Downloading and viewing PostScript documents
About PostScript
PostScript (a registered trademark of Adobe
Systems Incorporated) is a page description language used by many
printers. Because it is provides a consistent way to encode special
characters and graphics, it is also being used increasingly on the web as a
way of storing mathematics documents.
PostScript documents for Math 126
On the Math 126
web site, quizzes, exams, and solution sets are stored in both HTML
format (with the math pages as in-line GIF images), and in PostScript
format. The HTML pages are somewhat smaller, so they download quickly, and
they produce better-looking screen images. However, they are very slow to
print and the printed output is of poor quality, so the same documents are
also stored as PostScript files so that you can print them exactly as they
were intended to be seen.
Since most web browsers cannot display
PostScript files, you need to have either a PostScript printer or an
external program that can handle PostScript files.
Viewing PostScript documents on C & C computers
If you are viewing this page on one of the Computing and Communications
computers at UW, your computer should already be set up
to display PostScript documents on the screen. Just click on a hypertext
link that points to a PostScript document, such as Quiz #1 (Math 126A), and the PostScript document
should pop up in a separate window. If this doesn't work for you (for
example, if you get an error message or a dialog box asking you if you want
to save the file to local disk), ask one of the C & C consultants for help.
If there are no consultants around, you can send e-mail to help@cac.washington.edu.
Once you are looking at the PostScript viewer's window, there should be a
menu option (usually on the "File" menu) that will allow you to print the
document.
If you don't have a PostScript viewer...
If you are using a computer other than those provided by C & C, such as
your home computer, there may not be a PostScript viewer available. In
that case, if you have a PostScript printer (for example, any
Apple Laserwriter), you can download the file to your disk and then simply
print it as is. Consult your browser's documentation or help screen for
information on how to download files to local disk.
Obtaining a PostScript viewer
If you're ambitious and have lots of disk space available, you can download
a PostScript viewer and install it on your own system. There are free
viewers available for Macintosh, Windows, OS/2, and X-Windows. In each
case, you need two separate programs: Ghostscript (a PostScript
interpreter), and a screen viewer to go with it. Here is where to get
information and download the programs:
- Aladdin
Ghostscript, a PostScript interpreter for Mac, Windows, OS/2, Unix.
- GNU
Ghostscript, another version for Unix only.
- GSView, a screen viewer
for Windows, DOS, or OS/2 PC's.
- Ghostview,
a screen viewer for Unix/X-Windows workstations.
- Mac GS
Viewer, a screen viewer for Macintosh.
- Ghostscript,
Ghostview & GSview home page, with general information about PostScript
interpreters.
Back to Math 126 home
page