Free (as in beer) PDF creators..?

[anon]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

I love you.

 

[Space Madness]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

I love you.

I love you, too.
Noisy in here, innit?

 

[Mel]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

No free beer here, but you might check this site out:

http://www.portablefreeware.com/

 

[Michael Gula]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

I think I've tried every one, but these are the ones I recommend:

PDF Creator:

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

Frontend for Ghostscript. Can join PDF jobs together. Encryption also.
One of the few free print-to-PDF programs that allows user to fill in
document summaries. I once considered it too buggy, but it keeps getting
better and better with each new release.

PDFTK

http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/

Allows user to uncompress a PDF to make it editable in a text editor,
then re-compress it again. (In fact, if you're clever, you can use this
to remove the watermarks and ads inserted into PDFs by
demoware/shareware programs like PDFEdit.) Can encrypt, join, merge,
remove pages and more.

It is command line driven, but two different GUI front-ends are
available if you don't like typing commands. (The programmer is also the
author of the valuable book PDF Hacks.)

PDFill

http://www.pdfill.com/

Also a frontend for Ghostscript -- actually a small suite of programs;
the form creator/filler is the only component requiring a $9.99
registration fee to remove a watermark.

Everything else in the suite is freeware, including the facility to
create, merge, crop, and encrypt PDFs. Can rotate pages. Batch-converts
image files to PDF. Can also add watermarks, page numbers,
header/footers to PDFs, and more. Even if you hate shareware, it is
worth downloading just to get the free stuff.

 

[Genius Maximus]

I love you.

CutePDF writer works very well here...
Love you...

 

[wald]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

I generally use the generic Adobe Postscript printer driver, with
the Distiller PPD to print to PostScript. Afterwards, I convert to
PDF with GhostScript (ps2pdf or epstopdf scripts).

Now, a side note: this Adobe driver is far from perfect. The EPS
code it generates is usually bitmap-type information, even if you're
printing from a vector graphics application. This way, you lose all
the advantages of the vector format (small size, perfect
scalability, ...).

So wherever you have got other means of producing PS/PDF, use them.
Examples are PDFLaTeX for text PDF's, Inkscape/XFig/Dia for
graphics, and so on. The EPS that is produced by these programs is
of superior quality than the Adobe driver, and will give you better
PDF files (smaller, prettier) in the end.

But if your only goal is to get some content in a PDF file,
regardless of the file size or graphics quality, then the Adobe
driver is perfect.

I love you.

I know. Doesn't everybody?

Regards,
Wald

 

[Frank Delamarre]

Hi, howdy, hello. Has anyone got a definitive
list of free (open source, freeware, etc) PDF
creation software? Ideally, packages such as
printer drivers that convert to PDF, full on
PDF editors and the like, so on and so forth?

I've tried them all (I think), but the best is Tomahawk, not perfect,
but OK. IT can make very compact PDF's. Haven't got the link handy bur
a simple search for Tomahawk & PDF will give you the url.

Frank