Richard L Walker wrote:
>
> How on earth do you create those pdf documents?
I know this isn't really an ABC subject, but since PDF is becoming the
standard format for tranfering a huge variety of different documents, it
might be of interest.
Laura has already answered how these particular PDF documents were
created, here are a few other ways to do it:
Adobe of course expects you to buy Acrobat Distiller to create PDF
files. This is the most flexible and powerful solution, of course, but
the application is rather expensive.
That's why most people today seem to use GhostScript, a free postscript
reader available for all major platforms. The main GhostScript page is at:
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html
GhostScript does not support bookmarks and other fancy PDF functions,
but it does make good basic PDF documents from postscript files. The
problem for most Windows and MAcintosh users is to get postscript files
in the first place (I understand postscript is more or less standard in
the Linux/Unix environment). This is fairly simple when it comes to ABC,
but other documents might be more difficult. Windows users might want to
try FreePDF ( http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/freepdf.htm ), although the
program's home page says: "Configuration of the programs requires
comprehension and some effort on your part."
Macintosh users have a very easy way out. PrintToPDF, located at:
http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html
PrintToPDF is a shareware ($20) virtual printer. It works exactly like a
normal printer, but instead of printing the document on paper, it
creates a PDF file. Unlike GhostScript, PrintToPDF has limited bookmarks
and hyperlink support. PrintToPDF is available in English, French,
Germanm Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Japanese. Installing and using the
program is as simple as it can possibly be, so I'll recommend the
program to all Macintosh users.
As far as I know, there are no similar programs for other platforms :(
but maybe somebody else know of something?
Frank Nordberg
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