Hi, all.

I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.

Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
products. Google shows all kinds open source things that really look
nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.

If you have any things that you've used, let me know. We are
investigating Xenos and Adobe said something about ColdFusion.
ColdFusion seems to be web-based, though. I'm just looking for a
command line tool or some kind of SDK to include in either C++ or Java.

thanks in advance.

David Parker wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
> another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>
> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
> products. Google shows all kinds open source things that really look
> nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.
>
> If you have any things that you've used, let me know. We are
> investigating Xenos and Adobe said something about ColdFusion.
> ColdFusion seems to be web-based, though. I'm just looking for a command
> line tool or some kind of SDK to include in either C++ or Java.
>
> thanks in advance.
>

Lots of luck buddy. Free is TOUGH to compete against! There may be a
commercial product but I wouldn't count on it.

David Parker wrote:
>
> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
> another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>
> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
> products. Google shows all kinds open source things that really look
> nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.
>
> If you have any things that you've used, let me know. We are
> investigating Xenos and Adobe said something about ColdFusion.
> ColdFusion seems to be web-based, though. I'm just looking for a command
> line tool or some kind of SDK to include in either C++ or Java.
>

Vendor-supported and open source are not mutually exclusive as you seem to imply.

On Solaris 10, there are two open source, vendor-supported image manipulation
tools, the convert command from the ImageMagik(sp?) suite is most likely what
you are looking for (though I'm not sure how good its pdf manipulation is, you
might need to run it through pdf2ps and then ps2whatever to get what you want.)

ImageMagik:
/usr/sfw/bin/convert
/usr/sfw/bin/display

GIMP:
/usr/sfw/bin/gimp

See:

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/freeware/

for the list of supported open source software. The left column of the table is
what is supported and is what is shipped in /usr/bin or /usr/sfw/bin, the right
hand column is not supported and is what installs in /opt/sfw.

Neal

p.s. ImageMagick is listed as "m" managed and not "f" fully supported, but I'm
not really sure what that means because other software that is listed as "m" Sun
applies in-house patches to that have not been accepted upstream. Plus all of
it is "supported" by Sun regardless of how Sun chooses to internally,
(il)logically divide its offerings.

David Parker wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
> another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>
> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
> products. Google shows all kinds open source things that really look
> nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.
>
> If you have any things that you've used, let me know. We are
> investigating Xenos and Adobe said something about ColdFusion.
> ColdFusion seems to be web-based, though. I'm just looking for a command
> line tool or some kind of SDK to include in either C++ or Java.
>
> thanks in advance.
>


IMHO, vendor support for software is often much poorer than support for
open-source software from the developers. So if its quality of support
you are looking for, think again.

I can think of two immediate issues where vendor support for a Solaris
SPARC product has been unable to find a solution, but support on
comp.unix.solaris resulted in a solution quickly.

* Mathematica using excessive CPU time. Wolfram Reseach could not solve
it, but Casper Dik at Sun did on comp.unix.solaris.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/com...6deee0c1 69fe


* GPIB controller not working on Solaris.

First posted on the NI forum
http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/messag...hread.id=15109

solution found by Casper Dik at Sun did on comp.unix.solaris, where NI
staff could not solve it.

* Mathematica would not run on an Intel based PC. A few people on here
managed to suggest solutions, which eventually got it working.


Often contacting vendors results in

* Automated response telling you they will get back to you.

* Useless suggestions for quite a while, by staff with no real
understanding of the software.

* Hopefully, if you are luck, so decent suggestions from those that do
know. But often takes quite a while to get to this point.

Dave wrote:
> David Parker wrote:
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
>> another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>>
>> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for
>> vendor-supported products. Google shows all kinds open source things
>> that really look nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.
>>
>> If you have any things that you've used, let me know. We are
>> investigating Xenos and Adobe said something about ColdFusion.
>> ColdFusion seems to be web-based, though. I'm just looking for a
>> command line tool or some kind of SDK to include in either C++ or Java.
>>
>> thanks in advance.
>>
>
>
> IMHO, vendor support for software is often much poorer than support for
> open-source software from the developers. So if its quality of support
> you are looking for, think again.
>
> I can think of two immediate issues where vendor support for a Solaris
> SPARC product has been unable to find a solution, but support on
> comp.unix.solaris resulted in a solution quickly.
>
> * Mathematica using excessive CPU time. Wolfram Reseach could not solve
> it, but Casper Dik at Sun did on comp.unix.solaris.
>
> http://groups.google.co.uk/group/com...6deee0c1 69fe
>
>
>
> * GPIB controller not working on Solaris.
>
> First posted on the NI forum
> http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/messag...hread.id=15109
>
> solution found by Casper Dik at Sun did on comp.unix.solaris, where NI
> staff could not solve it.
>
> * Mathematica would not run on an Intel based PC. A few people on here
> managed to suggest solutions, which eventually got it working.
>
>
> Often contacting vendors results in
>
> * Automated response telling you they will get back to you.
>
> * Useless suggestions for quite a while, by staff with no real
> understanding of the software.
>
> * Hopefully, if you are luck, so decent suggestions from those that do
> know. But often takes quite a while to get to this point.

You forgot one:

Dealing with technical support people for whom English is a second language!

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:

>>
>> Often contacting vendors results in
>>
>> * Automated response telling you they will get back to you.
>>
>> * Useless suggestions for quite a while, by staff with no real
>> understanding of the software.
>>
>> * Hopefully, if you are luck, so decent suggestions from those that do
>> know. But often takes quite a while to get to this point.
>
> You forgot one:
>
> Dealing with technical support people for whom English is a second
> language!

Yes, very true. Personally I've found this less of an issue than the
basic stupidity of the technical support staff. That's my biggest gripe.
If you are reasonally IT literate (and I personally don't work in IT),
the chances are you probably know more about the subject than the idiot
on the other end of the line.

A recent example of this is with Live Departure boards for trains in the UK

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_...rds/about.html

My IP address is blocked for some reason. I always get:

*******************************
You are not authorized to view this page
The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses
that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your
browsing computer is on this list.

Please try the following:

* Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be
able to view this directory or page.

HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.
Internet Information Services (IIS)
*******************************

I contact then via a web page to ask why. I've made it clear it works on
this computer when I am everywhere except at home. (I have a fixed IP).
So common sense would tell you the error message and the fact it works
everywhere except at home does really indicate the IP is blocked. I even
told them it is blocked both under Windows and Solaris.

Can the stupid idiot on the end of their support understand this? NO NO NO.

They suggest I check my anti-virus software. They suggest I clear the
cookies from my computer. They make lots of other useless suggestions,
but clearly don't understand the problem. Eventually I'm told it will be
excalated to someone else, but then I hear no more. So I still can't see
the live updates from home.

I've had about 6 or more exchanges with National Rail Enquiries over
this, and its clear that finding someone able to read the above error
and understand it, is next to impossible.

The truth is that bright people who are 'switched-on' tend to be able to
command reasonably high salaries. And so companies don't put such people
on technical support. They put people who have a basic understanding of
how to switch on a PC, install Windows software.

In contrast, with open-source software, the people providing support
often wrote the software, so have a detailed understanding of it.

Dave

On May 12, 7:14 pm, David Parker <frenchchef_rem...@mac.com> wrote:

> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
> products. Google shows all kinds open source things that really look
> nice, but sadly, they cannot be used.

Solaris is open source[*]: you are doomed.

What you probably mean is "want something vendor supported" right? I
suspect there are people out there - possibly even Sun - who will
support one of the OSS tools.

--tim
[*] Yeah, I know, it probably isn't technically, yet. Stop quibbling
or I will hammer nails into your head.

David Parker wrote:
> Hi, all.
>
> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to
> another (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>
> Our company cannot use open source,

You're out of luck as both Solaris _and_ SPARC is open source.
When you get over that, try xv or gimp.

On Mon, 12 May 2008, David Parker wrote:

> I'm interested in a product that converts images from one type to another
> (such as PDF to tiff, jpeg to tiff) that runs on SPARC/Solaris.
>
> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported

Oh, so your company is going to stop using Solaris? DO they know it
is open source now (and has been for nearly 3 years)?

--
Rich Teer, SCSA, SCNA, SCSECA

CEO,
My Online Home Inventory

URLs: http://www.rite-group.com/rich
http://www.linkedin.com/in/richteer
http://www.myonlinehomeinventory.com

On Tue, 13 May 2008 15:36:22 +0000, Rich Teer wrote:
> On Mon, 12 May 2008, David Parker wrote:

>> Our company cannot use open source, so I'm looking for vendor-supported
>
> Oh, so your company is going to stop using Solaris? DO they know it
> is open source now (and has been for nearly 3 years)?

How surprising would it be if his PHPs actually did migrate to Winblows
for that reason?