RAR format

[tetraodontoxin]

Is there a way to convert from RAR to PDF format easily? I have been looking through the download section and the format is RAR, which isnt even opening for me.

[FRD]

A ".rar" file is essentially the same as a ".zip" file, first "unpack it" and then convert the content.

[Vermin_King]

I generally use a program 7-zip to unpack all of the condensed files

[tetraodontoxin]

A couple of the free downloads on here work with PDF without issue and a coupe had error messages, so I am thinking it might be something with the links.

[Texman]

Which files are you referring to?

[tetraodontoxin]

Originally Posted by Texman

Which files are you referring to?

i was having issues with the Ticonderoga steam ferry, and the polaris SLBM, but the download for the USS Cairo worked fine.

[Texman]

I cannot find a Ticonderoga steam ferry. However, I downloaded all of the Polaris kits, and they all opened fine.

[tetraodontoxin]

Originally Posted by Texman

I cannot find a Ticonderoga steam ferry. However, I downloaded all of the Polaris kits, and they all opened fine.

The Ticonderoga was found in the threads, someone requested plans and had a link to it. If the plans for you are working, then it must be in my system.

[cfuruti]

Originally Posted by tetraodontoxin

Is there a way to convert from RAR to PDF format easily? I have been looking through the download section and the format is RAR, which isnt even opening for me.

Your question needs context, since RAR and PDF formats serve different purposes. A RAR file is a compressed container, like ZIP, and so can contain one or more files or folders; obviously, a RAR file can contain a PDF file.

Only software licensed by RARLAB (like WinRAR, www.rarlab.com*) can legally handle RAR files. In contrast, ZIP is more open, therefore many applications and libraries can both create and decode ZIP files. Fortunately, free applications which can only decode, not create, RAR files, are easy to find; for instance, unar for Linux, 7-zip (7-zip.org) and PeaZip (peazip.github.io) (the latter two for both Linux and Windows).

*WinRAR is paid but has a trial license available.

[cfuruti]

Originally Posted by FRD

A ".rar" file is essentially the same as a ".zip" file, first "unpack it" and then convert the content.

"Essentially the same" is a long stretch, you probably meant they serve the same purpose. But their underlying format and supported compression algorithms are very different.
Because data compression applications like PeaZip, WinZip, WinRAR, 7-zip typically include several compression libraries, they can transparently handle different formats like z, bz2, xz, zip, rar, and so on; this does not mean the formats are equivalent. E.g., zip is one of the oldest compression formats in widespread use, and although newer versions are better, more modern formats like z, bz2 and xz usually compress much better (I believe that's also the case for rar). [careful when comparing: bz2 and xz are much slower when compressing, but as fast as zip when decompressing]