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'music Machine' - Windows 10


Roger Hare

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Warning - this one is for the computer-savvy techies...

 

I'm really hesitant about posting this - while it seems completely off-topic for c.net, it's also

sort of relevant in a strange sort of way, and the folks on this forum are always helpful :) ...

 

Cut to the chase:

 

I'm setting up my first Windows 10 machine. It is going to be a more or less dedicated 'music

machine' which is small enough to lug around with me.

 

I have chosen an Asus E200 Vivo Book with 32Gb of EMMC memory which I will later expand

with a MicroSD card.

 

So far, I have installed EasyABC, ABCExplorer, MuseScore(*) and Audacity(*) as my main pieces

of 'music' software. I may add other stuff later.

 

I have also installed FireFox, OpenOffice, some editors, and other everyday utilities including

one programming language.

 

Till now, I have always used EasyABC to export musical scores to PDF format prior to printing

via Adobe/Acrobat.

 

However, the Windows 10 version of Adobe/Acrobat looks far too 'sophisticated' for my simple

needs. It's also big - 250Mb on the (small) Windows 10 machine I am using (it takes up 650Mb

on my Windows 7 machine!).

 

To me, the size of this software ('bloatware' might be a better term?) seems crazy - the language

I mention above takes up less than 100Mb but it is a fully functional programming language.(**)

 

Question: Are there any 'small' PDF viewer/print utilities which will allow me to view and print my

scores?

 

I know that I can print single tunes direct from EasyABC, but this isn't entirely satisfactory, and

sometimes I want to print a range of pages (and also print other non-music related stuff).

 

Any suggestions for a small, free PDF read/print utility?

 

Sorry if this is completely outwith the remit of c.net but I really can't think of a better place to

ask for advice about setting up a small, portable, 'dedicated-to-music' machine from scratch...

 

Thanks.

 

Roger

(*) The PortableApps versions

(**) Graphics facilities, arbitrary precision arithmetic, sophisticated text-analysis facilities,

object-oriented programming features, etc.

Edited by lachenal74693
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Try opening the file in Firefox, I think it might have a built-in PDF reader.

 

Well, that was easy wasn't it! I really should have clocked that one myself!

 

Prints fine - including '2-up'!

 

Thanks very much!

 

Roger.

Edited by lachenal74693
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Roger

 

Firefox is fine for most things PDF, but since you already use the Portable Apps platform, try PDF Exchange Viewer Portable.

 

I now refuse to have anything from Adobe on my machines. My wife recently updated Adobe Flash player and Adobe installed some Intel face recognition software on her computer that I have been unable to remove. I think it actually installed something inside the the Windows 7 kernel.

 

I have a friend who, several years ago, used to tape over his webcam with electrical tape - "They are watching us all of the time, you know".

 

I laughed at him, now I owe him an apology.

 

 

Don.

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Adobe Acrobat reader on my machine is just under 250MB. Do you have the full acrobat version (and do you need that)?

 

As I indicated in my OP, on the W10 machine it is about 250Mb which ties in with your figure.

 

On the W7 machine, it is an amazing 650(ish)Mb. I've never really delved into the innards of

the program, so I don't really know what's there...

 

I need to check both implementations to see how much 'dead wood' there is, and whether it

is 'modular' and can safely be removed...

 

The Firefox solution suggested by AH seems the simplest solution, but a little research since

my OP indicates that Foxit might well be a viable alternative to Adobe Acrobat, though it's still

pretty chunky at ~150Mb. It's available via PortableApps.

 

There are three interlocking 'problems' which are exercising me. They are related to taking

and keeping control of my own machine, and saving space on what is (by today's standards)

a small machine:

 

1) The junk software which seems to come with every new machine - I've already deleted

'AsusGifteShoppe' (or some such nonsense) from the new machine - 70Mb saved. I'm

sure there are more pieces of garbage software like this.

2) The tendency of much pre-installed software to update itself automatically - without any

input from me. There is a way to turn this feature off in W10 by declaring the WiFi connection

as 'metered'. I think this disables the automatic update for all programs which would otherwise

do this (Windows itself, Java, Adobe, etc.). Of course the best way to stop software updating

itself is not to have the software in the first place...

3) On a 'small' machine, saving space isn't a bad idea, so replacing a piece of bloated software

with a smaller program which (effectively) does the same thing is good medicine...

 

Roger

Edited by lachenal74693
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Firefox is fine for most things PDF, but since you already use the Portable Apps platform, try PDF Exchange Viewer Portable.

 

Don, thank you for that - I will investigate.

 

The PDF-XChange Viewer page says: The PDF-XChange Viewer has been discontinued and replaced by the PDF-XChange Editor...

but I guess the PortableApps version has not caught up yet.

 

I now refuse to have anything from Adobe on my machines. My wife recently updated Adobe Flash player and Adobe installed some Intel face

recognition software on her computer that I have been unable to remove. I think it actually installed something inside the the Windows 7 kernel.

 

So, Microsoft are trying to control us, and someone else is trying to control Microsoft. Scary... :ph34r:

 

Flash Player is a pain in the a*se...

 

I have a friend who, several years ago, used to tape over his webcam with electrical tape - "They are watching us all of the time, you know" .

 

I laughed at him, now I owe him an apology.

 

Now I think about it, I've never used the webcam on any of my machines. Now, where did I put that insulation tape... :ph34r:

 

Thanks.

 

Roger

Edited by lachenal74693
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I use Sumatra https://sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html as my default pdf reader.Three files total, including

a Read.me, no installation required. All you need to do (if you want it) is to make it your pdf default. Works great

 

Interesting. It looks as if it may also accommodate epub and mobi formats so I

could ditch Calibre which I currently use for reading ebooks on my W7 machine.

 

I use Foxit Reader. The executable of the version I have, on Windows 7, is 35MB.

 

The size is right...

 

To summarise: My original question related to (smallish) PDF read/print utilities.

Apart from the PDF facilities in FireFox (which I should have spotted!), I now have

three candidates which might be suitable:

 

Foxit (though I see a size of ~150Mb on the PortableApps site) - thanks Nighthawk

PDF-XChange Viewer - thanks Don

Sumatra - thanks JimR

 

I'll investigate these some time over the next few days.

 

Whatever, it looks like curtains for Adobe...

 

Thanks folks.

 

Roger

Edited by lachenal74693
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  • 2 months later...

From my original post:



> Question: Are there any 'small' PDF viewer/print utilities which will allow me to view and print my


> scores?



In order to close this one down, I think I should report that I have now installed all three PDF viewers


recommended earlier in the thread - Foxit Reader, PDFXchange Viewer and Sumatra. I have tried 'em


all over the last few weeks.



I used the versions on http://portableapps.com



Sumatra by a county mile! Small, fast and does everything I want.



Thank you for the suggestions.



Roger


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