UNIX UTILITY PROGRAMS

Note: These are some important amnd frequently used utility software packages installed in Skew.

Acrobat Reader (acroread): Utility to read PDF files (requires X-Windows emulation)

distiller: The Acrobat Distiller command allows users to convert a postscript file into an Acrobat "PDF" format. Faculty and staff may acquire personal copies of Acrobat for the PC or Mac from software.northwestern.edu. A free PDF converter for MS Windows is available from activePDF (based on AFPL Ghostscript)

dvips, dvipdf: DVI to PostScript translator (part of the teTeX distribution); 'dvipdf' converts a DVI document to PDF format. By default, dvips attempts to print. To send the output to a PostScript file, use the following command: dvips -o output.ps input.dvi

Enscript converts text files to PostScript and spools generated PostScript output to the specified printer or leaves it to file. Enscript has many options which can be used to customize printouts. See the enscript manual page and our page on printing from Skew

Ghostview, Ghostscript (ghostview, gs), an interpreter and viewer for the PostScript language. Allows the user to view a PostScript document. Available also as MS Windows 32-binaries (can be configured as a viewer for PS files in Netscape and Internet Explorer)

PSUtils: A suite of PostScript utilities and scripts, including psnup. psnup ("PS n up") rearranges multiple PostScript pages into a single page. Also available as MS Windows 32-bit binaries.

Remote Desktop Connection a Windows utility that allows you to connect to another XP workstation (for example, from a computer at home to one at the office).

screen: screen manager that allows the user to detach and reattach a session

textutils, GNU Text Utilities. These include "cat"

xfig: drawing program for X Windows

xv: An image manipulation system for X Windows. The Manual is available for download (PDF format).