Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app • Hacker News Board

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#61

Post by rahimnathwani » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:28 PM UTC

hexomancer wrote: post #47

approxim8ion wrote: post #13

Sumatra, alongside maybe Everything and IrfanView, is my favorite piece of software on windows. Incredible speed, great customizability and awesome compatibility. I really missed it when I made the switch to Linux, but not enough to consider installing WINE. Still, absolutely wonderful project deserving of the highest praise.

There is a new open source PDF viewer called sioyek that has many of the features of sumatra and has experimental linux builds. https://sioyek.info/ (Disclaimer: I am the developer of sioyek)

I like the idea of the 'portal' feature. I use a wide monitor instead of two monitors, so two windows side by side is perfect for PDFs.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#62

Post by colejohnson66 » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:31 PM UTC

Workaccount2 wrote: post #41

krylon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint.NET is great, too. It's not open source, unfortunately (for valid if regrettable reasons), but it's free as in free beer. The memory of its GUI makes me sigh a little whenever I open GIMP.

>(for valid if regrettable reasons) Well now you got me curious. Why is that?

Paint.NET was open source, but a pirate would download the code, put their name over the author’s, and click build. That’s a very clear case of copyright violation, but the author decided it wasn’t worth the effort (especially if the pirate is in another country).

https://blog.getpaint.net/2007/12/04/freeware-authors-beware...

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#63

Post by criddell » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:35 PM UTC

> The future of all software is as a web app. Why not bring the spirit of SumatraPDF to the web?

That feels like a 180 after reading a couple thousand words extolling the virtues of small, fast code with minimal dependencies.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#64

Post by genpfault » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

Workaccount2 wrote: post #41

krylon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint.NET is great, too. It's not open source, unfortunately (for valid if regrettable reasons), but it's free as in free beer. The memory of its GUI makes me sigh a little whenever I open GIMP.

>(for valid if regrettable reasons) Well now you got me curious. Why is that?

> Initially, Paint.net was released under a modified version of the MIT License, with the exclusion of the installer, text, and graphics. It was completely open-source, but because breaches of license, all resource files (such as interface text and icons) were released under a non-free Creative Commons license forbidding modification, and the installer was made closed-source. Version 3.36 was initially released as partial open-source, but Brewster later took down the source code, citing problems with plagiarism. In version 3.5, paint.net became proprietary software. Users are now prohibited from modifying it.[1]

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.net#History

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#65

Post by 4gotunameagain » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

willis936 wrote: post #35

I just downloaded it and I'm quite impressed with the ease of use of the color options. Just a few lines in a text file. I can swap between dark and light modes easily. Does anyone know if the window background can be darkened at all? The window UI text color is controlled by the same setting as the pdf text color, so when using a dark background/light text mode the window UI text is very low contrast.

I have been using SumatraPDF in every job I've been "forced" to use Windows, but never knew it had a dark mode.

Thanks :)

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#66

Post by hexomancer » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:38 PM UTC

culopatin wrote: post #60

hexomancer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a new open source PDF viewer called sioyek that has many of the features of sumatra and has experimental linux builds. https://sioyek.info/ (Disclaimer: I am the developer of sioyek)

What is the origin of the name? Sounds pretty hard to remember

It means 31 (thirty one) in persian.

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#67

Post by culopatin » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:41 PM UTC

hexomancer wrote: post #66

culopatin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the origin of the name? Sounds pretty hard to remember

It means 31 (thirty one) in persian.

And what connects 31 to PDFs? Just curious honestly. I also wonder why Sumatra is called that way

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#68

Post by stjohnswarts » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:41 PM UTC

michaelhoffman wrote: post #52

I love SumatraPDF. I use Acrobat Reader for most stuff, but while working on TeX documents SumatraPDF is invaluable because it: - is fast AF - supports SyncTeX - doesn't unnecessarily lock the files it has open

Yeah it's pretty cool. I use it as a pdf/epub/etc reader in for calibre (which manages books/comics/etc)

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#69

Post by angus-prune » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:42 PM UTC

Workaccount2 wrote: post #41

krylon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paint.NET is great, too. It's not open source, unfortunately (for valid if regrettable reasons), but it's free as in free beer. The memory of its GUI makes me sigh a little whenever I open GIMP.

>(for valid if regrettable reasons) Well now you got me curious. Why is that?

The author blogged about it in 2009 [1]

TL;DR They used a MIT licence and other people were selling broken, rebranded cashgrab copies without changing things like the installer or crash logs being sent to the author etc

[1] https://blog.getpaint.net/2009/11/06/a-new-license-for-paint...

Re: Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app

#70

Post by hexomancer » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 3:45 PM UTC

culopatin wrote: post #60

hexomancer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a new open source PDF viewer called sioyek that has many of the features of sumatra and has experimental linux builds. https://sioyek.info/ (Disclaimer: I am the developer of sioyek)

What is the origin of the name? Sounds pretty hard to remember

Replying here because I couldn't reply to your other comment (I think it reached max depth).

It has no particular relation to PDFs :D. It's just a random name. I also like the number 31.