Comments on: Adobe Reader v3 Released

Adobe has released Adobe Reader for Palm OS, version 3.0, a free software that allows users to read, navigate and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The latest version adds support for viewing additional Adobe PDF content, such as photographs and eBooks with added DRM security, and adds the ability to print over a wireless network.
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version 3??

kozmos @ 5/28/2003 11:49:59 AM #
Same cr*p as v2 and v1 - still can not read native pdf files, still slow, user interface still as bad as before... I installed and uninstalled it in 5 minutes.
RE: version 3??
sixty-four @ 5/28/2003 11:54:24 AM #
Native PDF support would be great but not critical for me. What kills this reader is the horrendously slow performance. It's too bad an ARM-optimized version wasn't available. That and hi-res/hi-density support would turn this dogturd of a program into something people could actually use.

----
Forty Six and 2 are just ahead of me
RE: version 3??
peitron @ 5/28/2003 12:44:47 PM #
Yep, interface sucks, it's kinda slow and takes forever to covert pdf files. Not even a hi-res icon to at least make it a bit more appealing.

_____________________________________________
"Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?" - Groucho Marx
RE: version 3??
rsc1000 @ 5/28/2003 3:34:09 PM #
>>Yep, interface sucks, it's kinda slow and takes forever to covert pdf files. Not even a hi-res icon to at least make it a bit more appealing.

Yeah - its kinda silly maybe, but i find it annoying to have a hi-res device and see a low-res icon in the launcher (hey adobe - do you want me to send you a hi-res bitmap of yr icon along with the 2 step instructions on how to add it to yr app?). It's especially annoying when it is a major app vendor like adobe AND their app is included with the tungsten (at least the T|T - dont know about T|C or T|W). But the icon is the least of the problems: where's the high-res support in the damned app? Why so s-l-o-w? OK - im not so critical of the lack of native pdf support - Acrobat is a big bloated, slow, resource hogging beast even on a newer desktop. But if its not going to have native pdf support, and instead rely on 'conversion' - then we should definitely get the benefit of much better performance as a result of this 'dumbing down' of the pdf format through conversion.

WebClipping Software

kenyoung @ 5/28/2003 12:00:39 PM #
When you try to print out of reader 3.0, it is asking for webclipping software. I am using a Tungsten T--is there webclipping software for PalmOS 5.0?

Ken

DRM Security...feature?

DWD @ 5/28/2003 1:02:15 PM #
"with added DRM security"

This is stated like it DRM (Digital Right Management) is always a user benefiting feature. Perhaps. But, it's just as likely somewhere between an annoyance and what should be an illegal restrain on innocent personal fair use. Perhaps not. But, "DRM security" does not scream "feature" to me.

RE: DRM Security...feature?
Fammy @ 5/28/2003 4:06:39 PM #
Added feature as in you couldn't read all those PDF eBooks you bought until version 3.0. Now, DRM is a benfit/feature, but not for the user...

Somehow I doubt you bought too many protected eBooks.

_____
Fammy

Too slow to be of any value

sgingras @ 5/28/2003 1:04:52 PM #
While I applaud Adobe for making this software available for Palm devices, the performance of the software is completely unacceptable. The Palm Acrobat Reader client is far too slow for the product to have any value in my opinion. I no longer view PDF files as an acceptable document format for my Palm. I suppose that is Adobe's loss since I am managing to survive nicely using Docs to Go and the Palm Reader. :)

Turning the client into feature-rich bloatware completely misses the boat. I have uninstalled the client and will not reinstall until Adobe addresses the real missing feature – being able to cycle through pages in near real time.

RE: Too slow to be of any value
blueBlade @ 5/28/2003 1:13:34 PM #
wait until you use the PPC version. It doesn't even clean up after itself after creating several MBs of temp files. Yes it open natively but it's dog slow. Repligo is a much better choice. (hell anything is better choise, even .jpeg picture I say)
RE: Too slow to be of any value
ggeoffre @ 7/18/2003 5:38:19 PM #
Yes, I must agree that RepliGo is a much better PDF viewing solution. I particularly like the ability to view the document in a "Flowed" view which intelligently displays the document's text to fit the screen.

RepliGo is a better product

gilbas99 @ 5/28/2003 1:10:28 PM #
RepliGo is a better product. It retains document formatting and you can print via infrared. Plus, you can take anything that can be printed on a Desktop on your Palm

RE: RepliGo is a better product
ecard @ 5/28/2003 1:34:23 PM #
The problem I have/had with RepliGo is that you can not search on words. It's only a image of the document.

RE: RepliGo is a better product
treo007 @ 5/28/2003 1:37:50 PM #
Picsel Viewer is even better. Of course you need a Clie to own a copy....

Picsel: Don't know what you're agreement is with Sony, but please, please release Viewer for the rest of us.

RE: RepliGo is a better product
Kesh @ 5/28/2003 4:04:47 PM #
I can't stand Piscel. The interface is atrocious, and I still haven't been able to find all the files to delete them from my Clie!

Try Reding PDF files with iSilo

rickyspears @ 5/28/2003 1:51:25 PM #
I did some research a few months ago and posted an article on my web site about how to read PDF files with iSilo. It doesn't convert graphics, but if you just need the text, it is much better and faster than the Palm OS version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. I've also talked with the developer of iSilo and he is planning to incorporate PDF conversion capability into iSiloX in the future.

You can see how I do it in my article at:
http://rickyspears.com/articles/convert_pdf_for_isilo.html
or
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y51F52AB4


Thanks,
Ricky
------------------------
The stylus is mightier than the pen!

Picsel.

jamesgood72 @ 5/28/2003 1:39:31 PM #
Picsel Viewer works very well for the small number of doucments that I've tried, on my TG50.

Adobe isn't really doing the Palm platform a favour by releasing sub-standard software, when it's obviously possible to create something decent.

-James.

Adobe ebooks

tl47 @ 5/28/2003 2:39:43 PM #
The only real benefit in this new version is the ability to read Adobe's ebooks. Peanutpress/Palmdigitalmedia is good, but then, some publishers have decided to only support Adobe/MS's format. This version actually works with the ebooks, such as those from amazon.com and bn.com (Adobe's format only, of course).

RE: Adobe ebooks
fyock @ 5/28/2003 3:31:10 PM #
>some publishers have decided to only support Adobe/MS's format

What publishers have decided not to support our (Palm Digital Media) format? I'm not aware of any major publishers, at least.


Lee


RE: Adobe ebooks
tl47 @ 5/28/2003 10:26:22 PM #
Well, let's put it this way:

There are very few selection of technical books. Try McGrawHill books for one example.

How about say, the Self-Teaching Guide series.

And even publishers that support PalmReader, like Cliff Notes... what about Cliff's QuickReview Series of books?

Some of these are important to me, some, not so much --- but probably important to some others.

I really really dislike Adobe's DRM system. If Peanutpress/Palmdigitalmedia can get more technical books available, I'll be very very happy. BTW, I have bought probably almost 30 books from Peanutpress thus far... I am fairly happy, but I think the software can use some updates: highlighting, comments, etc... would be good --- and try to keep that purchase price for PalmReader Pro down :). I noticed an increase of a few bucks.

Would not even install on Tungsten C

Be_True @ 5/28/2003 7:06:55 PM #
It said that my Palm Desktop is too old and that I should install V4.0

I am using the latest Palm desktop.
Version 4.1 that came with the Tungsten C.

Nice programming -- NOT!

-Chris


RE: Would not even install on Tungsten C
tclark @ 5/28/2003 7:31:53 PM #
Me, too. I also have a Tungsten C with Palm Desktop 4.1.
However, having read the entire page of negative reviews, I am going
to delete Adobe Reader version 3 without another thought.

RE: Would not even install on Tungsten C
Sirk @ 5/28/2003 11:33:26 PM #
Same problem on my T as well, but after the above comments I guess that was a good thing it wouldn't install. Hope isilo gets PDF support that would be ideal.

RE: Would not even install on Tungsten C
kocher @ 6/2/2003 7:14:18 AM #
This problem has been seen when the palm data directory
has been changed from its default to something else.
A work-around is described below. Please try this and
let me know if it doesn't work for you.

1. Start the "Palm Desktop" application on your PC
2. Select the "Tools" menu "Options" menu item to get a dialog.
3. Select the "General" tab; in the "Data Directory" item, change the data directory (back) to the directory that contains the "Palm.exe" file. (This is usually "c:\Program Files\palm" or "c:\program files\handspring").
(If you didn't change your data directory or it already has 'palm.exe' in it, then your problem was something else.)
4. Now install Adobe Reader for Palm OS 3.0
5. Now you can change your data directory back to its previous value.

Note that when you change your data directory in the palm desktop application, it actually moves all of your palm desktop files. It is a good idea to hotsync first before doing this action.

Can't Delete Adobe v3 without a Hard Reset

gavinfabl @ 5/29/2003 9:10:33 AM #
Like everyone else, I installed version 3 hoping for something amazing. It wasn't. It was slow, slow and the PDB files were huge. I use Repligo. Much more versatile, faster etc...

Anyway, when I opted to delete program I realized that there must have been another part.

There was , the print .prc file at 84kb. You cannot delete this. In the end I did a hard reset.

How to make faster!

Lucan @ 5/29/2003 12:13:08 PM #
Buy a Tungsten C. I have a large pdf file with images on my C, and the reader flips pages in about 1 second. Still, low res is awful!! I agree Repligo is much nicer. I only keep Acrobat Reader on my palm so I can view pdfs that come via attachments in an email. How well does the Docs to Go Professional pdf reader render?

Lucan

News Release/Buggy

MSTCrowT @ 5/30/2003 4:30:14 PM #
Why did Palm Infocenter copy and paste a news release? It's more than evident. Also, I downloaded Acrobat Reader 6.0 for Windows and Acrobat Reader 3.0 for Palm OS yesterday, quite buggy. AR 6.0 has strange issues installing itself, and AR 3.0 Palm doesn't even bother to delete previous versions. It just clumps itself in the same memory block, so you can't delete one without deleting the other.

What a joke..

dgerard @ 6/1/2003 10:08:55 PM #
I've been playing around with the Acrobat reader for Palm for two weeks now. I have yet to find any pdf that doesn't result in the screen that warns about not having the correct tagging for Palm format, blah blah blah. So, I go to Adobe's website to read about the new features of the 3.0 reader and I decide to go to their ebooks site and download their file "Why Choose Adobe PDF ebooks." Guess what? Even that file is created on an earlier version of Acrobat and is not tagged for the Palm properly. Ha Ha. What an embarrassment on Adobe's behalf.

T3 Full Screen pdf files?

cba3215 @ 1/12/2004 11:32:24 PM #
I tried the new version (which came with my T3) only to find out that it dosent even support the full screen. Docs to Go works if you only need the text, but Ive been trying to get comics to work, and it says "this page may be images only", no pics. Repligo works, but not well, i have to zoom in to read it, then zoom back out to change the page with the navagation button on my T3. Any suggestions?

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