Read pc-created pdf files on a Mac Classic...

[Christopher]

Dude, I think it's time to move on.... I know it's hard to say goodbye.

Seriously though, your trying to make something that wasn't originally intended to be done.

 

[Mac128]

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to read PDF files on your classic? What kinds of things are you transferring for use on your Classic in PDF?

---Why would I want a Classic itself? Why would I want to run Cubase in a Classic? Why do I want to collect things? It is supposed that when you find something for collector purposes and try to find it useful, the more things you get for it (software, programs, apps...), the better it is. ... Probably this will grow up in the near future. It depends on how do I persevere on it. But if your question is....«Why would you want to load that program or do that thing in a Macintosh Classic»....why would a forum like this should exist?

I meant nothing which you have inferred from my question. I merely wanted to know if you had a specific purpose for running Adobe on your Classic. For instance, if you had all of your recipes in Adobe files and wanted to create a recipe Mac for your kitchen. Of course it would be optimal if the Classic could directly share them with your primary Mac or PC. Since they cannot, you have to translate every PDF you want to share with your Classic and sort of negates the idea of running PDFs on the Classic. Since you have to convert the PDF files anyway, why not convert them to something the Classic was better designed to handle, like text or pict?

To persevere or stick to something when everyone tells you «that thing you want to do is impossible, consider seriously to give it up» led me (and many others, mostly people who persevere on something) to positive results not so long ago. Read this, which prooves I am right on it.

I don't think anyone is saying don't try. I think we are all saying, as I have, is that there are better options depending on why or what it is you are trying to do. Your perseverance on getting Cubase to work is more about getting something designed to work on the Classic up and running several decades after the information for making it work has long since been forgotten, rather than trying to get technology from a modern Mac to run on a Classic.

I certainly am the last to discourage anyone from trying to push the limits of what an old Mac can do, as I have proposed some truly whacky ideas on this forum. But I will tell you that I have learned that it is often important to have a goal when pushing the envelope on old Macs. I am grateful for alternative solutions to the ones I present on this forum as they have saved me much grief, particularly when I did not have a definitive purpose in mind for my experiments, other than to simply see if it could be done. If in the end, your only goal is to see if you can get Adobe 1.0 to work on your Classic and convert newer PDF files to that format, then by all means let us know how that turns out! Who knows it could eventually be useful. However, I think Tom's words are apropos here, "obsessed" is the perfect word for what many of us engage in on this forum. Expanding functionality of antiquated technology in the face of difficult odds, is definitely an obsession.

 

[Dog Cow]

Yup and then find Illustrator.

You used the tongue smiley! You have doubts, eh?

See here: http://web.archive.org/web/20030819023805/http://www.multimac.ch/download/applications/Adobe/Adobe%20Illustrator%2088%201.9.3.sit.bin

--- And for everyone telling him to give up.... Don't you guys like a good Mac challenge some times? Something that takes some extra thought and wit?

 

[MrMacPlus]

Well, I would discourage using Illustrator 88. It's wayyy to old.

 

[II2II]

Actually, figuring out how to convert and optimize PDF files for older machines would be quite useful since a lot of people face these issues to varying degrees. For example, many newer 68k Macs choke on PDF files because they can only run Acrobat 3. Even computers that can run more recent versions of the Acrobat Reader (or third party utilities) usually choke on the performance front. So please let us know if you discover anything useful. Even if it is an intermediate step to your final goal.

 

[juanjavier]

Actually, figuring out how to convert and optimize PDF files for older machines would be quite useful since a lot of people face these issues to varying degrees. For example, many newer 68k Macs choke on PDF files because they can only run Acrobat 3. Even computers that can run more recent versions of the Acrobat Reader (or third party utilities) usually choke on the performance front. So please let us know if you discover anything useful. Even if it is an intermediate step to your final goal.

---Yep, something has been found. See this.

This has been achieved by means of emulation, by running Basilisk II under Window$. The original file was an ordinary text with no format done with my usual Office suite in Linux (I use AbiWord), then saved as a .txt file and converted into the Basilisk emulator by means of Adobe Acrobat Exchange, that happily created a full PDF 1.0 compatible output file.

Will post more recent results as soon as I manage to get some control over the fonts and layout, still a work in progress.

As it has been said, almost no task is impossible with computers. So the best when you really believe in something is «don't ever give up».

Will keep informing. Regards to anyone who helped in this thread.

 

[Mac128]

[This has been achieved by means of emulation, by running Basilisk II under Window$. The original file was an ordinary text with no format done with my usual Office suite in Linux (I use AbiWord), then saved as a .txt file and converted into the Basilisk emulator by means of Adobe Acrobat Exchange, that happily created a full PDF 1.0 compatible output file.

As it has been said, almost no task is impossible with computers. So the best when you really believe in something is «don't ever give up».

I don't think anyone ever said to "give up" or that it was "impossible". We all routinely agree on these boards that anything is possible given time, effort, expertise and/or money. All anyone tried to do on this thread is ascertain what you hoped to accomplish. I still don't see the need to read modern PDFs on an older Mac, if you must have an alternative for reading them in order to convert them to 1.0. Thrilled to have the option if anyone ever comes up with a reason to have it.

However, I am completely confused about the process you came up with. I have Basilisk II and don't understand using Adobe Acrobat Exchange to convert into it. You don't need anything to convert files into Basilisk II, just a hard disk image. Is Acrobat exchange being used inside Basilisk II? If so under what operating system? Whatever the method it sounds like the key is the version of Acrobat Exchange is they key and is nothing other than what has been suggested here. If you find the software that supports file conversion to 1.0 as Tom Lee has repeatedly pointed out, then you can do what you want. Does this mean you have found the proper software?

 

[juanjavier]

(...)
However, I am completely confused about the process you came up with. I have Basilisk II and don't understand using Adobe Acrobat Exchange to convert into it. You don't need anything to convert files into Basilisk II, just a hard disk image.

---I am terribly sorry. I did not get absolutely anything in this last paragraph... 8-o

Is Acrobat exchange being used inside Basilisk II?

---Yes, it is.

If so under what operating system?

---window$, though I am painfully trying to start SheepShaver under linux [xx(] ]'> and there is no way I can mount Macvolume.HFV (a Mac OS 8.5 image completely usable in window$ under Basilisk)

A floppy disk with a question mark in its inside is just what I get... :?: :?:

Whatever the method it sounds like the version of Acrobat Exchange is they key and is nothing other than what has been suggested here. If you find the software that supports file conversion to 1.0 as Tom Lee has repeatedly pointed out, then you can do what you want. Does this mean you have found the proper software?

---Yes, it does. :b&w::b&w:

 

[juanjavier]

Things are getting better by the moment. Now we have got control over the fonts! [8D]

Together with 68k mla forum friend nlp, we are managing to implement a full-font linux/windows created .pdf file to view in the Macintosh Classic.

This surely will enhace the vast uses such a machine has. (This comprises the other compact macs that support Adobe Reader as well: Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE, Classic II and Color Classic).

Will keep on informing. Regards,

Juan.

 

[juanjavier]

BUMP!! [] ]'> [] ]'>

Custom home-made pdf files for the Classic and other compact 68000 .pdf capable Macs finally became a reality.

This and this are snapshots of what has been achieved up until now.

Coming soon will be a small tutorial on which the steps were.

Thanks to forum friend 'nlp', who helped a lot.

 

[Mac128]

BUMP!! [] ]'> [] ]'>
Custom home-made pdf files for the Classic and other compact 68000 .pdf capable Macs finally became a reality.

This and this are snapshots of what has been achieved up until now.

Coming soon will be a small tutorial on which the steps were.

Thanks to forum friend 'nlp', who helped a lot.

I'm a little confused. I thought the purpose of all of this was to create a PDF that could be viewed on an old Mac. Postscript files have been around for ever. All you need per my tutorial "Print 128K Files On OS X" is the LaserWriter driver 7.0 or better. The resulting PostScript file will open readily with Preview under OSX, even though Acrobat doesn't support it anymore. And, that is a feature I see the usefulness for. ;-)

 

[juanjavier]

I'm a little confused. I thought the purpose of all of this was to create a PDF that could be viewed on an old Mac.

--On an old Compact Mac, to be precise. Well, t may be that initially it was. But it ended up demonstrating that a Macintosh Classic is able to be in the *very first* (typing, choosing fonts, composing and layout) as well as the *very last* chain (just displaying) of creating and displaying a .pdf file, by simply means of an emulator in the *in between* steps.

 

[Mac128]

I'm a little confused. I thought the purpose of all of this was to create a PDF that could be viewed on an old Mac.

--It may be that initially it was. But it ended up demonstrating that a Macintosh Classic is able to be in the *very first* (typing, choosing fonts, composing and layout) as well as the *very last* chain (just displaying) of creating and displaying a .pdf file, by simply means of an emulator in the *in between* steps.

Creating a PDF file on a Classic has ALWAYS been an extremely easy thing to do, since Macs have been capable of Post Script since System 2.0 which runs all the way back on the 128K (System 1.1 if one uses the original 1/85 LaserWriter Installer software to update the system). There is nothing new or interesting about it, other than noting how advanced the Mac was for its time in utilizing what is still a modern supported standard (no emulator required). ;-)

Your original intention was much more interesting and complicated proposal which is why you met with so much resistance here. I think it is safe to say the forum eagerly awaits the tutorial for easily getting a modern PDF converted to a 1.0 file which can then be read within the Acrobat software supported by a 68000 Mac.

If I read your posts correctly the steps are:

1) import a modern PDF file into SheepShaver hard drive.*

2) open it using Adobe Acrobat with Acroexchange v2.0 (or earlier?)

3) convert it to a v1.0 pdf.

4) export the new pdf from SheepShaver hard drive

5) copy the pdf to your Classic and open in Acrobat 1.0.

*It seems to me there may also be an additional step to downgrade the pdf version to something Acrobat Acroexchange 2.0 will be able to open before it is loaded into SheepShaver. Can Acrobat v.2.0 really read a v8.0 created pdf file, much less convert it accurately? Also, will all versions of Acroexchange open 3.0 reader files which seem to be the earliest format Acrobat converts to? Will modern versions of Acrobat convert to 2.0 files? So many unanswered questions.