1 XPDF Portable Document Format (PDF) file viewer for X (version 0.5) Xpdf is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files (These are also sometimes also called 'Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.) Xpdf runs under UNIX or VMS and the X Window System. Usage: $ xpdf [-err] [-z ] [-g ] [-geometry ] [-remote ] [-raise] [-quit] [-rgb ] [-cmd] [-h] [-help] [ []] 2 On-screen_Controls left/right arrow buttons: Move to the previous/next page. 'Page' entry box: Move to a specific page number. Click in the box to activate it, type the page number, then hit return. magnifying glass buttons: Increase and decrease the resolution, i.e., zoom in and zoom out. print button: Bring up a dialog for generating a PostScript file. The dialog has options to set the pages to be printed and the PostScript file name. curved arrow buttons: Totate the page clockwise and counterclockwise. These are intended primarily for PDF files where the rotation isn't correctly specified in the file, but they're also useful if your X server doesn't support font rotation. '?' button: Bring up the 'about xpdf' window. 'Quit' button: Quit xpdf. 2 Links Clicking on a hyperlink will jump to the link's destination. Currently, only links within PDF documents or to another PDF file are supported. Clicking on a URL link just prints the URL. Clicking on any other type of link (e.g., links to executable programs) prints an error message. 2 Key_bindings n move to the next page p move to the previous page scroll down on the current page scroll up on the current page scroll to top of current page scroll to bottom of current page arrows scroll the current page control-L redraw the current page q quit xpdf 2 Command-line_Options_and_X_Ressources -err Send error messages to /dev/tty instead of stderr (useful if xpdf is started from another application, e.g., netscape which otherwise pops up an annoying little window for every error). -z [xpdf.initialZoom] Set the initial zoom factor (-5 .. 5). -g [xpdf.geometry] -geometry Set the initizl window geometry. -remote Start/contact xpdf remote server with specified name (see the 'Remote server mode' section below). -raise Raise xpdf remote server window (with -remote only). -quit Kill xpdf remote server (with -remote only). -rgb Set the size of largest RGB cube xpdf will try to allocate. The default is 5 (for a 5x5x5 cube); set to a smaller number to conserve color table entries. -cmd Print commands as they're executed (useful for debugging). -h or -help Print usage information. Several other standard X options and resources will work as expected: -display [xpdf.display] -foreground [xpdf.foreground] -fg -background [xpdf.background] -bg -font [xpdf.font] -fn The color and font options only affect the user interface elements, not the PDF display (the 'paper'). 2 Web_browsers If you want to run xpdf automatically from netscape when you click on a link to a PDF file, you need to edit (or create) the files '.mime.types' and '.mailcap' in your home directory. In '.mime.types' add the line: application/pdf pdf In '.mailcap' add the lines: # Use xpdf to view PDF files. application/pdf; xpdf -err %s This should also work for mosaic and possibly for other browsers. 2 remote_server_mode Xpdf can be started in remote server mode by specifying a server name (in addition to the file name and page number). For example: $ xpdf -remote myServer file.pdf If there is currently no xpdf running in server mode with the name 'myServer', a new xpdf window will be opened. If another command: $ xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 9 is issued, a new copy of xpdf will not be started. Instead, the first xpdf (the server) will load 'another.pdf' and display page nine. If the file name is the same: $ xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 4 the xpdf server will simply display the specified page. The -raise option tells the server to raise its window; it can be specified with or without a file name and page number. The -quit option tells the server to close its window and exit. 2 Fonts Xpdf uses X server fonts. It requires the following fonts: * courier: medium-r, bold-r, medium-o, and bold-o * helvetica: medium-r, bold-r, medium-o, and bold-o * times: medium-r, bold-r, medium-i, and bold-i * symbol: medium-r * Zapf Dingbats: medium-r Most X installations should already have all of these fonts, except Zapf Dingbats (which isn't used very heavily anyway). X servers, starting at R5, support font scaling. Xpdf will automatically take advantage of this. There are two types of scaling. The first type uses standard bitmap fonts: if a font doesn't exist in the requested size, the server will scale the bitmapped characters. This is reasonably fast, and the results are readable but not very pretty. X servers can also handle true scalable, e.g., Type-1, fonts. (The free Adobe Acrobat Reader comes with a set of Type-1 fonts which can be used by X; see the mkfontdir(1) man page for details on setting these up.) Scalable fonts are slower, especially since PDF documents tend to use lots of fonts, but they look much nicer. Some X servers also support font rotation. Xpdf will use this feature if available. 2 PostScript_output Xpdf can generate PostScript files. Click on the 'printer' button, select the pages you want to print and the name for the PostScript file, and click 'Ok' (or hit return). There is also a separate program (pdftops) which converts PDF files to PostScript. It runs from the command line, and can be compiled without the X includes and libraries. 2 Copyrights version 0.4 (beta) 96-apr-24 The xpdf and pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996 Derek B. Noonburg. Email: derekn@ece.cmu.edu WWW: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/dn0o/xpdf/xpdf.html The PDF data structures, operators, and specification are copyright 1995 Adobe Systems Inc.