Paper vs. Plastic (er... I mean digital plastic... paper...you know what I mean)

I am often a hard sell when it comes to taking away something I am used to. Even when data sheets started coming out in PDF, it took me a while before I got to like it. Mostly, it took the computers getting fast enough that I could breeze through the docs like I could with paper. Not withstanding the issues of being captive by Adobe for their crappy tools, the whole thing works pretty well.

One thing I have always missed, is being able to take a data sheet I am reading with me into the library... you know what I mean, right? Come on, you do it too, so just admit it. I can't do that with a PDF unless I run the printer for 10 minutes beforehand.

I just discovered another reason not to like PDF data sheets. I can make notations on a paper copy about calculations or thoughts on how to use it in my design. I can do that with PDF as well since Adobe provided means to make notations. But Adobe also gave the authors security features that can preclude my use of these features. Sometimes they forget to lock the protection so that all you need to do is to turn it off! But others... (I won't mention names Cirrus) seem to be so paranoid that they have total security locked down and I can't even print it to another PDF file which I thought I might be able to notate.

Heck, one of the things I would do at one of the companies I used to work for was when submitting a part to be added to the approved component list, a copy of the data sheet was sent along with the company part number displayed across the front page. Seems some companies don't like having writing on their foreheads.

Is it just me or are the component companies anti-engineer?

Reply to
rickman
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Have you tried using the 'gs' tools (ghostscript and friends)? pdf->ps and manipulate to your hearts content (also pdf->dsc, and perhaps some new conversions I haven't seen) and then do ps->pdf for a notatable and open document.

Regards,

Michael

Reply to
msg

You mean the meditation room, right ?

Been there, done that. If printing is not blocked, print to a postscript file and convert it back to PDF, without the locks.

Some times it seems that way. (As when they won't talk to you or provide information necessary to use their products, unless you buy a thousand times more than what you need from them.)

Roberto Waltman

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Roberto Waltman

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