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Downloading, Installing, and Using GhostView

Printable Version

PostScript files contain instructions that require a special program, or viewer, to open and successfully read them. Several of these programs are available. At this writing, Aladdin Enterprises' GhostView is the easiest viewer to download and install. This software runs on Unix, Macintosh, and the DOS/Windows platforms. It works with the IBM WebExplorer, NCSA Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. A version of GhostView is free for personal use to SIUC students, faculty, and staff. You can download Unix/VMS, DOS/Windows, and Macintosh versions from this page.

In this document, we'll use the Windows 95 (32-bit) version of GhostView as an example.

1. Download the software. You'll need version 4.03 of GhostView, which includes:
   
   
   
   
   • gsview21.zip
     
     
   • gs403fn1.zip
     
     
   • gs403ini.zip
     
     
   • gs403w32.zip
     
     
2. The .zip extension is one of the ways very large files are compressed in the Windows world prior to transmission across a network. For simplicity's sake, download these zip files into some temporary directory of your choice. You'll need to unzip them. Note: we offer this site only as a matter of convenience. The GhostView software is available at dozens of sites around the world, and some of them may be easier to download from than the sites listed above.
   
   
3. Since they will arrive on your computer in zipped format, you must unzip them. The PKUNZIP.EXE program is freely available around the Internet; you or your neighbor may already have a copy on the hard drive. If you need a copy of the program or if you're not sure how to use it, we explain how to download, install, and use it at this link.
   
   
4. Unzip GSVIEW21.ZIP from the Windows File Manager by double-clicking the file name.
   
   
5. One of the extracted files should be named SETUP.EXE; double-click it.
   
   
6. Answer the prompts. GSVIEW will unzip the remaining files and set up GhostView for you.
   
   
7. Open Netscape (4.0), and select Edit, Preferences, and General Preferences.
   
   
8. Select the Helpers tab. You'll see a list of external "helper" programs Netscape can look up when it encounters a filetype it's not preprogrammed to handle. GhostView is one such helper, and we're going to tell it to use the GSVIEW32.EXE program to display PostScript files for you.
   
   
9. This table has rather unevenly spaced headings called File type, Action, and Extensions. Scroll down through this list and look for application/postscript under File type (the left side of the table). You'll probably see Ask User under the Action, or middle heading. This the point: the Netscape programmers didn't know what viewer you'd want for PostScript files, and so left the choice up to you.
   
   
10. Single-click application/postscript so it's highlighted.
    
    
11. The File Extensions: window should fill in with the file extensions GhostView can handle. The ps type is our focus in this example, but you can see that GhostView can handle others (ai, eps).
    
    
12. Click the Launch the Application: button.
    
    
13. Type in the pathway to the GhostView program, e.g., c:\gstools\gsview\gsview32.exe (this may vary for your computer).
    
    
14. Don't click OK yet. GhostView can also display another common filetype you will probably encounter on the web, .pdf (portable data format) files. While we've got this helper table open, we may as well associate .pdf files with GhostView also.
    
    
15. Scroll down again until you see application/pdf under the File type heading.
    
    
16. Single-click application/pdf to highlight it just as you did application/postscript.
    
    
17. The File Extensions: field should fill in with .pdf.
    
    
18. Again, click the Launch the Application: button, and again, type in the pathway to the Ghostview program just as you did in a preceding step.
    
    
19. No w click OK.
    

Netscape should now open up the GhostView viewer anytime you single-click a web link pointing to a .ps or .pdf filetype (or .ai or .eps filetype for that matter). Let's test it, first with a link to a .pdf file, dep_hard.pdf, and second, with a link to a .ps file, escher.ps.

This document covers a basic setup for GhostView. As you become familiar with it, you can customize it as you wish.