arturmarques.com iLog

Round / Grand Prix / Circuit / Date / Race result
01  Bahrain  BIC  March 14  
02  Australian  Albert Park  March 28  
03  Malaysian  Sepang  April 4  
04  Chinese  Shanghai  April 18  
05  Spanish  Catalunya  May 9  
06  Monaco  Monaco  May 16  
07  Turkish  Istanbul  May 30  
08  Canadian  Gilles Villeneuve  June 13  
09  European  Valencia  June 27  
10  British  Silverstone  July 11  
11  German  Hockenheim  July 25  
12  Hungarian  Hungaroring  August 1  
13  Belgian  Spa  August 29  
14  Italian  Monza  September 12  
15  Singapore  Singapore  September 26  
16  Japanese  Suzuka  October 10  
17  Korean  KIC  October 24  
18  Brazilian  Interlagos  November 7  
19  Abu Dhabi  Yas Marina  November 14  

“Drawn to Japan – A Manga Adventure”, is a 12 minutes funny introduction to ten Japanese particularities: (1) exchanging business cards, (2) hot springs, (3) toilets, (4) riding the bullet train, (5) the tea ceremony, (6) the Japanese subway, (7) food and (8) how to eat it, (9) the samurai, and (10) karaoke. Oh, and manga. In fact, the whole program is centered on a basic cartoon character named Harvey, a “nezumi” or mouse, who just failed a cheese commercial and is tired of sleeping under his creator’s bed. Harvey wants a job in a manga story and his creator, Charles Danziger, thinks that Mimei, a known Japanese manga artist, might help him, so they end up meeting.

Mimei will give “Haey” (no “r” and no “v”, because they don’t exist in Japanese) a chance, if he passes the “All Nippon Manga Mouse Exam”, which consists of ten challenges, corresponding the ten Japanese particularities that this short story amusingly introduces.

The rat failed (1) exchanging business cards, because he didn’t receive Mimei’s card – her “soul” – with both hands and a respectful bow, or at least he picked his teeth with it… Harvey loved the (2) hot springs naked bath sessions, scoring a 9. He then got confused with “no paper” and too many buttons, in the (3) Japanese toilet, making a splash worth a 3. Things went from bad to worse, when he failed the (4) bullet train, leaving at 12:32 sharp, thinking that “trains never leave on time”, like in most countries.
The (5) tea ceremony was a sweet disaster, because Mr. Danziger offered him some sugar, which is wrong to mix with Japanese green tea.
Being a small mammal, he scored an 8 on the (6) subway “sardine like” experience, but couldn’t handle the chopsticks for the (7) Japanese food test, finding them only worthy for picking ear wax. He made his point when he questioned how would humans eat if they had to use proportionally big poles?, but Harvey was too nervous and that showed when he tried some FOO-goo and thought to have eaten the blowfish’s liver and been poisoned, because he felt a symptomatic “tingling” that can also happen with spicy food, in general – which was the case. He scored a 4.
On (8) he knew he should eat slowly and politely, but the Japanese noodles were so delicious that he devoured them noisily, which is surprisingly OK in Japan – that was a 10! That (9) samurai performance and his deep knowledge on the way of the Japanese warrior, showed as he mentioned “Tom Cruise as the last samurai” and bragged about his own black belt, worth a funny 9.
Harvey’s (10) karaoke exam was OK just enough, with a push from Ryu Goto, the violinist. In no time Harvey was in a manga story and receiving hundreds of job proposals!

This was an imangaginative story, effective in highlighting some Japanese ways in a very short time.

I consider Alain Prost the best F1 driver, ever, and by far! Today, 2010–02–24, was his birthday.

To feel some of the old F1 magic, that once got me out of bed to watch the Asian Grand Prixs at 05:00 AM and earlier, I drove the 1993 William Renault and the 1991 Ferrari, on rFactor. Great fun.

Above, from the “1993 F1 L.E.” mod, for rFactor, a snapshot of the Williams Renault.

Above, from the “1991 F1 L.E.” mod, for rFactor, a snapshot of the Ferrari.

I rejected VS.PHP as a viable solution for PHP debugging. It happened in 4 steps.

(1)

I was trying VS.PHP 2.8 with Visual Studio 2008, when I found that, for curl projects, it is needed to edit the file php-xdebug.ini located in the VS.PHP install folder, and then uncomment the use of the curl extension.

This means that at line that writes

;extension=php_curl.dll

it suffices to remove the ;

If a debug session is running, it must be restarted.

(2)

By default VS.PHP, in Visual Studio 2008, uses IE (Internet Explorer) as its browser. I wanted Firefox instead, so I went to the project menu and called for its properties, then I just set the “browser type” to “default browser”, which is Firefox in my case.

Again: project > “project name” properties , as illustrated below:

(3)

The problem with Firefox was/is that it forbiddens certain exotic ports for browsing. The typical web based debugger will serve content precisely on such ports…

The solution is to configure Firefox to allow access to the restricted port. For example, if it was port “19” all it takes to unblock the situation is to go to the about:config special address (type about:config at the address bar) and then create a new configuration string named

network.security.ports.banned.override

set to “19”, in this example.

(4)

But then, to my frustration, I found that VS.PHP is just no good: while trying to enter (debug / step into) a function’s code, it just let the browser in a waiting state, like if the function call wasn’t happening. What a waste of time.

SugarCRM’s integrated upgrade wizard, failed to update my Sugar 5.2 install. The diagnose stated that all requirements were met, but then it silently [no explanation given] redirected me to the homepage after the upload of the upgrade package, which in my case was SugarCE-Upgrade-5.2.0-to-5.5.0.zip.

Tired of the failures, I downloaded the silentUpgrade-CE-5.5.1RC.zip. This file unpacks to a single PHP script that should be run from the command prompt: it just works!

Here is my successful command line:

php  -f  silentupgrade.php  c:\_dls_\silentUpgrade-CE-5.5.1RC\upgrade.log  c:\webs\mylocal\cgi-bin\sugarcrm  administrator

let me detail:

php is the PHP interpreter, and this call without a full path to php.exe will work, because your PATH environment variable should be pointing also to the active PHP system in your PC.

-f is a mandatory command line switch, explained in the README file that goes with the upgrade package.

silentupgrade.php is the script that will be run to upgrade the installation.

c:\_dls_\silentUpgrade-CE-5.5.1RC\upgrade.log is a FULL path to the log file that will be created. It is mandatory to be a FULL path. Your full path may be different, of course.

c:\webs\mylocal\cgi-bin\sugarcrm  is a FULL path to the local file system home of the SugarCRM install. It is mandatory to be a FULL path. Your full path may be different, of course.

administrator is a configured SugarCRM user with an administrative profile; this name can be different – it all depends on what you configured during the SugarCRM install, or later, by adding new users/administrators.

Below is a snapshot reporting everything went fine.

Minutes ago, on 2010–01–27, Apple’s Steve Jobs presented the IPAD – a tablet PC. As a write, the presentation still goes on, no price quote as been given, and very few people actually used the device, which it looks to me like Compaq’s Tablet TC1000, nearly 8 years later…

The IPAD’s screen is smaller (9.7 inches versus 10 inches) but, I suppose, of higher picture quality and capable of better than 1024×768. It is also lighter and has better battery life. Nonetheless, the whole point of this post is to praise Compaq! They were so innovative! My TC1000 was bought in 2002 and I still use it daily, for reading magazines and books [that have diagrams and/or pictures]. I use it at home without battery, to make it lighter. I also appreciate the concept of having to use a dedicated special pen for operation, instead of my fingers: that way I can touch/hold wherever I want, without causing undesired effects.

Maybe I’ll buy the IPAD, as a TC1000 replacement, at least if Zinio and Adobe both release readers for it.

One other example of Compaq’s greatness is the HX4700 – the best IPAQ ever! Regarding the HX4700, I think it beats the IPHONE, for those who don’t need a phone. I use the HX4700 as an ebook reader, for strictly textual content, although the device has VGA resolution on its 4 inch display! The HX4700 beats my Kindle2 at nightime: I use it more frequently for text and audio content, than I use the Kindle, because it has integrated retro illumination that allows me to use it with the lights off.

Here are some snapshots from the presentation, as broadcasted by Bloomberg.

“Reviving their secluded hot springs – The struggle of inn owners in Kurikoma Gotou” is a short documentary depicting the aftermath of the Iwate Miyagi Nairiku earthquake, from the perspective of inn owners, whose hot springs based businesses were severely affected.
The program starts with aerial pictures of the village of Kurikomayama, showing the effects of a mudslide that ran for 5 km and ended up killing people at the Komanoyu Hot Spring.

All the five inns know as “Kurikoma Gotou” suffered more or less serious structural damage, but the tragedy mainly hit the morale of the not so young owners, and this is where this TV program shines: it captures the people’s feelings and involves the viewer more than most fiction “dramas”, no matter their production budgets.

We first meet Osamu Miura, 55 years old, 4th generation owner, running the Yubama hot spring “Miura Ryokan Inn”, in the Hanayama District of Kurihara City. Back in 2008, his business had a 130 years history… Mr. Miura’s buildings were mostly spared to the earthquake’s devastation, but his “lantern inn” lost its source of water, so he must find a new hot spring, relocate, or quit. He finds a new hot spring by the river, 300 meters distant, but he is struggling, and the viewer sees it: without income, he starts working part time at a theme park; he then buys pipes and pipe insulators, but the water temperature still drops from 98C at the source, to half of that on delivery – ok for summer, not ok for winter.

Tsugio Sugawara, 67 years old, running the Shin-yu hot spring “Kurikoma-so Inn”, in the Kurikoma District of Kurihara City, is next and reinforces the suspicion that the “hot spring inn” business is not such a “business” – more a way of life. He does not have the 10 million yens required to fix his inn’s damages and is hesitant on taking debt.
Like Mr. Miura, he lost his hot spring and can’t find a replacement providing over 10 liters per minute, or above 35C.

The human side of this story leapfrogs when Mr. Miura, despite all his personal problems, admits being very worried with Akio Sugawara, of the “Kurikoma-so Inn”, based on the Komanoyu Hot Spring, where seven people were killed or unrecovered. Miura and Sugawara studied in the same high school (Miura was one grade higher) and were in the same mountaineering club, an activity where the participants’ lives can depend on each other and on a rope…
In 2009, Akio Sugawara visited “Yudate Ohkami”, built 20 years before, as the guardian god of the Komanoyu Hot Spring. He prayed there for a long time, in the freezing weather.

This gradual cadence that unveils from a faceless catastrophe to a specific set of victims, having in common not only being in the same “business”, but also sharing attitudes since young age, gives the documentary a touching realism.

After all the sorrow, the program shifts to “there will be sunshine after the rain” mode: five hot spring owners formed the “Kurikoma Gotou Restoration Group”, having Mr. Osamu Miura as their chairman. They made an appeal to the Mayor of Kurihara City (Isamu Sato) for financial support and, hoping for the best, they are positive and planning to reopen their inns, having received many support letters from all over Japan.

This is an emotional documentary that also calls the viewer’s attention to one interesting niche of the Japanese tourism industry.

1. Introdução e descrição

O Marantz NR1501 é um “AV Receiver” compacto. Neste caso isto significa que é um amplificador áudio de 7.1 canais, com fichas para a ligação de equipamentos de vídeo, e um sintonizador de rádio AM/FM integrado, tudo num corpo com 9.5 cm de altura e 35 cm de fundo. Estes números devem ser vistos em relação à generalidade dos equipamentos com as mesmas funções, ou em relação aos equipamentos “AV Receivers” do passado: todos mais volumosos, o que constitui um factor negativo para os consumidores que valorizam a compatibilidade com espaços para arrumação.

As dimensões estão reduzidas e o preço também: trata-se de um Marantz comparativamente acessível. As contrapartidas começam nas fichas disponibilizadas, ou na sua falta: não estão disponíveis saídas de nível de linha para nenhum dos canais de som envolvente descodificados. Nas modalidades de descodificação mais completas (modos 7.1), isto quer dizer que os sinais identificados para os canais frente-esquerdo, central, frente-direito, posterior-esquerdo, posterior-direito, surround-back-esquerdo e surround-back-direito não poderão ser guiados até amplificadores externos, tendo o utilizador que confiar na amplificação integrada de 50W @ 8 ohms, por canal. Esta potência parece adequada às colunas que se imagina que se associem a este electrodoméstico: colunas elas próprias compactas e/ou eficientes, quando solicitadas. Também faltam entradas para os mesmos canais; ou seja, o NR1501 não poderá ser utilizado para amplificar uma descodificação (7.1) externa.

Sacrificaram-se umas fichas mas, aparentemente, nada mais. A funcionalidade deste Marantz contempla tudo o que hoje é nuclear para “cinema-em-casa”: conteúdos Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-HD, DTS, DTS ES, DTS Neo:6, DTS 96/24 e Dolby Prologic IIx; vídeo digital por HDMI 1.3a (ou seja, compatibilidade com sinais Deep Color e x.v.Color, quando presentes na stream emitida pela fonte); e upscaling de vídeo analógico, para digital, para que o utilizador possa fazer do Marantz um concentrador de fontes de vídeo e depois possa abstrair-se das ligações ao dispositivo de visualização, que poderão ser simplificadas a um único cabo saído de “HDMI out”.

Regressando ao som, os modos mais recentes são o Dolby True HD e o DTS-HD (Master Áudio e High Resolution Audio). Nas especificações, o Dolby True HD destaca-se por ser lossless (compressão sem perda de dados), enquanto que o DTS-HD Master Áudio suporta áudio com uma resolução digital de até 24 bits e 96 kHz de amostragem, codificados até 24.5 megabits/segundo. Todavia, para a generalidade dos utilizadores, no presente, os modos mais frequentes deverão ser o DTS e o Dolby Digital, ambos em 5.1. O canal “surround back” exige duas colunas extra para a sua reprodução e esse requisito suplementar, para sessões 7.1, acaba por não ser seguido em muitas instalações.

A parte de trás do aparelho apresenta as seguintes fichas de ligação:
• Entradas para antenas AM e FM (ambas fornecidas);
• Entradas de vídeo composto e por componentes (Y, Pb/Cb Pr/Cr), para fontes “DVD”, “DSS” e “VCR”;
• Saída “Monitor Out”, por vídeo composto e por componentes;
• Entradas de áudio analógico para fontes “DVD”, “DSS”, “VCR”, “CD”, e “AUX2”;
• Saída de áudio pré-out para as baixas frequências (ficha “subwoofer”);
• Entradas de áudio digital (duas fichas ópticas e uma ficha coaxial);
• Fichas de enroscar para todas as colunas de som, excepto para as duas colunas “surround back”, que são por molas;
• Entradas HDMI para as fontes “Blu-Ray”, “Game”, “DVD” e “DSS”;
• Saída HDMI que replica a entrada que estiver seleccionada.

A frente tem um desenho simétrico: ao centro ficam o mostrador LCD e um controlo cursor, que serve para navegar pelo sistema de menus do equipamento (visível quando se utiliza a saída analógica “Monitor Out”) e para fazer reset ao Marantz (pressionando o cursor para baixo, durante três segundos). O painel frontal está delimitado por dois grandes botões circulares: o selector de fonte de sinal e o controlo de volume.
À esquerda do cursor ficam as teclas essencialmente relacionadas com o modo de audição: “surround mode” (para uma selecção manual), “auto” (para uma selecção automática em função da fonte escolhida e do tipo de stream identificada), “source direct” (para desactivar os controlos de tonalidade), e “menu” (para aceder à configuração do equipamento).
À direita do cursor ficam as teclas essencialmente relacionadas com a operação do receiver AM/FM com RDS (Rádio Data System): “exit” (relacionada com a navegação pelos menus de configuração do aparelho), “display” (para activar/desactivar o mostrador), “band” (para comutar entre AM e FM) e “memory”, para memorizar uma sintonia.
Abaixo do selector de fonte de sinal ficam uma saída para auscultadores e uma entrada à qual pode ser ligado o microfone Marantz MC101 fornecido, para o ajuste automático do sistema instalado (colunas presentes, distâncias até ao ouvinte e frequências de resposta).
Abaixo do controlo de volume, fica uma entrada “AUX1”, para a ligação de qualquer fonte analógica de áudio, como um qualquer leitor de MP3 com saída de auscultadores. Ao fugir de fichas Firewire e USB, a Marantz terá conseguido maior simplicidade e alguma economia, assegurando total compatibilidade.

O menu principal do Marantz NR1501 está organizado nas opções “System”, “Input”, “Speaker”, “CH Level” e “Sound Parameter”.
Em “System”, o utilizador pode indicar se usa subwoofer, se a saída HDMI também transporta áudio, que controlos de tonalidade estão activos e qual a sua intensidade (bass e treble em dB) e a que fontes é aplicável o vídeo upscaling (auto/component/cvbs/off) – esta função transforma sinais analógicos de vídeo, como sinais de vídeo composto e de vídeo por componentes, em sinais digitais, transportáveis pela ficha HDMI out.
Em “Input”, pode configurar-se todas e cada uma das fontes de áudio e vídeo, por exemplo dando-lhes nomes personalizados, escolhendo se o modo surround há-de ser automático e mesmo sincronizando áudio e vídeo, em 1/1000 segundos, pela função “Lip Sync”.
Em “Speaker” fornece-se informação sobre quais as colunas presentes, podendo assinalarem-se todas como ausentes (center: “no”, surround: “no”, surround back: “no”, subwoofer: “no”), excepto as colunas principais que se assume que estão sempre ligadas. As distâncias das colunas ao ouvinte e o seu limiar de resposta em frequência, medido em Hz, podem ser manualmente fornecidos, ou automaticamente detectados, pela função de “auto setup”.

A função de “auto setup” é centrada no microfone Marantz MC101, fornecido. Este microfone, com um longo fio, deve ser ligado à ficha “setup mic” na unidade central, e esticado até à posição de audição, preferencialmente elevado até ao nível em que os ouvidos das pessoas ficarem. Feito isto, basta escolher “start” e depois “apply”, para ter uma calibração que deverá ser exacta, ou perto disso, excepto num detalhe designado de “Room Eq Config” que, quando activo, compensa as características das colunas de forma a melhor “ajustá-las” à sala. Por exemplo, se as colunas principais forem muito expressivas nos graves e estiverem numa sala pequena e sem materiais absorvedores de ondas mecânicas, é provável que o “auto setup” / “room eq config” opte por diminuir-lhes as baixas frequências. A opção “room eq config” é binária: está ligada ou desligada. A minha sugestão é que se experimentem ambos os cenários e não se confie de imediato na configuração automática, neste aspecto.

O telecomando RC006SR fornecido parece robusto, mas só uma utilização de longos meses e muitas quedas poderia confirmá-lo. Sempre que uma tecla é pressionada no controlo remoto, acende-se a luz “send” que é um feedback razoável. As teclas do RC006SR são todavia quase todas indistinguíveis ao toque, com excepção do subir/descer de fonte de sinal, do controlo de volume, e do cursor. Este comando consegue controlar até dez dispositivos, configuráveis por códigos de quatro dígitos, referidos no excelente manual do utilizador.

2. Opinião

Ouvi o Marantz NR1501 sempre com uma instalação de 5 colunas: Paradigm Reference Studio 100 (frente), Castle Keep (centro) e Energy XL16 (surround). O modo sonoro mais frequente foi Dolby Digital 5.1.

Foi com um passeio até ao início da década de 2000, com a primeira season da série “Malcolm in the Middle”, que começou a minha experiência do Marantz NR1501. Nunca tinha visto o primeiro episódio: a mãe (Lois) corta os cabelos do peito e das costas do pai (Hal), nu, na cozinha, enquanto que as crianças (Malcolm, Reese e Dewey) estão entregues às suas habituais “brincadeiras” potencialmente destrutivas, no mesmo espaço, com grande naturalidade. Cada episódio é um pacote de 20 minutos de humor que oscila do berrantemente óbvio ao muito subtil. A parte do “berrante” tem a ver com a voz de Lois (actriz Jane Kaczmarek), quase sempre em modo chicote, para (tentar) controlar as crianças.
A música inicial “…you’re not the boss of me now…” pareceu pujante com a lírica bem inscrita no palco. As vozes, sem sombra de metal, frieza ou grão, foram naturais. No geral, as sessões foram confortáveis e sem reparos.

No filme “Madagascar 2”, repleto de momentos musicais, uma grande diversidade vocal e situações extremas que só um filme de animação pode proporcionar, senti que o atributo “compacto” do Marantz só diz respeito ao seu tamanho e, um pouco, à sua potência.
O NR1501 afligiu-se ligeiramente nos momentos mais agitados, incapaz de encher/envolver o espaço em proporção com a maior acção, mas as colunas instaladas são algo exigentes e a pressão sonora era quase festiva. Com volumes moderados, em vez de salientar-se alguma limitação na equipa, sentiu-se antes um calor típico dos bons AV Receivers, reminiscente dos dias em que os amplificadores estéreo dominavam. Para a minha subjectividade, o melhor indicador deste “calor” é o sustento dos sons, no tempo: uma onda mecânica não se extingue no instante imediatamente seguinte ao do início da sua reprodução, como se o passado acústico não afectasse o presente. Alguma presença residual, por brevíssimos momentos, e a sua interferência, no sentido positivo, na percepção actual, fazem sentido. Este Marantz fez sempre sentido.

Em filmes menos áudio’complexos, mas com intensidade pontual e distribuída, como “The Wrestler (2008)”, este traço confirmou-se: uma reprodução dinâmica e proporcional desde que o volume seja sensato, uma agressividade nula, uma clareza e contraste vincados, e um sustento credível que tornam as audições fáceis e realistas.
Com as colunas certas e com doses de volume razoáveis, a qualidade das sessões com o Marantz NR1501 é muito boa!

3. Resumo

O Marantz NR1501 é um “AV Receiver”: descodificador e amplificador até 7.1 canais, com entradas HDMI 1.3a, e um sintonizador AM/FM RDS integrado.
Compacto nas dimensões, sem entradas ou saídas para os canais surround, e 50 W @ 8 ohms, as sessões com este equipamento podem ser de grande qualidade, a volumes sensatos.

The 2009-11-27 edition of “NIKKEI Japan Report” was about the weather and about Nippon Steel Corporation (TYO:5401). Both features were extremely interesting, following an approach that highlighted the Japanese particularities, but could easily be translated to other countries, namely the more volatile meteorological conditions and deflation, hands on with a stagnated or decreasing population. As a guest, Waichi Sekiguchi – Nikkei editorial writer – made opportune comments.

Nowadays, people can access localized weather information, worldwide, with unprecedented ease, for example using the Internet. Some might ask: how is it possible? This NIKKEI report explained a bit of what is going on under the bonnet, with the help of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and WeatherNews Inc., a private company on the business of weather forecasting, owning a 24/24 TV and Internet channel.

The JMA collects data from meteorological satellites and, every 10 minutes, polls 1300 weather stations, across Japan, measuring wind direction, daylight hours, rain quantity and temperature. Most data is fed into a super computer that outputs a “numerical weather prediction”, and then refined by human operators who, using their personal experience can make revisions to the automatic forecast, refining its accuracy. Tadashi Kikuchi says their accuracy is “86% or 87% that it will rain next day”.

Comparing JMA to WeatherNews is a bit like comparing machine vs humans… because the most interesting tool on WeatherNews’ portfolio is their network of supporters: people who input data. This data can be pictures taken with mobile phones, written weather reviews, and more objective metrics, gathered by handheld devices that the company provides to the supporters, in order to measure air pressure, humidity, temperature and more, at their locations. On average, 5000 messages/day are received. On busy days, the value might escalate to 20000 messages.

Accurate weather information is critical to many businesses and safety:  for example, convenience stores can tune their supply of umbrellas and food, roads can be opened/closed, and even health measures can be taken depending on weather forecasts – Ryoji Miyashita spoke about the correlation between heart attacks, temperature and air pressure: the lower the temperature, the more the body tries to retain heat, by pressuring blood vessels, increasing the odds of damaging clogs; the less the air pressure, the less pressure on blood vessels, eventually allowing them to over expand….

The NIKKEI report then switched to a brief interview with Akio Mimura, Nippon Steel Corporation’s chairman. He was brilliant on framing together economic vectors such as the Japanese domestic market, population growth (or lack of it), globalization, international competition, ecological production and technology. A decade ago, the company was the world’s #1 steel producer with an annual output of 100+ millions tons. Since the mid 1990s, Nippon Steel stagnated on volume, while China took the lead, now producing 500+ millions tons.
On technology, the Japanese still are the best: their production process is 20% less aggressive on CO2 emissions, because 85% of the consumed heat is regenerated. Thus, their strengths are “green” and “tech”. But, because of deflation and a stagnant domestic market, the only way the company can grow is by exporting – globalization is the way and a strong yen could be a problem.

This was a very interesting report, covering many contemporary issues in a short time.

Some folders of mine have hundreds to thousands of PDF files, mostly corresponding to conference proceedings and ebooks.

I would like to browse these folders with the same ease I browse photos, using software like the free http://www.irfanview.com/ or the commercial http://www.acdsee.com/ . Unfortunately, these tools do NOT natively support PDFs. If you search, you’ll find a “solution” based on GhostScript, as you can read here, but it is far from perfect. So far from perfect that, in fact, it is no solution at all, at least for me and for most who praise ACDSee’s stability.

The problem is scale. Scalability is quite a challenge: everything is fine for 5, 50, eventually 500 files, but the house of cards collapses beyond that. The GhostScript solution for ACDSee works for light quantities, but when you suddenly browse to a folder with hundreds of PDF files, ACDSee will probably crash. I found the problem even more disturbing because, with that plugin installed, ACDSee sometimes crashed even when not browsing PDFs – an issue that got solved, by removing the GhostScript “solution”. Since I don’t want to mess with my photos database, this wasn’t the way for me.

Then I tried the nuclear weapon: Adobe Bridge, a tool that comes in Adobe’s “Creative Suite”, supporting most photo formats and PDFs, natively. Version CS4 is the most stable, but Adobe Bridge is a monster that will devour all your available RAM the moment you present it a challenge: for example, if I browse to my Canon 5D RAW folder, all the RAM just evaporates – ACDSee does a much better job here. The same goes for browsing PDFs: in order to show the 1st page of a PDF as its thumbnail, any software must open the PDF file, then read and process that page. The question is: once the thumbnail is extracted where will it be stored? Adobe Bridge stores the thumbnails in a Cache folder that is *limited* to 500.000 items, while ACDSee keeps a simple database, that doesn’t use a dedicated server. While 500K items seems like a lot, this number will shrink in no time, because every small file that you display in Bridge will be cached and decrease the available future pool, requiring you to “purge the cache” sooner than expected.

So, Adobe Bridge does support PDFs natively, but it is memory hungry for serious content, to the point of becoming incompatible with other open applications: sure, you can have a web browser and Acrobat viewer and Excel opened at the same time… but only if you don’t have many active Web sessions and your .DOC is rather simple, and your Excel book isn’t forecasting some trend; if not, expect plenty of memory page swapping.

Even if you give Adobe Bridge all the possible resources, it will stop thumbnailing as soon as it reaches its cache max limit (magically set at 500K items and being much less, by default). Not only that, I am sorry to say, but Bridge can crash. And it is slow for big folders. In a single sentence: Adobe Bridge seems to do the job until the moment you raise the bar, then you’ll find yourself waiting, crashing or with no results at all, which is far from the level of experience I want.

One Bridge like “solution”, nearly an underground product that no one seems to know about, is STDUtility’s Explorer (http://www.stdutility.com/stduexplorer.html) – it is free and it natively supports PDFs! But it has a major design flaw: it doesn’t cache thumbnails, meaning that browsing to a folder is always like the [slow] first time. It also doesn’t scale: ask it to browse 500 PDFs and you’ll run out of memory, if it doesn’t crash first.

I thought this was the end of the road, when I found “A-PDF Thumbnailer”: http://www.a-pdf.com/thumbnailer/

“A-PDF Thumbnailer” is a very focused product, strictly aimed at creating thumbnails from selected PDF files. As an extra, it can also generate HTML pages with tables containing the thumbnails and linking to the original documents, so that you can later navigate the collection using any web browser. This program doesn’t worry about having an integrated viewer, a caching system or a search function – it is totally specialized in creating thumbnails. And guess what? It works fine! Finally, something that just works, without crashing, without eating up all the available RAM, allowing the computer to remain usable, and providing a *near* solution for browsing large PDF collections.

Use it in two steps: (1) select the PDFs to thumbnail and drag them to the program’s window, (2) press generate. Then wait. For thousands of files, you’ll eventually have to wait hours, but it is faster than all the other alternatives I mentioned. Below, the image shows a batch of 3381 PDFs being processed by the program.

One very important aspect is that it just works! The thumbnail extraction process can fail, but the number of failures with A-PDF’s solution isn’t greater than with Adobe’s Bridge or any of the other tested alternatives.

So, why the *near*?

Five reasons:

(1) if a file’s name has some strange characters, that file will be ignored and spark an error message;

(2) sometimes it can silently hang on the conversion of a file;

(3) sometimes after not being able to convert a file, it can fail all the following files – this is its most annoying error;

(4) it is NOT recursive: if you drag a folder with no files, but having other folders containing PDFs, it won’t find a single job;

(5) the HTML output is limited to tables (and I can live with that), but the tables are limited to 50 rows and 12 columns, which is not enough for many cases, although extra tables are built and linked. Why not just cut the limitations and allow a single page, single table document?

It is a solution for me?

It [nearly] is, for now: once the thumbnails have been extracted, I can browse the folders using irfanview or ACDSee, not having to worry with PDF processing, available RAM and crashes.

“A-PDF Thumbnailer” is the simplest, yet most effective solution I found for browsing large collections of PDFs, albeit flawed.