Re: Viewing PDFs as text?

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> When trying to view a PDF with in a tty, `doc-view-initiate-display'
> throws an error about missing support for image, png or other utilities.

> Maybe it would be better to display the output of pdftotext directly in
> a tty.  In X Window, the default behavior would be to display the image
> when images are supported, and to fall back on pdftotext when not.

> What do you think?

Sounds like a good idea, but the implementation doesn't seem
as obvious.  So... patches welcome,


        Stefan


> PS: See the request below by Roland.

> Roland Winkler <Roland.Winkler@physik.uni-erlangen.de> writes:

>> Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> writes:
>>> Roland Winkler <Roland.Winkler@physik.uni-erlangen.de> writes:
>>> 
>>>> It would be nice if doc-view used a plain text format if emacs is
>>>> running in a tty. Or am I missing something?
>>> 
>>> No, I'll have a look if that's easy to do.  Til then you can use
>>> 
>>> ! pdftotext ? - RET
>>> 
>>> from within dired.
>> 
>> Of course, not all pdf files are such that pdftotext can give
>> meaningful results. Figures and, say, formulas in a file generated
>> with pdflatex will be screwed up. However, fairly often I need to
>> use a tty. Anything that helps me along that way is greatly
>> appreciated. For me, one of the big advantages of emacs is that it
>> allows me to get the most out of a plain old tty.

> -- 
> Bastien