PDFStudioViewer - full-featured, Adobe equivalent PDF viewer/reader/annotator....in 'portable' format

[mikewalsh]

Afternoon, gang.

Following on from my previous version of this:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 654#p31654

.....I thought I'd better give it its own topic. The 2022 build has just been released, and it's every bit as good as its predecessor.

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Qoppa Software have streamlined the thing. Where before, it was a hair under 400 MB, it's now well under 300MB.....271MB, to be exact. Still large by Puppy standards, but you've got the ability to fill in interactive forms, annotate, etc, in real-time, modify documents in a "cloud" account.....all things that normally Adobe's monstrosity would be wanted for. For the sheer amount of features you get with the free version, it's worth having on the system.....IF you've got the space for it.

I've been using it since late 2020, and I've been extremely pleased with it.

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For anyone that might be interested, the download is still in the same place:-

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

....and (as always):-

• Download

• Unzip

• Move the 'portable' directory anywhere you want.....though preferably OUTSIDE the 'save'

• Click to enter

• Click the 'LAUNCH' script to run totally as a 'portable'. For greater system integration and ease-of-use, a Menu entry can be added/removed from wherever the portable is located

Hope it's useful for some of you. Enjoy.

Mike.

[rockedge]

@mikewalsh Thanks!!

Found a bug.....when shutting down there are 2 errors that show up, first 1 than the other in sequence which seem related: can't find a file ->

Screenshot(23).jpg (9.96 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

Screenshot(22).jpg (12.58 KiB) Viewed 1156 times

[mikewalsh]

@rockedge :-

Yeah. Heh... That one's a bit unpredictable, Erik. Sometimes it shows up, sometimes it doesn't.

I've never got to the bottom of what it's complaining about, but it seems to make absolutely no difference to functionality, either. It's like the banner in some of the portable Chromium 'clones' - the one that complains about running with "--no-sandbox". It doesn't like it, but it's not going to quit because of it.

Normally, you go to the 'File' tab, and 'EXIT' from there at the bottom of the left sidebar. It doesn't often show up when quitting like that. It's more likely to happen when quitting by hitting the 'X' in the top right corner.

It's one of those minor irritations. You get used to it, and learn to ignore it... (*shrug*)

Mike.

[rockedge]

Funny thing is the first several tries testing it there was no errors at all when shutting down! Then there was....no apparent rhyme or reason

The Tour de France looks painful....nice countryside there in Denmark though

@mikewalsh Just took a look at the system with htop and found that the PDFStudioViewer does NOT shut down. I had to kill it through htop!!!
It seems like it stops the usual way but htop is showing multiple instances that stay onboard even after shutting PDFStudioViewer down

[bigpup]

The details for that first error message:
.

Screenshot(8).jpg (138.02 KiB) Viewed 1124 times

.
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Details of the 2nd error message:
.

Screenshot(9).jpg (32.65 KiB) Viewed 1124 times

[bigpup]

Just took a look at the system with htop and found that the PDFStudioViewer does NOT shut down. I had to kill it through htop!!!
It seems like it stops the usual way but htop is showing multiple instances that stay onboard even after shutting PDFStudioViewer down

See if making this change in the PDFStudioViewer preferences has any affect for you.
This seemed to fix for me, what I think you are talking about.

File -> Preferences -> Application -> Uncheck run in background

For some reason, I had to do this change a few times, before the run in background stayed unchecked.

[mikewalsh]

@bigpup :-

That looks about right, mate. I hadn't found that one, I must admit; we'll see if it helps with processes/RAM usage.

Cheers!

Mike.

[bigpup]

It seems lately, a lot of programs have this preference to run in the background.
Well it will make them start up again very quickly.
But what exactly are the other things it could be doing in the background

Look at what info I found:

PDF Studio Viewer can remain open in the background after the first start to improve launch performance when opening PDF documents.
When "Run in background" is set, PDF Studio Viewer will remain running as a background process until the computer is restarted or the application is quit by going to File > Exit.

I guess they think you are going to use it on a slow operating system, other than Puppy Linux

Here is the complete info on this:
https://kbpdfstudio.qoppa.com/keep-pdf- ... ackground/

They are not too evil.
If you keep run in background checked in the preferences.
They do give a specific way to quit, so it does not stay running in the background.

[rockedge]

Disabling run in the background seems to have solved this. Though I will read up on it following the link provided earlier.

This is exactly what I discovered eventually after looking at htop. It was still running in background after quitting. The following passage bigpup found tells the story ->

Note: This option is not available on the Mac. Applications that run on Mac function differently than other operating systems. On a Mac, applications are not completely quit when the window is closed. Instead the applications main window (or frame) is closed but the application is still running in the background.

On my Bionic64-8 this is the case as well. unchecking the option eliminated the error on this system.

[mikewalsh]

Well; because of the way Puppy runs in RAM during the session, even after closing an application for the first time, re-opening it again during that same session is very fast.....because I'm guessing the memory address pointers are still sitting in a cache, somewhere.....and are not cleared until shutdown clears the RAM?

Kinda makes "running in the background" a moot point for us. And with 32 GB of RAM, I can open a ton of stuff during the course of a session.....and even after closing apps, then perhaps re-opening them again, they're there instantly. At least, they are for me.

(*shrug*)

Anybody else find the same?

Mike.

[rockedge]

I also don't need the background residency. Like @mikewalsh, the PDF documents and any app opening them start so fast natively on the Puppy's I run, especially some of those 32 bit versions.

[mikewalsh]

I also don't need the background residency. Like @mikewalsh, the PDF documents and any app opening them start so fast natively on the Puppy's I run, especially some of those 32 bit versions.

@rockedge :-

I, too, always used to find the 32-bit Puppies that bit more responsive.....especially in the early days of 64-bit development. Of course, that was a learning-curve for us all, especially the Puppy devs involved.

32-bit Pups made the old Compaq rig - first-gen Athlon64, 3 GB DDR1 RAM - seem positively young again, and were wonderfully "instant" compared to every other distro I'd tried. Even ye anciente Dell lappie - P4 and a gig-and-a-half of DDR1 - became acceptably usable again with Puppy. (XP - which the Dell originally came pre-loaded with - was slow when new, and just got slower with time. Even regular re-installs didn't do much to improve matters.) Tahrpup 6.0 CE-6.0.5 suited her down to the ground, and still does.....after semi-officially "retiring" her last year, I've resurrected her once more with none other than Tahrpup 605 again!

Fast-forward to today. My God! If Puppy makes old hardware seem fast again, it's a revelation when run on modern, powerful hardware. "Fast" becomes an understatement with modern gear....."high-velocity" is more like it. Rather like comparing the firing rates of something like an Ingram MAC-10 to an old muzzle loader..! Family members running Win 10 gush about how responsive their machines are. I stand behind them, looking over their shoulder, and think to myself how very pedestrian & stodgy the whole Windoze experience seems.....

It never ceases to amaze me how Microsoft managed to scam an entire generation into thinking their way was "the only way" to do things..!

Personally, I wouldn't swap my current computing experience for all the tea in China. The last 8 years, I've re-discovered the meaning of "fun", compared to the previous 30 some-odd....

(I love peppyy's signature. "Puppy - it just works". Says it all, don't it? )

Mike.

[soniabu]

Afternoon, gang.

For anyone that might be interested, the download is still in the same place:-
https://mega.nz/folder/LHoUQIyR#kgEVwcizy8lkF40SrLAtng

• Click the 'LAUNCH' script to run totally as a 'portable'. For greater system integration and ease-of-use, a Menu entry can be added/removed from wherever the portable is located

Hope it's useful for some of you. Enjoy.
Mike.

works fine in the 64bit Bookworm OS under test
good application and very light.
thx sonia