GP2X Pdf Format Docs?

[craigix]

I'm interested in writing a (fast) PDF viewer, however I can't seem to find some easy to follow documents on the file format and how it works, does anyone know where there are any?

I also thought we could throw around some ideas on here about the fastest way to render PDF on the gp2x once we have the format basics.

Thanks,

Craig

 

[Vimacs]

didn't !reader at gp32 support basi pdf?
I think it just drew the formatted text and didn't care about the gfx, should be pretty fast that way.

 

[craigix]

Yeah that is along the lines I want to go, but I also think that the graphics should be able to render pretty fast if written from scratch and using some clever tricks etc. trying to find an easy to read doc format however is a little harder

 

[Squidge]

Have you tried Adobe's reference guides?

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer..._reference.html

 

[craigix]

I've actually been reading through them and also just looking at PDFs i've made in a hex editor, I like the idea of supporting text only first and moving from there. The 'official' docs are just a bit bulky and over complex.

 

[Squidge]

Yup, it's always best to use the official docs as "reference material", and seeing what features people actually use, rather than trying to do everything by the book.

 

[sehs33]

mmmm....
Would this help?

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showt...mp;#entry487987

 

[Blah]

Convert to HTML -> read in Links -> done.

 

[craigix]

Has anyone used that viewer? I just imagined since adobies 'official' viewer for the PC is pig slow then there mobile version would be ass too.

 

[Muncher666]

Convert to HTML -> read in Links -> done.

To be honest, I find Links2x very slow and clunky.. but more to the point, a lot of PDFs are just made by people scanning in pages and converting it like that - which makes the HTML conversion fairly useless.

Allan.

 

[sehs33]

I am using Adobe Reader 2.0 for poket PC now, and it is actually very usable, now the LE version should be much better if compiled to run on GP2X because it runs on S60 mobile phones right now and people are using it.

PDF to html is not a solution, it is a walk around again, and let us put it this way, if any one would do the best PDF reader, it is Adobe, because they know the specifications better than anyone else, I have tried many solutions to read PDF files on my PC, but when they are fast they tend to drop some stuff of my files.

Now I will have to look for a direct link to download the code, either this or no one will take a look at it

 

[craigix]

I use foxit reader on the PC it is blazingly fast and smooth.

I think there are even faster viewers too - as long as you can read the document I don't think it matters how it goes about rendering it - we are dealing with a lores screen anyway, it's going to cut some corners either way.

Are you sure Adobe have the source for their mini-reader?

 

[sehs33]

That is what they say, am asking on their forums now for all the needed details regarding the code and the licensing, but am not getting any official replies from them yet, will keep everyone updated on what comes of this.

 

[Trip]

I use foxit reader on the PC it is blazingly fast and smooth.

I always keep a copy of the zip version of Foxit on my sdcards, ipod & spare memory stick. Comes in very handy

I'm really hoping for even half decent PDF viewing soon, just so I can download & read the game manuals from here!

Looking forward to any info you can get hold of sehs33

 

[Squidge]

if any one would do the best PDF reader, it is Adobe, because they know the specifications better than anyone

If thats the case, care to tell me why I have several PDFs here that open fine in Acrobat 5, but just display blank pages when opened in Acrobat 6? I can imagine the other way around (unsupported features and the like), but it just seems like they have implemented every possible feature into there reader apart from the basic functionality of actually displaying pdf's correctly!

Maybe we should have a compo - see who can make the leanest and fastest PDF reader

 

[Blah]

How about a competition to see who can write a simple one the fastest? A race of sorts.

 

[craigix]

Reading the text side isn't too hard and can be done almost instantly, the graphics and formatting is another story.

There are some open source PDF readers which claim to be really fast, they might be a quick solution.

Does anyone use http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/ ?

 

[dodgyville]

Reading the text side isn't too hard and can be done almost instantly, the graphics and formatting is another story.

There are some open source PDF readers which claim to be really fast, they might be a quick solution.

Does anyone use http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/ ?

If it's the xpdf that's packaged for debian, then I've used it quite a bit and it's v. good.

 

[sehs33]

if any one would do the best PDF reader, it is Adobe, because they know the specifications better than anyone

If thats the case, care to tell me why I have several PDFs here that open fine in Acrobat 5, but just display blank pages when opened in Acrobat 6? I can imagine the other way around (unsupported features and the like), but it just seems like they have implemented every possible feature into there reader apart from the basic functionality of actually displaying pdf's correctly!

Maybe we should have a compo - see who can make the leanest and fastest PDF reader

Am not an Adobe fan but I can tell you why you had this, it is not a problem with the readers, it is a problem with your file, many applications exist nowa days that create PDF files, during the process of creation they ignore adding some data to the files because they don't understand its importance (some even call that optimization because the files size gets decreased :lol: ), these bytes they ignore are needed for recent versions of the reader, I have seen this happen also in Flash, in my company we generate a lot of SWF files using our own applications, and whenever we edit one of these apps we test the SWF files they generate on all versions of Flash player, so again the problem is in your files, but if they were generated by an Adobe product and didn't work in recent readers, that is going be a first time I hear of something simillar.

 

[Muncher666]

Anything ever come of this, Craig?

Allan.