114 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
114 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
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<html> <head>
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<title>A New PostScript File Viewer</title>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#ffe7c7" text="#8e4510">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center><h1>GV: An Alternative to Ghostview</h1></center>
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<center><h4><a href="mailto: layers@vax2.rainis.net">by Larry
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Ayers</a></h4></center>
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<p>I imagine that most Linux users have tried more than one distribution at
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one time or another. I've tried several, and after configuring a new
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installation to my liking and learning its idiosyncrasies I'm reminded that
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Linux is... Linux! Distributions make installation and package management
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easier, but once you're up and running the differences aren't really
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noticeable.
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<p>These days what I find interesting about distributions is the choice of
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software packages to be found in them. You would think that all of the
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distributions would offer the same software; after all, it's mostly freely
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available stuff from the 'net, available to anyone. There is a core group of
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applications which nearly all distributions provide, useful and high-quality
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packages such as XV, XFree86, and Ghostscript. But there is quite a variance
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when you get down to the smaller, less basic and less necessary
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packages. Every distribution I've tried has contained software which none of
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the others had included.
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<p>Recently I've been using the Debian distribution. While installing
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packages I came across something called "GV", which seemed to be some sort of
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Postscript viewer. I installed it and learned that this viewer was developed
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using Ghostview as a base, but it's much easier to use. Unlike Ghostview, GV
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can also display PDF files.
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<p>Due to the fact that most computer monitors are wider horizontally than
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vertically it's not feasible to read a standard page of a document and
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see the entire height of the page at once. GV deals with this by showing a
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small rendition of the viewing window to the left of the page and highlighting
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the visible portion. Clicking the left mouse button anywhere on the displayed
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page and dragging it smoothly scrolls the page up and down, while the
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miniature schematic rendition window shows you where you are on the page.
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If your window is too narrow to display the full width the mouse can scroll
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left-to-right as well.
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<p>Here's a screenshot of GV displaying a page
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of the included Postscript documentation:<br>
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<p>
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<img alt="GV Window" src="./gx/ayers/gv.gif">
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<p>One of GV's optional features (it can be toggled from the menubar) is
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aliased fonts. When this is turned on font characters are displayed very
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crisply.
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<p>Ghostview has traditionally been supplied as the default Postscript file
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viewer. I've found it to be awkward to use; it seems when I have the
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magnification adjusted so that the print is legible, the window is so large
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that it is difficult to navigate around the document. GV deals with this
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problem (which I imagine has affected anyone with a monitor smaller than 21"!)
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in a nicely intuitive way.
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<p>GV is a good example of the dynamics of the free software movement.
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Several years ago Timothy Thieson wrote the Ghostview program; it was a good
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program in its time, but has been static for some time now. After all,
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writing a piece of free software doesn't necessarily entail revising and
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updating it forever! But the source was still available and eventually
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Johannes Plass adopted it, with GV as the result. Then the program came to
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the attention of Helmut Geyer and he made a Debian package of GV, bringing
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the software to a new group of users. Developers don't have to re-invent the
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wheel, as there is probably code archived somewhere which will provide a
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head-start on any sort of application.
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<center><h3>Obtaining GV</h3></center>
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<p>GV can be obtained in source form from
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<a href="ftp://wwwthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/~plass/gv/gv_2_7_b5.tar.gz">
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this German FTP site</a>. I believe the Xaw3d widget set is required in order
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to compile the source. The Debian version can be FTP'ed from
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<a href="ftp://ftp.debian.org/rex-fixed/binary-i386/text/gv_2.7b5-3.deb">
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the main Debian site</a> or one of its mirrors.
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<p><hr><p>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1997, Larry Ayers <BR>
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Published in Issue 16 of the Linux Gazette, April 1997</H5></center>
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<!-- hhmts start -->
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Last modified: Sun 30 Mar 1997
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<!-- hhmts end -->
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