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15.4 Document Viewers

Some new document formats have recently gained popularity. The standard viewers they require may not be available in the base system. We will see how to install them in this section.

This section covers these applications:

Application Name	Resources Needed	Installation from Ports	Major Dependencies
Acrobat Reader	light	light	Linux Binary Compatibility
gv	light	light	Xaw3d
Xpdf	light	light	FreeType
GQview	light	light	Gtk+ or GNOME

15.4.1 Acrobat Reader

Many documents are now distributed as PDF files, which stands for ``Portable Document Format''. One of the recommended viewers for these types of files is Acrobat Reader, released by Adobe for Linux. As FreeBSD can run Linux binaries, it is also available for FreeBSD.

To install the Acrobat Reader 5 package, do:

    # pkg_add -r acroread5

As usual, if the package is not available or you want the latest version, you can use the ports collection as well:

    # cd /usr/ports/print/acroread5
    # make install clean

Note: Acrobat Reader is available in several different versions. At this time of writing, there are: print/acroread (version 3.0.2), print/acroread4 (version 4.0.5), and print/acroread5 (version 5.0.6). They may not all have been packaged for your version of FreeBSD. The ports collection will always contain the latest versions.

15.4.2 gv

gv is a PostScript and PDF viewer. It is originally based on ghostview but it has a nicer look thanks to the Xaw3d library. It is fast and its interface is clean. gv has many features like orientation, paper size, scale, or antialias. Almost any operation can be done either from the keyboard or the mouse.

To install gv as a package, do:

    # pkg_add -r gv

If you cannot get the package, you can use the ports collection:

    # cd /usr/ports/print/gv
    # make install clean

15.4.3 Xpdf

If you want a small FreeBSD PDF viewer, Xpdf is a light-weight and efficient viewer. It requires very few resources and is very stable. It uses the standard X fonts and does not require Motif or any other X toolkit.

To install the Xpdf package, issue this command:

    # pkg_add -r xpdf

If the package is not available or you prefer to use the ports collection, do:

    # cd /usr/ports/graphics/xpdf
    # make install clean

Once the installation is complete, you can launch Xpdf and use the right mouse button to activate the menu.

15.4.4 GQview

GQview is an image manager. You can view a file with a single click, launch an external editor, get thumbnail previews, and much more. It also features a slideshow mode and some basic file operations. You can manage image collections and easily find duplicates. GQview can do full screen viewing and supports internationalization.

If you want to install the GQview package, do:

    # pkg_add -r gqview

If the package is not available or you prefer to use the ports collection, do:

    # cd /usr/ports/graphics/gqview
    # make install clean

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