[Techtalk] Unreadable(?) pdf files

Wed Mar 23 19:09:36 UTC 2016

To conclude the tale, my brother amazingly was able to read all of my
floppy discs and Dropbox the results to me.

All of the eps files appear to be OK.  Considering that the floppy discs
have not been used for perhaps 15 years, I am surprised that the result
was so successful.

Unfortunately not all of the items have an eps version, but do have
a .cdr file.  However I have had no success with these.  sk1 and
uniconvertor simply make my computer grind almost to a halt whilst
dealing (unsuccessfuly) with these files.  I tried a zamzar conversion,
but the file I got from that had weird graphics on the pages which bore
no resemblace to the musical notation that should have been there.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

David

On Sun, 2016-03-13 at 08:29 +1000, Miriam English wrote:
> David, I just noticed this online:
> http://www.zamzar.com/convert/cdr-to-pdf/
> It purports to be a free online tool to convert cdr files to pdf. I 
> haven't used it and don't really know anything about it, but perhaps it 
> may be of use.
> 
> Apparently there is also a commandline tool called uniconvertor
> uniconvertor file.cdr file.svg
> Again, I've never used it.
> 
> I have heard also that if you have uniconvertor then Inkscape will use 
> it to let it load .cdr files. (I haven't tested this either, as I have 
> no .cdr files.)
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> 	- Miriam
> 
> David Sumbler wrote:
> > On Sat, 2016-03-12 at 14:02 -0700, Akkana Peck wrote:
> >> David Sumbler writes:
> >>> All of them installed without difficulty apart from one:
> >>> 'sudo apt-get install liblcms2-dev' produces the following error
> >>> message:
> >>>
> >>> ***
> >>> Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
> >>> requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
> >>> distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
> >>> or been moved out of Incoming.
> >>> The following information may help resolve the situation:
> >>>
> >>> The following packages have unmet dependencies.
> >>>   liblcms2-dev : Depends: liblcms2-2 (= 2.2+git20110628-2ubuntu3.1) but
> >>> 2.4-0ubuntu3.1~precise1~ppa1 is to be installed
> >>> E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
> >>> ***
> >>>
> >>> I do not understand this message, nor what I should do about it.
> >>
> >> Sometimes using aptitude rather than apt-get can help with this sort
> >> of problem. Try: sudo aptitude install liblcms2-dev
> >> Sometimes it will give you the dependency error, and then give
> >> you a list of things it can try, e.g. removing the liblcms2 you have
> >> and installing a different one (and maybe adjusting a few other
> >> packages too). It will ask, "Accept this solution?" If you don't
> >> accept it (perhaps because it removes something you depend on),
> >> you can say n and sometimes aptitude will offer a few other
> >> solutions, and one of them might work.
> >>
> >> But I'm a bit doubtful, looking at the versions of those packages.
> >> 2.2+git20110628-2ubuntu3.1 has "git" in the version, which sounds
> >> like it's meant to come from a repository tracking lcms's git
> >> master instead of Ubuntu's regular repositories.
> >>
> >> 2.4-0ubuntu3.1~precise1~ppa1 also makes me wonder, because I don't
> >> remember seeing things like "ppa1" in Ubuntu versions (but I don't
> >> have an Ubuntu running right now to check that), so I wonder if
> >> that might be coming from a different nonstandard repository.
> >> (A PPA, "Personal Package Archive", is like a mini-repository
> >> anyone can set up to distribute software, usually for distributing
> >> packages to Ubuntu users that are newer than what Ubuntu provides.)
> >>
> >> Try this: apt-cache policy liblcms2-2 liblcms2-dev
> >> That will tell you what repository those two packages come from
> >> by default. If they aren't coming from standard Ubuntu repositories,
> >> and if they're not coming from the same repository, that's why
> >> apt-get is complaining. There are ways of fixing that, but it
> >> depends on why those repositories are there (they're probably
> >> specified in /etc/apt/sources.list or /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*).
> >
> > Thank you for this helpful advice.
> >
> > 'apt-cache policy liblcms2-2 liblcms2-de' did not seem to show any
> > potential problems, so I tried 'sudo aptitude install liblcms2-dev' as
> > you suggested and accepted a solution which involved downgrading
> > liblcms2-2.
> >
> > 'python setup.py build' then ran without errors, and so did 'python
> > setup.py install'.
> >
> > Unfortunately, although sK1 started OK, on each occasion when I tried to
> > open a .cdr (CorelDraw) file it crashed the computer.  And sK1 would not
> > open the .pdf versions at all.
> >
> > However, plan 'B' might work after all!  I have discovered that my
> > sister-in-law is using an ancient machine that has a floppy drive.  It
> > also has a USB port, so when I visit my brother this coming Wednesday I
> > should be able to copy all the .eps files I have (on 19 3-1/2" floppies)
> > to a memory stick.
> >
> > The .eps files are the files that the .cdr and .pdf files were derived
> > from nearly 20 years ago.
> >
> > It remains to be seen, of course, whether I can actually open these
> > files successfully!
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk
> >
> 

-- 
David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk>