adobe Reader is version 9.5.5 released in 2013.

In Xenialpup64 Puppy Package Manager(PPM)
First run PPM->Configure->DataBase update
Do a search for Adobe
See what comes up.
This would be the best way to get some version of it.

One totally up-to-date PDF app I've found is PDFStudio Viewer, from Qoppa Software:-

https://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudioviewer/

I won't pretend it's especially "Puppy-friendly"....not in terms of size, anyhow. At nearly 400MB, it's way bigger than most want to entertain the idea of....although it's Java-/GStreamer-powered, and completely self-contained. But then, the majority of Puppy boxes are already a whole lot more powerful & capable then when I first started with Puppy, over 7 years ago. 8/16 GB RAM are quite common now; several of us have 32 GB to play around with (including yrs truly), and at least one Puppian has an absolutely whopping 64 GB RAM.....

PDFStudio Viewer is also easily the equal of Adobe Reader in terms of capabilities, if not better. You can perform edits & comments, as well as sending copies as an e-mail; you can fill-in interactive PDF forms with it. It's able to read the most modern versions of Adobe/M$-compatible 'digital signatures'. And you can also open documents direct from a DropBox, OneDrive or Google Drive a/c.....and also direct from any specific URL you give it.

Because it's self-contained, you don't have to clutter-up the 'save', or even your hard-drive. You can run it from a flash drive..! I've built a 'portable' version of it already, along with the ability to add a Menu Entry if one is required.

https://mega.nz/folder/LHoUQIyR#kgEVwcizy8lkF40SrLAtng

Mike.

Yes, masterpdfeditor. Whichever pdf viewer comes with Puppy I leave alone and as default pdf viewer for when just reading a pdf is all that's required. But I run masterpdfeditor 4 from /opt, with a menu entry and available via Right-Click. Note, 4 not the newer 5. See wiak's post here, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 0#p1061130.

You can obtain a version for your OS from the links on this post. https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/04/d ... linux.html. Download the 'tar.gz' version and extract it. Rename the extracted folder to just "masterpdfeditor4" --no dashes. Just makes life easier. See below.

It has 4 qt-lib dependencies:
ibQtSvg.so.4 => not found
libQtGui.so.4 => not found
libQtNetwork.so.4 => not found
libQtCore.so.4 => not found

[Sorry, these combined exceed the Forum's attachment space restriction. And you'll probably want to use a binary compatible version anyway].

Go to https://pkgs.org/, use its Search box and follow the links to download them from the repository of an OS binary compatible with your Puppy [or older if the binary compatible OS has 'upgraded' to QT5']. Install them*.

Except for those dependencies, masterpdfeditor-4 is a portable*. You can move its folder anywhere: two convenient places being in /opt if you intend to run a Puppy without a SaveFile/Folder; otherwise /mnt/home. To start the application, just Left-Click the binary conveniently named masterpdfeditor4.
The attached will create a menu entry. It's structured to find the masterpdf4 folder in /opt.

If you prefer the folder elsewhere, a couple of edits are necessary. The bash script which starts it is in /usr/bin and reads:
#!/bin/sh
exec /opt/masterpdfeditor4/masterpdfeditor4 "$@"
Change the path from /opt to wherever the masterpdfeditor4 folder is located.
The desktop file in /usr/share/application sets up a 'work directory' within the masterpdfeditor4 folder itself. Open /usr/share/applications/masterpdfeditor4.desktop in a text editor and change:
Path=/opt/masterpdfeditor4/
to = /ACTUAL-PATH/masterpdfeditor4/

To add it to your Right-Click menu, Right-Click a pdf document, Select Customize Menu, and drag the script from /usr/bin into the window which opens.

-=-=-=-=--=--=
* For those interested, a fully portablized version can be obtained by using fredx181's technique. Place the required libs in a folder named "extralibs" located within the masterpdfeditor4 folder. Create a bash-script/wrapper, perhaps named mpdf, with the following text:

#!/bin/sh

#LAUNCHDIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")"; pwd)"
LAUNCHDIR="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
# All text below being on one line- suggest cut & paste into text-editor
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LAUNCHDIR/:$LAUNCHDIR/extralibs${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH} "$LAUNCHDIR/masterpdfeditor4" "$@"

If you do this, edit /usr/bin/master-pdf to call the script rather than the binary.

p.s. IIRC, the first time you try to run masterpdfeditor4 it may appear that nothing is happening. I think it's configuring its work-folder. At any rate, Left-Clicking the binary a 2nd time starts it.

I'm running fossapup64.

PDFStudioViewer is not bad - but I personally prefer foxitreader - https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/. I believe it has all the functionality of PDFStudioViewer and more..

On my system -

On disk:

• PDFStudioViewer : 388M

• FoxitReader : 271M

Opening the same document:

• PDFStudioViewer: 223M - 240M

• FoxitReader : 40M

update 23rd July
I retract what I said above. Since then I have been using MasterPDFEditor-5 for PDF viewing. I find it heaps better than either of the other 2 products.

As of now:

On disk:

• PDFStudioViewer : 388M

• FoxitReader : 271M

• MasterPDFEditor-5 : 52M

Opening the same document:

• PDFStudioViewer: 223M - 240M

• FoxitReader : 40M

• MasterPDFEditor-5 : 48M

As a follow-up to t'other Mike's detailed tutorial regarding Master PDF Editor - thank you, Michael! - here's a pair of 'portable' versions.....32-bit & 64-bit, both based on the slightly older 4-series (hence, no 'watermark' to spoil things).

---------------------------------

( @mikeslr :- I can't quite see how using Fred's 'extra libs' will do any good here. Those are browser audio-specific libs; what's needed here is Qt4/Qt5, depending on version used. If you don't have them on your system, it won't work, as you stated. )

--------------------------------

I built these several months ago, and have used them on & off. I re-visited them last night, did a bit of head-scratching, made a few modifications, and added-in the ability to generate a MenuEntry if required. This latter feature will be added to all my portable builds as time goes by.

The "ReadMe" explains how it all works, including what to do if you decide to move the portable's directory.

Anybody who's interested, you can find them at my MEGA.nz a/c, here:-

https://mega.nz/folder/yDgzAQpI#8H2tmnDU0uhWy1cxBY-lUQ

----------------------------------

@mow9902 :-

I've looked at the Linux build of Foxit, but wasn't that impressed with it. It's got a very 'sparse' appearance, hasn't it? I guess it's fine if you're a fan of modern flat, minimalist design, but.....not my cup o' tea, I'm afraid!

I do occasionally use the Windows version of FoxitPDF under 5-series WINE. It's a good-looking, full-featured application - apart from that damn 'ribbon' interface.....seems to get everywhere these days - but it's not that stable, and occasionally crashes right in the middle of something important. Plus, annoyingly, you can't set it as the default to automatically open a PDF document. I mean, you CAN - it'll call the application! - but you still have to manually select your document after that.

Of course, this could equally be one of the downsides of using WINE, or it could just be I'm not calling the app in the right way. Ne'em mind; it's not exactly important....

Mike.

@mikewalsh

Anybody who's interested, you can find them at my MEGA.nz a/c, here:-

This is exactly what I was looking for. My Wife's fossa64. It wouldn't print shipping labels with qpdfview, (Just the little black box part). Displayed fine so I was taking screenshots and printing them. Put your portable on my usb drive and tried it on her machine and it worked right from the drive. Copied the folder into My applications and put a shortcut on the desktop.

I know you say in the read-me that it should be in the "home" folder, perhaps that is why I haven't figured out how to set it as default yet.
The version I put on mine last year is in "opt" so the "default application chooser" finds it. Maybe I will move it? Thank you for this.

@peppyy :-

Um; okay. With regard to making an application the 'default' for anything, there's two routes you can take.

---------------------------------------

One, use the Default Applications Chooser. If what you want isn't shown in the relevant 'drop-down', simply type the full $PATH to it directly into the combobox.....most applicable to items where the app launcher is not is in a 'standard' location (like portable applications, although the way I add the MenuEntry for these is to merely sym-link the 'LAUNCH' script into /usr/bin with an appropriate name, then simply 'call it in the standard way from the .desktop entry).

--------------------------------------

The other way is to go into /usr/local/bin, and edit the

defaultpdfviewer

....file directly, again, using the 'full' $PATH to your launcher/binary/whatever fires it up.

Both the above methods pre-suppose you keep the 'portable' app in the same location all the time - which I do. My portables all occupy their own dedicated directory on the 'DATA' partition of my primary SSD, so can be 'shared' between multiple Puppies. If you run them in truly 'portable' mode - i.e., from a flash-drive - you just have to launch them with the script every time.

This is how I handle things, anyway.

Mike.

@mikewalsh I symlinked the binary to the desktop (drag and drop) and set the icon, and edited the display name. (as I do with lots of things). Perhaps a simple symlink from the binary to /usr/bin might allow it to show up directly in the default app chooser? I tried typing the full path, and tried copy pasting from the properties without success. When I can get to her machine I will tinker a bit more.

@peppyy:-

Do remember; the way I've constructed the portables, they will only use their self-contained config/profile stuff IF you launch via the 'LAUNCH' script. If you've started the app direct from its binary, it will now have created an entire new set of config items in the usual places in the file-system.....and the whole idea of the 'portables' IS to keep everything about them self-contained, and OUT of the 'save'.

But since you're like me, with 32 GB of RAM, you're possibly not that bothered..!!

Mike.

@mikewalsh Yeah, plenty of ram and ssd, and room for backup, on a second one. On mine I store all my portables, appimages, etc. on that drive.
Adding the symlink worked perfectly, so although it is no longer "Portable" on her machine, it is still smaller than the one I installed on mine. Not even sure where I got mine, think it might have been a .deb from ppm?

Now on to OCR for some old .jpg book / text images.

Oh, and I turned the upgrade nag screen off in settings, gotta keep the better1/2 happy.