Adobe Reader for XP

[bostonman]

I have XP on my oscilloscope and print screen captures to PDF. Currently it has Adobe 5, but I'm uncertain how long Adobe will continue reading Adobe 5 version files.

From my understanding, the latest version to work with XP is 9, however, I can't locate it anywhere.

Does anyone know which latest version works for XP and how to obtain it?


Thanks

[edavid]

Hi, it sounds like you are mixing up Adobe Reader releases and PDF versions.  The relationship is not so simple 

However, you can download Adobe Reader XI here, and it works on Windows XP:

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

[james_s]

Try Sumatra PDF, it's a far better reader than Adobe IMO.

[BillyO]

Adobe probably won't stop supporting older files.  If they do, they will most likely have a conversion tool.

All that said, is it not you scope software that creates the PDF file?

[bostonman]

However, you can download Adobe Reader XI here, and it works on Windows XP:

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Does this need Service Pack 2 or 3 because this scope only has 1

[bdunham7]

I would leave it alone, there's virtually no chance that old version PDF files are going to become unreadable.  There's no reason to take that functionality out of the software.  There are still many very old PDF files out there.

[Berni]

If they ever change to a completely new PDF format they will still open old files.

Much like Micrsosoft Office can still open *.doc files even tho it is a obsoltete format that was replaced by *.docx. Heck It even still lets you save documents in the old format in case that you need to sent it somewhere or use it with something that can't use the new format.

The one case where they do make save files not work on purpose is some expensive professional tools like CAD or similar. That way they force people into buying the latest versions of the software since just a 1 year older version of the software wont open the latest files anymore. Otherwise people would have been perfectly fine with using a 10 year old version of SolidWorks as it does what they need to do.

[bitwelder]

Try Sumatra PDF, it's a far better reader than Adobe IMO.

And anyway nowadays web browsers (Firefox, Chrome at least) tend to include their own pdf reader engine.

[BillyO]

Still, the point remains, if his scope continues to create older format files, which it will, updating to a newer version of Acrobat Reader will get him nothing.  I'm still not clear why he thinks it will.

Adobe Acrobat 5 is not going to suddenly stop reading the files it once did.

Besides, the PDF format is no longer under Adobe control.  In 2007 it was handed over to ISO.  So any PDF compliant reader, including Acrobat will never stop reading older format files.

I just tested and the very latest version of Acrobat Reader will read the manual from my 1996 Toshiba laptop.

[edavid]

However, you can download Adobe Reader XI here, and it works on Windows XP:

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Does this need Service Pack 2 or 3 because this scope only has 1

I think you would need Adobe Reader 9 for that:

http://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.5.0/en_US/AdbeRdr950_en_US.exe

As other people have pointed out, there may not be any reason to upgrade, but you can download any version you like from Adobe's server.

[MikeK]

FWIW, I have Adobe Reader 11.0.08 on my XP machine.

[Monkeh]

Currently it has Adobe 5, but I'm uncertain how long Adobe will continue reading Adobe 5 version files.

Forever. Leave it be.

[bostonman]

Just to clarify, I have a screen print program (PDF Creator) and it creates a PDF when I select print.

If I try viewing the file, it views well in Adobe Reader on the scope, but, the only minor issue: I can't zoom in and out by holding the CTRL and moving the mouse wheel (a new version will solve that).

I am, however, thinking of this wrong. The PDF Creator program will only produce PDFs, installing a newer version of Reader won't change anything unless I update the PDF Creator and that creates an unreadable version with Adobe Reader 5 (which may or may not happen).

Also, I don't really need Adobe Reader on the scope, but it is nice to have it to look at PDFs should I need to reference. If I do upgrade Adobe Reader, it needs to run on XP, and with SP1 ONLY (I don't want to even attempt, or waste my time, installing SP2 and/or SP3).

[BillyO]

Thanks for clearing that up.  That makes sense.

Try version 9, 10 or 11.  Keep going up until you get you desired functionality (or until it will not install on XP).

[bostonman]

The link above for 9 didn't seem to work.

I'm uncertain if my laptop blocked the download.

[edavid]

The link above for 9 didn't seem to work.

I'm uncertain if my laptop blocked the download.

Yes, depending on your browser there may be a security warning.  I just overrode it, but you can try this link instead:

http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.5.0/en_US/AdbeRdr950_en_US.exe