DOS ain't dead - PDF readers for DOS

PDF readers for DOS (Users)

posted by bocke, 26.09.2011, 22:15

> PS: Any reccommandations about standalone GhostScript binary (and how to
> use) ?

There are some FreeDOS builds here: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/file/gs/. They are not the most recent (2008) but I would guess they are recent enough. Using GhostScript directly wouldn't be as comfortable as using a frontend. Usually, gs file.pdf would show a file automatically and pressing "return" key would change a page. I'm not sure if there is any way to control the flow of the document rendering (ie if you could go to a previous page or similar), but I would suppose not. So you really need a frontend. Makes the life much easier. If you're really interested there is also an online manual:
http://ghostscript.com/doc/8.63/Use.htm

Of course, if you don't need 16-bit. Otherwise, there is a really old 16-bit build of GS 2.6, but I don't know how useful it is nowadays.

Btw, I can't remember if there is a native port of SDL to DOS. I know you can run some win32 SDL apps using Hx, but was wondering about native option.

Anyway, I tried googling for some PDF readers/tools that might be portable to DOS or runnable with Hx:

Green - an SDL PDF reader
https://github.com/schandinat/green/wiki/
Nupdf - it uses mupdf library for rendering and SDL for GUI
http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Nupdf
PoDoFo - a pdf manipulation library and a couple of command line tools
http://podofo.sourceforge.net/about.html
pdftohtml - converts pdf to html, based on xpdf
http://pdftohtml.sourceforge.net/

There are also online pdf to html converters and viewers. Those usually have a bloated interface or are based on flash pdf viewing component. But there is an FOSS pdf viewer with a simple interface at: http://view.samurajdata.se/. I tried the online interface but couldn't upload the file. Haven't tried installing the script locally and running it from my machine. It will require a browser with the image support as it renders the pages as a gif images.

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Complete thread:

PDF readers for DOS - travolter, 17.02.2011, 10:52 (Users)
- PDF readers for DOS - DOS386, 17.02.2011, 11:12
  - PDF readers for DOS - Laaca, 17.02.2011, 13:58
    - PDF readers for DOS - RayeR, 17.02.2011, 18:24
      - PDF readers for DOS - Arjay, 17.02.2011, 20:45
        Tested PDFTK,,, *and* MUPDF with HX - Doug, 18.02.2011, 08:07
        Tested PDFTK,,, *and* MUPDF with HX - rr, 18.02.2011, 20:59
        Tested PDFTK,,, *and* MUPDF with HX - RayeR, 19.02.2011, 01:05
        Tested PDFTK,,, *and* MUPDF with HX - RayeR, 19.02.2011, 02:46
        MUPDF with HX | MUPDF with DGJPP | XPDF without FONTS - DOS386, 19.02.2011, 11:27
        MUPDF with HX | MUPDF with DGJPP | XPDF without FONTS - RayeR, 19.02.2011, 14:16
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 19.02.2011, 18:26
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 03:48
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! CRTC.CFG - DOS386, 20.02.2011, 10:23
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! CRTC.CFG - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 14:07
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Khusraw, 20.02.2011, 11:36
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 13:55
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Khusraw, 20.02.2011, 14:05
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 14:12
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 20.02.2011, 14:52
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 15:19
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 20.02.2011, 18:15
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - FFK, 21.02.2011, 01:37
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Doug, 21.02.2011, 04:31
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! SHOTS - DOS386, 21.02.2011, 07:57
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 21.02.2011, 16:43
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Zyzzle, 21.02.2011, 07:47
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Japheth, 21.02.2011, 08:41
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Doug, 20.02.2011, 06:37
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 20.02.2011, 14:01
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Laaca, 20.02.2011, 22:35
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Rugxulo, 21.02.2011, 02:31
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 21.02.2011, 10:34
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 21.02.2011, 15:00
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 21.02.2011, 16:34
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 21.02.2011, 19:50
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 22.02.2011, 01:50
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 22.02.2011, 11:12
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 22.02.2011, 13:09
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - georgpotthast, 22.02.2011, 13:35
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 22.02.2011, 17:15
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - georgpotthast, 22.02.2011, 18:28
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 04:35
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Zyzzle, 23.02.2011, 10:59
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - travolter, 22.02.2011, 17:18
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 22.02.2011, 17:26
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 22.02.2011, 21:05
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 00:27
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 23.02.2011, 11:43
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 13:17
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 23.02.2011, 17:19
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 19:33
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 23.02.2011, 19:50
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! | progress, LFB, evil PDF 1.7 - DOS386, 24.02.2011, 07:50
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 24.02.2011, 14:20
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 25.02.2011, 11:31
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 25.02.2011, 13:05
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 25.02.2011, 13:40
        MTRRLFBE -Good news ! - Ninho, 25.02.2011, 20:37
        MTRRLFBE -Good news ! - RayeR, 26.02.2011, 01:02
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - Ninho, 20.03.2011, 19:30
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - RayeR, 23.03.2011, 20:18
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - Laaca, 23.03.2011, 23:25
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - RayeR, 24.03.2011, 16:20
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - Ninho, 24.03.2011, 16:56
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - RayeR, 25.03.2011, 00:38
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - Ninho, 26.03.2011, 11:41
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - Laaca, 29.03.2011, 18:12
        more insight into BIOS MTRRs - RayeR, 29.03.2011, 22:03
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Japheth, 23.02.2011, 18:14
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 19:36
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - Ninho, 25.02.2011, 15:30
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - DOS386, 23.02.2011, 06:56
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - RayeR, 23.02.2011, 10:39
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - jassenna, 13.06.2011, 04:30
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - DOS386, 03.07.2011, 04:05
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - jassenna, 06.07.2011, 06:40
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - Rugxulo, 06.07.2011, 06:43
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - jassenna, 19.07.2011, 06:20
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release | missing PDFDRAW.EXE | source cod - jassenna, 20.08.2011, 06:24
        PDFDRAW.EXE worx for me :-) - DOS386, 21.08.2011, 15:56
        PDFDRAW.EXE worx for me :-) - jassenna, 22.08.2011, 04:32
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW - DOS386, 04.09.2011, 12:21
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW | MU 0.9 2011-09-05 - DOS386, 09.09.2011, 18:48
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW - jassenna, 10.09.2011, 07:28
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW - Rugxulo, 10.09.2011, 23:38
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW - DOS386, 11.09.2011, 07:58
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW - jassenna, 22.09.2011, 06:08
        PDFDRAW.EXE | RTFW | PDFDRAW issues | | 16 MiB - DOS386, 20.11.2011, 04:42
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - ron, 09.04.2011, 03:08
        MUPDF/DGJPP test release! - KormaX, 01.11.2017, 00:23
        A couple of MuPDF bugs. - Doug, 26.02.2011, 19:02
        A couple of MuPDF bugs. - RayeR, 28.02.2011, 10:25
        A couple of MuPDF bugs. - Doug, 02.03.2011, 07:54
        DAMN: 0.8 is out | MuPDF bugs GOTO scroll LEFT RIGHT Crash - DOS386, 05.03.2011, 10:14
        Why different dependency errors with HX? - Doug, 19.02.2011, 22:02
        Why different dependency errors with HX? - RayeR, 21.02.2011, 16:37
  - PDF readers for DOS - travolter, 18.02.2011, 12:24
- PDF readers for DOS - ron, 17.02.2011, 22:13
  - PDF readers for DOS - DOS386, 18.02.2011, 04:10
    - PDF readers for DOS - ron, 18.02.2011, 06:04
    - PDF readers for DOS - bocke, 26.09.2011, 22:15
      - PDF readers for DOS - bocke, 28.09.2011, 01:55
  - PDF readers for DOS - jassenna, 07.11.2017, 00:54
- PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.03 - 2011-Aug-15 - DOS386, 17.08.2011, 10:55
  - PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.03 - 2011-Aug-15 - Rugxulo, 18.08.2011, 02:01
    - PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.02pl5 - 2010-Oct-21 - Rugxulo, 18.08.2011, 02:24
      - PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.03 more info | Subdocuments - DOS386, 19.08.2011, 03:36
        PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.03 more info | Subdocuments - Rugxulo, 19.08.2011, 05:59
        PDF readers for DOS | XPDF 3.03 more info | Subdocuments - KormaX, 01.11.2017, 00:51