Last Updated on April 1, 2022 by KC7NYR
Topic for Jan. 11, 2018
What is a PDF?
Format, from Adobe Systems
- Intended for exchanging documents independent of application programs.
- The PDF combines three technologies: (source: Wikipedia)
- A subset of the
PostScriptpage description programming language, for generating the layout and graphics. Apple LaserWriter
- A font-embedding/replacement system to allow fonts to travel with the documents.
- A structured storage system to bundle these elements and any associated content into a single file, with data compression where appropriate.
- A subset of the
- PDF is a
binary format, not text. Can be read and displayed always, but searching and editing depend on its origins as
- Need OCR to get text from an image.
- The PDF specification is an ISO standard, free for anyone to use, so many tools have been developed to work with PDF documents.
PDFs in Amateur Radio
- Manuals e.g. Icom
- Schematics. Saw a lot of GIFs in the past, few now
- Specs & sales literature
- Books, magazine articles: QST articles, ARRL Handbook
- “Linux not supported” — what to do
- Adobe Reader
- Evince, etc. Search for
- Command-line tools
pdfgreputility to search (Web article) [NOTE: installed on
- Because they are
independent of any application program, PDFs are ideal for exchanging information. Avoid all the hassle of proprietary formats.
- LibreOffice and other applications can save their files in PDF format (e.g., Musescore)
- Conversion from other formats
ps2pdf– Convert PostScript to PDF
chm2pdf– A Python script, converts MS CHM help files
gscan2pdf– GUI produces PDFs or DjVus from scanned images
trml2pdf– Converter of Report Markup Language (RML)
webkit2pdf– export web pages to PDF files or printer (GUI)
pandoc– handles multiple formats, including docx, ePub, https://pandoc.org
rst2pdf– ReportLab-based reStructuredText to PDF re
- MediaWiki, HTML
- markdowntopdf Web site convert markdown files to PDF online
- ImageMagick can convert image files to PDF from command line
- Inkscape graphics program saves as PDF and PS
Editing Tools for PDF Files
- Editing can be difficult or impossible, depending on the nature of the PDF
- PDF toolkit howto: https://www.linux.com/learn/manipulating-pdfs-pdf-toolkit
This subject is far too large to cover here. To find more information, run a Web search for
linux pdf + what you want to do: edit, create, etc.
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