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From: datri@convex.com (Anthony A. Datri)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Looking for PostScript Previewer in X Windows
Message-ID: <1991Apr19.040747.27984@convex.com>
Date: 19 Apr 91 04:07:47 GMT
References: <9104151452.AA12560@expo.lcs.mit.edu> <8335@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
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In article <8335@idunno.Princeton.EDU> vishy@catinhat.Berkeley.EDU
  (V. Visweswaran) writes in a window far too wide for mortals:

>>> I'm looking for a way to preview PostScript files 
>>> in X windows on a Sun 3/80.  

[ wow -- proof that *someone* else out there has a 3/80!  Love those diagonal
  simm sockets... ]

>Try GhostScript (GNU software) from the Free Software Foundation.

Kinda.  It's a GNU program, but not really from the FSF.

>Also, there is a program called xps that supposedly works under
>X11 R3, but I have not tried it. 

xps was written by Crispin Goswell; a later and much more stable version is
known as ralpage.  It can be ftp'd from expo.lcs.mit.edu.

Ralpage uses X's fonts, so it displays text fairly well.  It's a little
flaky, though, and I've never gotten it to work under anything but SunOS.

Ghostscript uses its own limited set of bitmapped fonts, so displayed text
at normal point sizes isn't very good.  It's pretty robust, though, and
handles color displays.  Better yet, it compiles easily in lots of places.
I run it under SunOS, HPUX, RISC/OS, and ConvexOS.  It also comes with a
chunk of code that lets one render directly into P{B,P}M files, which can
be very useful.

>If you have OpenWindows/XNews installed, then you can use
>'pageview' on the Suns.  It lets you modify
>the postscript code and view it simultaneously
>, so it is really good for developing PS code.

Well, both ralpage and gs can be interactive -- you get an executive prompt.
Pageview does, though, kinda embed an editor.  Pageview has the odd quality
that there's no "quit" available from its menus -- I guess Sun expects one to
run olwm and use the features thereof to kill it off.  I don't know whether
to blame pageview or the code, but I've got PS files that pageview displays
upside down and mirrored.

--

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datri@convex.com