## My Linux DTP Tool Box

This is a selection of important tools to be used with Scribus, based fairly narrowly on how reliably these applications work with Scribus for print. Some of these apps have been tested within the limitations of modern PC hardware, for example: telling XNview to create 10,000 thumbnails at once.

- Adobe Reader
- Other PDF Viewers
- Batik
- GIMP
- Ghostscript
- GSview
- Advanced Ghostscript & GSview
- ImageMagick
- Inkscape
- KSnapshot
- Tracing Tools
- WINE
- XNview
- Lprof
- Krita

#### A note on PDF Viewers:

One of the challenges with PDF in general is that Scribus creates high-end PDF files. Sometimes their features are beyond the capabilities of some open source viewers, while necessary for reliable commercial printing and only supported in commercial pre-press or DTP tools. Years of working with Scribus have led to the strongly held conclusion that the following viewers are the most reliable at displaying PS/EPS/PDF created by Scribus:

- Adobe Reader 7.x or later – The best and sometimes the only choice for PDF viewing. Detailed notes and hints: Adobe Reader.
- GSview 4.8+ with the latest version of Ghostscript available. This combination is your best choice for viewing EPS files, PS files and most PDFs. In addition, GSview has many other very useful capabilities with add-ons like `pstoedit` and `epstool`. For more detailed notes and hints: GSview.

If any other PDF or EPS viewer you choose cannot display PDFs from Scribus, but they do view properly in Adobe Reader, file a bug with the upstream author. It cannot be stressed this enough. In virtually all cases that have been tested, it is a limitation of the viewing application. Scribus PDFs are tested daily with specialist pre-press software to validate their adherence to the published PDF specifications.