Postscript and other Graphic Formats

• gv allows to view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documents on an X display by providing a user interface for the ghostscript interpreter.

  
           gv /zap/test.ps &         
  
  
  will open the PostScript file /zap/test.ps

• ghostscript is an interpreter for the PostScript (TM) language. A PostScript interpreter usually takes as input a set of graphics commands. The output is usually a page bitmap which is then sent to an output device such as a printer or display. PostScript is embedded in many printers.

  Ghostscript has several main uses:

  1. Display a PostScript file.
  2. Display a PostScript file to decide if you really need to print it.
  3. Print a PostScript file to a non-PostScript printer.

• acroread Acrobat Reader enables you to view, print, navigate, and browse PDF files seamlessly on its own or within leading Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Mozilla.

  Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is a standard for electronic document distribution worldwide. Adobe PDF is a universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Adobe PDF files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed exactly as intended by anyone with Acrobat® Reader® software.