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good ol' DRM

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Not sure if this is for this thread or ms apps, probly a bit of both. Got an "ebook" here - it's not actually a pdf... prima games guide, with a custom interface. You can print, but print screen is disabled, what the *beep*? The interface is craphouse - uses 250mb ram, 100%cpu, each third of a page takes 10 seconds to load - on a p4 prescott 3ghz, 4x512mb ddr400 ram, etc etc. I *can* print it, but it's 150 pages. Apparently they're non-refundable, but damn, with this kind of performance, it's not usable! If it was a standard ebook, e.g pdf or ms reader, it would run fine, but this, yech. Think I could at least get a store credit? I could always say that I've got a mac, and there was no warning that it wasn't mac compatible... heck, one of you guys could have the credit... any suggestions for doing a print screen, "hacking" it (not removing DRM, just converting it to a format with print screen or whatever that's going to get past this 100% cpu usage nonsense)?
 
Maybe, juste MAYBE try using fraps to make a video of you scrolling throught all the pages, then edit the video, extract 1 frame per page needed, save them as jpg or png and here ya go.... LONG process if it do work, but my only guess :shrug:
 
I'm not entirely sure how PDF's work...but you could maybe try downloading a different program to view it. maybe the print function will be made available.

PDF Creator is a program I've used. It's main use is to print non PDF files into a PDF. But it also has a viewer...so maybe you can view that DRMed PDF and print it? worth a shot

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/


EDIT: Otherwise I think you would have to take Blankfile's option and screen cap each page..which would suck if it's of decent length

There COULD be programs out there that will create JPG's from PDF pages....maybe try searching for those? :shrug:
 
Blankfile said:
Maybe, juste MAYBE try using fraps to make a video of you scrolling throught all the pages, then edit the video, extract 1 frame per page needed, save them as jpg or png and here ya go.... LONG process if it do work, but my only guess :shrug:

Screen-capped all 160 pages to bmp. But only in single page view, so the writing is a bit hard to make out without zooming in. the bmps are 4 meg each, 1280x960, I wouldn't be better off with fraps, would i?
 
wow. its good to know about this sort of thing even being able to happen.

...i still cant believe that there is any program out there can make Acrobat reader look fast & good...wow... last time i checked the last thing worse was fish hooks in your eyes...

i say return it as unusable.
 
orionlion82 said:
...i still cant believe that there is any program out there can make Acrobat reader look fast & good
The easiest way to speed up Acrobat (full version or the reader) is to stop loading all the unnecessary plug-ins at startup. To do this, go to c:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7\Acrobat\Plug_ins\ (on my machine, yours might be slightly different). Create a folder called Optional. Then move all of the files (plug-ins) in that root folder except EWH32 and Search to the Optional folder. When Acrobat loads, it won't load any "extra" plug-ins by default, but if the file you're opening requires a particular plug-in the application will be able to find it.

As for the ebook. I too would just return it. It sounds like it's basically unusable and that's what I'd tell them. Then I'd file a complaint with your State's Attorney General's office. As far as I'm concerned selling unusable software without disclosing that it's unusable is fraud and maybe, just maybe, if enough people complain companies will start to realize they can't pull this s**t.
 
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jivetrky said:
I'm not entirely sure how PDF's work...but you could maybe try downloading a different program to view it. maybe the print function will be made available.

PDF Creator is a program I've used. It's main use is to print non PDF files into a PDF. But it also has a viewer...so maybe you can view that DRMed PDF and print it? worth a shot

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/


EDIT: Otherwise I think you would have to take Blankfile's option and screen cap each page..which would suck if it's of decent length

There COULD be programs out there that will create JPG's from PDF pages....maybe try searching for those? :shrug:

You're a living legend, you CAN print, and I sent all 150 pages to pdf creator. I saw it but dismissed it, as it seemed as if you could only select files, not use it as a digital printer. The ebook doesn't have DRM.

Oh, the book is 160 pages, I haven't been able to convert it to a single file - I get ram errors, likely because the ebook takes up 700 meg and leaks ram, and the printer spooler/cache gets to the 1.5gb mark. Can you join pdfs?
 
invictius said:
Can you join pdfs?

PDF creator will also combine PDF's...I just tried it :)

  1. Just open PDF Creator
  2. Click Document > ADD
  3. Change the "Files of type" from .PS to *.*
  4. Select the 1st PDF file
  5. The PDF Creator screen will popup, Click the "WAITING" button
  6. Then do the same for each file you want to join
  7. Then you will have all the files in the PDF creator screen
  8. Highlight all of them, click Document > Combine
  9. It will now show just one file in the list.
  10. Now hit Document > Print
  11. When the print screen pops up, hit SAVE
  12. Choose a filename and location and save it

Voila! ;)
 
jivetrky, is the PDF Creator you're using the one being sold here or is it some other app? I get Acrobat Professional free from work so I'm not interested in buying something else proprietary; what I'd like to find is a nice open source app that'll work in both Windows and Linux. Suggestions?
 
MVC said:
jivetrky, is the PDF Creator you're using the one being sold here or is it some other app? I get Acrobat Professional free from work so I'm not interested in buying something else proprietary; what I'd like to find is a nice open source app that'll work in both Windows and Linux. Suggestions?


Nope, this program is a GNU GPL licensed program (free), located here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/


EDIT: BTW, it only has windows binaries...but does have the source available, so I'd think it might be possible to get it working under linux? IDK, I don't really know how those things work.
 
jivetrky said:
Nope, this program is a GNU GPL licensed program (free), located here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/


EDIT: BTW, it only has windows binaries...but does have the source available, so I'd think it might be possible to get it working under linux? IDK, I don't really know how those things work.
Thanks! This might be just what I'm looking for. I'll try it in Windows first and if it does what I need I'll compile it in Linux. I think I know what I'll be playing with this evening :D

Thanks again,
Mark
 
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