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Adobe Releases Acrobat Client for Linux

Posted by samzenpus on Thu Apr 14, 2005 07:00 AM
from the free-pdf dept.
DanMan writes "Adobe has released a reader client (Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0) for the linux operating system. No news on open sourcing the client, but they're making a start. You can download the client from their site."
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  • a start? (Score:3, Informative)

    by R.D.Olivaw (826349) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:02AM (#12232130)
    How is this making a start? Acrobat reader 6 didn't count?
    • Re:a start? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Götz (18854) <waschkNO@SPAMgmx.net> on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:03AM (#12232140) Homepage
      There was no Acrobat reader 6 on Linux, that release was skipped. The last version before 7 was 5.0.10.
    • Re:a start? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Apreche (239272) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:10AM (#12232196) Homepage Journal
      AFAIK Acrobat Reader 6 was never released for Linux. Because of this Linux users had to either use the deplorable acroread (Reader 5) or other open source pdf viewers like xpdf, gpdf, etc. All of which were far from perfect. Most of which were painful to use. And none of which supported all the features of newer pdf files like editing forms and such.

      This Acrobat Reader 7 is significant because its the first quality and full featured Linux pdf viewer. It also shows that Adobe aknowledges the existence and importance of Linux and that the demands and complaints made against them about the situation did not go unanswered.
      • Re:a start? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Jonny_eh (765306) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:32AM (#12232354)
        Not to mention that it now supports a decent graphics library. It's not ugly anymore, now I believe it uses GTK2. Which means it looks consistent on most desktops with other apps. The previous acroread 5 used it's own graphics library which made it look very inconsistent with other programs.
        • Re:a start? (Score:5, Informative)

          by dmaxwell (43234) on Thursday April 14 2005, @08:05AM (#12232628)
          However I haven't found a kpdf firefox plugin so I'm using acrobat reader.

          Try mozplugger. It will embed most any X proggy into a Firefox or Mozilla window.
    • key mapping! (Score:3, Informative)

      I hope they actually bother paying attention to my mouse preferences. Version 5 ignores my scroll wheel and it uses clunky Motif widgets (bleagh). More likely they'll only use the opportunity include some of the more unpleasant misfeatures like spying. Xix.
      • > ... like spying

        Checked. They've added EcmaScript to the pdf, now it's possible to call websites with that. I think I read right here on ./ about a company that offers pdf tracking.
  • Great (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:03AM (#12232137)
    I've tried it - it's slower than a retarded kid hopped up on goofballs tired to a tree.
    • You just need to go in the installation directory, then in the Plugins subdirectory and remove EVERYTHING BUT these 3 files (just move them somewhere else so you can put them back if you have a problem)

      EWH32.api
      Search5.api
      Search.api

      after I did that and disabled the splash screen Acrobat reader 7 loads up nearly instantaneously on XP. I'm not taking credit for this, I found this tip somewhere I can't quite remember right now and it surely works!

  • 37Mb??!?!?! (Score:5, Informative)

    by phunkymunky (725609) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:04AM (#12232144) Homepage
    37Mb RPM?! I think i'll just stick with gpdf...
    • Re:37Mb??!?!?! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:36AM (#12232380)
      Gpdf is deprecated, use Evince instead.
      It is much much faster, has thumbnails and can search the pdf.

      The only things its missing to catch up with kpdf 3.4 is remembering the site you were, bookmarks, and continous/doublepage -mode.
  • Direct link (Score:3, Informative)

    by xtracto (837672) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:07AM (#12232169) Journal
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:09AM (#12232181)
    The front page five minutes ago should have read: "The next Slashdot story was ready two weeks ago, and subscribers can kick themselves for giving us their money!"
  • by deacon (40533) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:09AM (#12232193) Journal
    Any release of commercial software for Linux is good, and Adobe should be thanked for doing this.

    I have used Xpdf exclusively for a long time. In what way is Adobe reader superior to Xpdf?

  • by dAzED1 (33635) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:11AM (#12232207) Homepage Journal
    No news on open sourcing the client, but they're making a start

    What the hell? So is every commercial company out there just supposed to release everything as open source? Good grief Charlie Brown...why would they do that?

    There are plenty of Open Source options for reading pdf's. There's no reason to expect/demand that a commercial software company should open source their products. I mean, come on people...enough is enough.
    • by CarpetShark (865376) on Thursday April 14 2005, @08:45AM (#12233003)

      Well, actually, in this case, yes. Acrobat Reader is just that: a READER. It's doesn't hurt them to release it. In fact, it would bolster sales of their actual product: Acrobat. But more importantly, it's supposed to be a cross-platform format, and if they want to support that, they need to make an open, cross-platform reader.

      Linux is more than just Linux/x86 on one or two distros, and open source is the easiest way to provide products for all of Linux. So they still have a long way to go before they've even done what this article suggests: releasing a Linux version of Reader.

  • Speedy (Score:5, Funny)

    by Frogbert (589961) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [trebgorf]> on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:12AM (#12232216)
    I downloaded, installed and ran it a couple of hours ago. I expect it to be done loading real soon now.
  • by Raul654 (453029) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:13AM (#12232217) Homepage
    Pdfs are Unfit for human consumption [useit.com]
    • by Mr_Silver (213637) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:54AM (#12232503)
      Pdfs are Unfit for human consumption [useit.com]

      For those that can't be bothered to read it, in short, PDF's are designed for printing documents whilst preserving the original formatting as the author intended. Jacob therefore asserts that they're "unfit for human consumption" if you try and use them for something different to their intended purpose, in this case, online reading.

      Next week Jacob will be telling us how washing machines are great for keeping your clothes clean but not very good for making cups of tea.

  • by iamacat (583406) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:14AM (#12232223)
    PDF format is open and there are a number of open source viewers for Linux. I don't think it's that important that Adobe open source their reader or even port it at all. This is just one extra option, no big news for us.
  • Spyware, Encumbered? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Speare (84249) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:15AM (#12232230) Homepage
    There's been recent talk about new document "tracking" features that require a call home to read, and other stupid "smart data" junk which require a blackbox client. If Adobe expects me to run their spyware on my Linux machine, they have another think coming.
  • by DrXym (126579) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:19AM (#12232257)
    If you want open source, use Ghostscript. I assume (and they probably do too) that to open source part of one of their most lucrative product lines would commercial suicide. It's not like the file format is closed because it isn't [adobe.com].
  • by Spoing (152917) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:19AM (#12232258) Homepage
    For me, v.7 is slick and hasn't crashed. Good job Adobe!

    v.5 did crash quite a bit, esp. the browser plugin. Very frustrating. It was comparitively ugly too.

  • For Debian users... (Score:5, Informative)

    by kbmccarty (575443) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .ytraccmk.> on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:21AM (#12232265) Homepage Journal

    Christian Marillat has made available unofficial Debian packages of Acrobat 7 since a few weeks now. On sarge or sid, add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main
    deb-src http://perso.wanadoo.fr/debian/ unstable main

    Then it's as easy as apt-get update; apt-get install acroread mozilla-acroread. This gives you the core functionality and Web browser plugin. (Incidentally, there are a bunch of other useful unofficial debs there, including mplayer and lame.)

    You can also install the Javascript plugin and a whole bunch of other Acrobat plugins with apt-get install acroread-plugins. However, be aware that some plugins may report back to the mother ship: LWN article [lwn.net]. Also, they will eat another 43 MB of disk space.

  • by Idaho (12907) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:21AM (#12232266)
    Be sure to read this article [lwn.net] before you install the reader.

    The software contains functionality that could cause serious privacy concerns - it is possible to include a tracking mechanism in PDF's, readers that this great 'feature' will then contact some website and keep track of how many people read that document.
  • by MosesJones (55544) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:23AM (#12232287) Homepage
    I know this is Slashdot and all. But if people expect that everytime a company releases a product for Linux that they MUST OpenSource it or they have "only made a start" then there will never be a market for Linux.

    So if Adobe released Photoshop for Linux should they OpenSource it? Are Oracle "only making a start" by supporting Linux because they don't Open Source their database ?

    Wake up people. This is good news that people consider Linux a platform worth supporting. This isn't the "start" this is the game.
  • by diegocgteleline.es (653730) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:26AM (#12232314)

    READ this before installing it: http://lwn.net/Articles/129729/ [lwn.net]

    Remote Approach's reporting did not work when we viewed the document with Kpdf, Xpdf and Adobe Reader 5.0.10. It also failed using Apple's "Preview" application on Mac OS X. The document was still viewable with no apparent glitch in other PDF readers, but the reporting function did not work. However, when we opened the file using Adobe Acrobat Reader 7, Remote Approach started logging views from our IP address. After doing a little research, we found that Adobe's Reader was connecting to http://www.remoteapproach.com/remoteapproach/loggi ng.asp each time we opened the document

    (Easy fix: Assign a IP which doesn't work ie: 0.0.0.1 to www.remoteapproach.com in your /etc/hosts)

  • I prefer xpdf (Score:3, Insightful)

    by OrangeTide (124937) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:30AM (#12232336) Homepage Journal
    I don't know what's so exciting about acroread or whatever. xpdf seems to have a pretty reasonable, if spartan, interface. Cut and paste doesn't work unless you hack it up a bit to side-step PDF's "protections". I tend to run non-x86 Linux systems, so binary only applications aren't as attractive to me anyways.
  • It's a real nice application using GTK, except you don't get to choose from the list of printers; the only thing there is a textfield in which you'll have to add -Pprintername if you want to print to another-than-your-default printer.

    Also, (minor), the background color of the button bar doesn't adhere to the theme your desktop is set to. It's a darkish grey, not the lightgrey that's default on RedHat or Debian.

  • by matt me (850665) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:42AM (#12232419)
    the same happened when nero released a version for linux. rather than being appreciated for at last acknowledging the existence of linux, they were shunted for not being 'open' enough, and their product denounced inferior to the free alternative (k3b v nero).

    don't moan that companies aren't trying to provide for linux users, if when they do release a product, you write bad reviews of it and criticise their attempts to get closer to a userbase they know little about, and can even fear.
  • Security (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CypherXero (798440) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:47AM (#12232444) Homepage
    Many people are missing the big picture with Adobe Acrobat. (I freelance graphics) When I send a client a preview of the artwork, I use a combination of XMP, hand-built watermark by myself, and the security of Adobe PDF files. I can choose if someone is allowed to print or not, and I can restrict all modifications to it. So with all three security elements in place, I'm able to manage and control my work, without having to worry about them taking it and not paying.
  • For those like me who just cannot stand that brightly colored distraction at the top of the app:

    Drag any toolbar button on the line with the flashy advertisement down about half its height. This will make a new bar with only that button on it.

    Next, drag the rest of the buttons down to the new bar.

    Once the last button is moved to the new bar, the old one (and the flashy ad with it!) will disappear and your new ad-less toolbar will move up to replace it.

    Locking the toolbars here will prevent it from returning the next time you start the app.
    • Re:DUPE!!! (Score:3, Informative)

      Yeah, I grabbed it that same day too...

      It was already released then...

      Still, they didn't mention the download location then, so I suppose it counts as the second half of the article with a generous portion of laziness in between.
    • Oh, come on, give 'em a break.

      It's been almost a whole three weeks since that earth-shattering story... I'm sure most /.'ers totally forgot it.

      Besides, as one TV network exec once said, defending reruns, something to the effect of "If you didn't see it first time, it's new to you!!"
    • Re:DUPE!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by metricmusic (766303) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:19AM (#12232259) Homepage Journal
      The difference is it is now officially announced while previously someone 'discovered' it on their site. Adobe couldve claimed it was a test, beta product and not given any support for it at all. Now Adobe must stand behind the product it has made, and linux users can now say another big official app has joined their platform of choice.

      Now if only Adobe would bring Photoshop over as well...
      • Re:DUPE!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jellomizer (103300) * on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:28AM (#12232326)
        Now if only Adobe would bring Photoshop over as well...

        Well lets start with Acrobat writter, first. Porting Reader 7 is not a glowing support for Linux it is just a way to make sure PDFs stay in common usage. With Acrobat Reader 5 Getting very out of date and not as compatible as it was before. They need to give an update to the "Little OSs". It is just a way for them to go Yea almost any modern computer can read PDFs v7 and incorage companies to upgrade to Writer 7. This is not Adobee going HEY WE LOVE LINUX! it is more Ug I guess we need to throw Linux a bone here just so we can sell new versions of the writter.
        • Re:DUPE!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

          by MynockGuano (164259) <{hyperactiveChip ... {at} {gmail.com}> on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:50AM (#12232468)
          If you've used the program, you'll note that it's extremely complete in terms of interface. Hardly an effort worth taking for just one free app on platforms where a simple display of the .pdf would suffice for most people. I wouldn't count the possibility of future Adobe products for Linux out just yet. They did a great deal of the underlying interface structure--arguably the hardest common ground between programs; they'd be insane not to reuse it.
    • Re:I... (Score:3, Informative)

      It has a button in the upper right corner which opens a browser where you can buy books, it also has some form of Yahoo search in it. I try to keep my computer as clean as possible from commercial interests and this program is borderline. 99% of the time gpdf works fine anyway.

      emerge -C for you acrobat.
    • Re:It seems to me... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Dot.Com.CEO (624226) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:21AM (#12232270)
      The PDF format is open. You can print to PDF off every platform and office suite except Office on Windows.
        • by Dot.Com.CEO (624226) on Thursday April 14 2005, @09:10AM (#12233283)
          Well, if a company says "here [adobe.com] is the specification, you have a licence to implement it in whichever way you want as long as it passes standard test A", I don't know, but that actually is the definition of a standard.

          I know that most slashdotters live in their own la-la land where everything is ascii and png but for real people in the real world who want to do work on a Linux workstation, Adobe's reader is a brilliant solution to a real problem.

          Also, might I remind you that postscript is an Adobe technology.

    • by Geeky (90998) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:22AM (#12232278)
      Reverse engineer pdf? I thought you could download the spec of the pdf format from Adobe's site. They also publish the spec of the tiff format, and are behind the new digital negative format that is an effort to replace proprietory digital camera RAW formats with an open format.

      Closed programs, open formats is, to my mind, a reasonable compromise for a commercial organisation.
      • by TheRaven64 (641858) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:22AM (#12232275) Homepage Journal
        Not to mention the far more important fact:

        The full PDF specification is available for free download from Adobe's web site. It's in PDF format, so in the worst case you would need to use their (free beer. Mmm. Free beer...) software to print it, but there is nothing stopping you from writing your own software to create or display PDFs. By doing this, they have helped make PDF a common standard, and associated the name Adobe with PDF. I work with PDFs a lot - I read and review material in PDF format, create PDF documents from LaTeX including images and diagrams saved as PDFs, and I don't use a single Adobe product.

    • Re:old (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Which fanboy are you?
      1. Windows

        You wear wraparound sunglasses, even indoors. You wish your mother would let you ride a motorbike. You tell your friends you're pulling in $50,000 a year and $2,000 a month "playing the stock market" but in reality you're only bringing in half that and your dividends from MSFT havn't been good in years. Your non computing friends all turn to you for help; you only charge $30 an hour. Your collegues talk about you behind your back. Your workplace nickname is likely to
    • by koh (124962) on Thursday April 14 2005, @07:24AM (#12232291) Journal
      Nice try, you miserable cut&paste clod.

      For the record, your post is basically a complete rip of this post [slashdot.org] by El Cubano [slashdot.org] with a couple of lines stacked in front of it. Moderators, please act accordingly.

      I do not think behavior such as yours should be encouraged. Actually, I hope you'll reincarnate into some exotic frog, SCO techie, or worse.