Viewing and Printing Documents


During this semester, we will distribute course related documents in the PDF (portable document format) format through the Web. The following is the instructions on viewing and printing PDF documents. .



Viewing and Printing PDF Documents from Athena Workstations


The latter command is designed to run Netscape specifically from the infoagents locker. Thereafter, when you click on a PDF file, a new window should open up, and you will then be inside the Adobe Acrobat Reader, Version 2.1. This program, in turn, will permit you to pan, zoom, search, and print the document. When you're done with the document, just exit the reader, and you're back in Netscape. If you try running Netscape (or Mosaic) from another locker (such as the sipb locker), then clicking on a PDF file may spawn an earlier, outdated version of the Acrobat Reader (such as Version 1.0) or possibly the freeware viewer program Ghostview. These viewers may display the PDF document, but they will get you into trouble when you try to print it.

If you're logged onto a Sun or SGI workstation and you're still getting the wrong PDF viewer when you call up Netscape, make sure that you have not already added the sipb locker earlier during your login session. Check to see whether you have inserted an add sipb command in the .environment script that gets run automatically when you log in.

If you're at an Athena workstation other than a Sun or an SGI, and if you use either Mosaic or Netscape to view the homepage, then clicking on a PDF document will spawn Ghostview, and not the Acrobat Reader 2.1. In most cases, you'll be able to view the problem set, but you will not be able to print it. (Attempts to do so may cause printer hyperemesis.)



Viewing and Printing PDF Documents from PC and Mac

If you are accessing the homepage using a PC or a Mac, you need to Download a free Acrobat Reader to view and print PDF document.

Acrobat Reader is available at no charge from Adobe Systems' World-Wide Web Site. To use Acrobat Reader with your web browser you need to first download Acrobat Reader from Adobe's Web Site and install it on your system:

[GetAcro]
Download Acrobat Reader
from Adobe Systems' World-Wide Web site.

You can configure your Web browser to automatically launch your Acrobat viewer as a "Helper applciation". See the document Acrobat on the Web for instructions on configuring your Web browser to automatically launch your Acrobat viewer.


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