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Geek Culture / Non installed pdf reader

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Nickydude
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Posted: 29th Sep 2009 01:14
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Hi Guys,

I'm writing a program for the company I work for that needs to externally open pdf files for students to read on various laptops, I can do that fine, as long s Adobe pdf reader is installed.

What I'd like to do is have a pdf reader that can be bundled with the program and that doesn't have to be installed (the whole program and data files are in one folder and is just unzipped) so the program can work on any machine.

Do you guys know of a pdf reader that doesn't have to be installed?



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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 29th Sep 2009 02:24 Edited at: 29th Sep 2009 02:29
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are the laptops all windows based? if so, here's one that looks promising. i appreciate the minimalistic approach and there's no installation required.

from the website:
Quote: "It's designed for portable use: only one file so you can run it from external USB drive. Doesn't write to registry."


i've not tested it nor can i vouch for it but it's open source (check the dev tab) and a place to start.

add: i went to download.com and looked it up. 3 reviews there that might help you decide (links to prior version, 0.9, for reviews).


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Nickydude
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Posted: 29th Sep 2009 02:32 Edited at: 29th Sep 2009 02:32
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Yes, all are Windows based and the pdf viewer you've provided works perfectly!

Thanks V-Nomad.



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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 29th Sep 2009 02:37 Edited at: 29th Sep 2009 02:37
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you're welcome

worth looking at this one, too, since it received 4.5/5 stars by "the editor" there and seems to have been developed for awhile longer. the file is actually a bit smaller and still touts "no installation necessary", plus it's been downloaded (and reviewed) by many more users. i'll leave the feature comparisons up to you


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BearCDP
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Posted: 30th Sep 2009 02:29
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Hmm, haven't seen Sumatra. But, I know CoolPDF isn't as consistent as it could be with some documents. Foxit has a portable version last I checked.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 30th Sep 2009 03:57 Edited at: 30th Sep 2009 03:57
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I use FoxIt, can't remember if it needs to be installed or not but it's way quicker than Adobe.

If you write your program in Java, you can make your own.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 30th Sep 2009 09:15
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Just shoot the idiot who thought using PDF was a good idea.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 1st Oct 2009 01:31
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hehe, I'm with Nex.

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BearCDP
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Posted: 1st Oct 2009 03:03 Edited at: 1st Oct 2009 03:04
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I PDFs tho . . .
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Nickydude
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Posted: 1st Oct 2009 04:16
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Quote: "I PDFs tho . . . "


As do I...http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=131868&b=21. I've written many a pdf manual for work.



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JoelJ
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Posted: 1st Oct 2009 04:45
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I hate PDFs. Especially when they're used for basic things.

For example: Apple had a link for iPod Touch users using the iPhone SDK. It was to a pdf for a one line command needed to be copied/pasted to the terminal and executed.

I hate it. But for e-books and similar, I think it's just fine.

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BearCDP
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2009 04:33
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I'll definitely give you that one, that's a tad unnecessary. PDFs can be annoying when they're wasting disk space on something that has no need for being easily printable or formatted in a special way.
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