[ale] Adobe stuff, security problems, alternatives

[Scott Plante]

Both of those seem to open fine in Chrome, although I didn't see how to turn off individual layers on the map. I tend to just open PDFs in Chrome on Windows and Linux. My main complaint with Chrome's PDF handling is sometimes it's not as easy to navigate large PDFs. On some occasions, I'll turn to Okular on Linux for easier navigation. I will very occasionally revert to Acrobat (/usr/bin/acroread) IF the PDF is from a trusted source and I have trouble with one of the others. You can have it on your system, just don't make it the default so when you click on a PDF from some blog or random source it doesn't execute automatically. At least that's what I do. 

Scott 
----- Original Message -----

From: "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> 
To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 4:37:37 PM 
Subject: [ale] Adobe stuff, security problems, alternatives 

Hi all, 

I'm trying to get a handle on my Adobe stuff and want to avoid security 
problems as much as possible. I have some questions. 

Re: Adobe Reader. I'm considering just replacing it due to the security 
problems. I need something cross platform so I can run in Windows or 
Linux. I need something that's stable and powerful. It needs to be 
able to properly display complex PDF's like those 20 MB PDF's of 
topographic maps that I was mentioning in my thread on barometric 
altimeters. These particular PDF's have several layers of the map, 
which can be turned on and off. 

For example: 

http://ims.er.usgs.gov/gda_services/download?item_id=5247561&quad=Abbeville%20North&state=GA&grid=7.5X7.5&series=TNM%20GeoPDF 

My replacement program has to also be able to display print more 
conventional complex PDF's properly, such as those with hundreds of 
pages with lots of fonts and graphics and images, like a PDF of a magazine. 

For example: 

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/DigitalIssues/ComputerPowerUser/CP____1303__/offline/download.pdf 

I don't want my PDF reader running any JavaScript or Java or 
multimedia. I just want it to read documents. What is the best cross 
platform alternative to Adobe Reader? 

Re: Adobe Flash. I don't think there is any good alternative to Flash, 
and lots of websites need it. On my Mint 13 VM, it has the Mint Flash 
Plugin 11.0.1.152. However, the Adobe plugin in the repository is at 
version 11.2.202.270. So, should I upgrade to the Adobe version and 
uninstall the Mint version? 

Any help is greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely, 

Ron 


-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to 
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy 
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.) 

Ron Frazier 
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message. 
linuxdude AT techstarship.com 

_______________________________________________ 
Ale mailing list 
Ale at ale.org 
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale 
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at 
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20130226/a6363308/attachment-0001.html>