MacGhostView is an extension of ghostscript6.01. It is designed only as a Postscript and PDF viewer and it allows the user to view the pages of a postscript document in any order. This feature is available only for Postscript files that conform to Adobe's Document Structuring Conventions (DSC). The Macintosh code in MacGhostView is an extension of Mac GS Viewer. The additional drivers needed to create ghostview from ghostscript are my own creation.
Macps2pdf is a Postscript to PDF converter based on ghostscript 6.50. Beginning with version 6.0 ghostscript is capable of embedding Type1 fonts in a PDF document, making it a viable alternative to Adobe's Distiller. Prior to 6.0 ghostscript could only convert Type1 fonts to bitmaps, resulting in PDF documents which displayed poorly in Acrobat Reader. Macps2pdf is really ghostscript 6.50 without any viewing capability. Experienced users of ghostscript can access the full conversion features of ghostscript through the “gs” item under the File Menu in macps2pdf. Since most users will want to just convert Postscript to PDF and don't wish to learn the intricacies of ghostscript, I have made the ps to pdf conversion the default.
When you open a PDF document in MacGhostView, it calls macps2pdf to create a Postscript “wrapper” for the PDF file. This “wrapper” file is placed in your invisible “Temproary Items” folder and is deleted when MacGhostView quits.
The MacGhostView archive contains the MacGhostView and macps2pdf programs and a folder called “ghostscript.” This folder contains the library and font files needed by MacGhostView and macps2pdf.
MacGhostView is shareware (charityware) with a registration fee of $20. If you wish to pay by credit card you can pay me through PayPal (http://www.paypal.com) and send the fee to tom@kiffe.com. You can send a check (drawn on a US bank), a money order, or cash and your e-mail address to the adress given below. You can use the “Register MacGhostView” program to register your copy through Kagi Shareware. I prefer that you don't use Kagi because their processing fees are becoming exorbitant.
Thomas R. Kiffe
P. O. Box 516
College Station, TX 77841
USA
When launched for the first time, MacGhostView will attempt to create a preferences file in the Preferences Folder inside your System Folder. On some sysytems an init or virus protection software may not allow MacGhostView to create the macghostview.prefs file. If this happens on your system, just drop the “MacGhostView Prefs” file into the Preferences Folder inside your System Folder.
System Requirements
MacGhostView is a large program and can require huge amounts of RAM if you want to preview documents in color and at high resolution. System 8.1 or later is required and you will need at least 8 MB of free RAM. The program only runs on PPC Macs.
Default Configuration
MacGhostView is configured to display a document at 288 dpi with 256 colors. These settings require an offscreen bitmap using 7.4 MB of RAM and give you magnifications of 100%, 133%, 200%, and 400%. The amount of RAM needed for the offscreen bitmap can be greatly reduced by lowering the dpi or the number of colors in the “Display Page Geometry” item under the Options Menu. The memory for the offscreen bitmap is taken from System Memory so you should not have to change the size of MacGhostView's memory partition.
File Menu
View: Select a postscript file to view. If the file is a DSC postscript file, the pages may be viewed in any order.
Close: Close the display window.
Save: Save the currently displayed page as a PICT file.
Interrupt: This item allows you to cancel viewing of a non-DSC postscript file.
Run: Open a file for previewing, reporting any errors encountered while interpreting the pages. This option for opening a postscript file is the only one that can report any errors. Use it if the View command fails to display the document.
Quit: Quit MacGhostView.
Edit Menu
Copy: Place the currently displayed page as a PICT resource on the Clipboard.
View Menu
First Page: View the first page of the document.
Previous Page: View the previous page.
Next Page: View the next page.
Last Page: View the last page of the document.
Goto Page: Select a page for viewing.
Zoom In: Increase the level of magnification by one step.
Zoom Out: Decrease the level of magnification by one step.
Zoom Back: Return to the previous level of magnification.
Console Window: Bring the console window to the front.
Display Window: Bring the display window to the front.
Redraw Display Window: Due to rounding errors, the displayed page may become distorted while scrolling and this item allows you to redraw the page.
Options Menu
Display Page Geometry: Set the page size and resolution for displayed images.
Orientation: MacGhostView can rotate the pages of some Postscript documents. This feature probably won't work with your Postscript file.
Debug Paths: Print the full search paths of all files MacGhostView is trying to open.
Dither: Use grayscale imaging when viewing a document at low magnifications.
Ignore DSC Comments: This option may be necessary for some complex DSC files for which the page selection feature of MacGhostView may give unsatisfactory results. The postscript file will be opened for viewing the pages in strict linear order.
Set Search Paths: If Macghostview and macps2pdf are not in the same folder as the “ghostscript” folder, use this item to tell the programs the location of the “ghostscript” folder.
KeyMappings: Change the keys for navigating through a document and around a page.
Slow Scrolling: If a floating window covers part of the display window, this item will make MacGhostview scroll correctly.
Page Menu
When viewing a DSC postscript file or a PDF file this menu will contain a list of the pages of the document. Selecting an item will display that page number.
Key Mappings
Pressing various keys while the display window is in front moves you around the page and the document as follows.
Key Action
n Go to the next page.
p Go to the previous page.
f Go to the first page.
l Go to the last page.
g Call the Goto Page Dialog Box.
h Center the page horizontally.
v Center the page vertically.
i Zoom in (increase magnification).
o Zoom out (decrease magnification).
u Scroll upward one screen.
d Scroll downward one screen.
The four arrow keys also move you around a page in small increments. The “page up” and “page down” keys work just like the u and d keys respectively. The “home” key takes you to the upper left-hand corner of a page while the “end” key takes you to the lower right-hand corner.
