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This is bmv.README for the program:


 BMV version 1.1
 copyright by Jan Kybic, 19th January 1995

 Jan Kybic, Prosecka 681, Praha 9, Czech Republic, <kybic@earn.cvut.cz>

 BMV is a very simple viewer of images in the pbm(5)-raw format
     and front end for GhostScript		
     based on Svgalib library for Linux

 BMV is distributed under GNU GPL (General Public License),
   you can obtain a copy from many FTP sites if you are interested in details

****************************************************************************

NAME

BMV stands for BitMap Viewer, which was the original task for the program.
(But you obviously can make a link to something like PSV, if you like it
better -:) 


OVERVIEW

The main purpose of the program is to serve as a front end for GhostScript,
a public domain GhostScript interpreter distributed under GNU GPL. It
performs simillar task as well known GhostView, but it does not need X. It
handles bitmap scaling both up and down, so once a bitmap is generated by
GS, you can zoom in and out very quickly. It was targeted mainly for
previewing PostScript files generated by Dvips from TeX dvi files, but it
can be used for any other PostScript files. As a by product it can also
display graphic files in a rawPBM format.  See PBM(5) for details.


PLATFORM

BMV runs currently under Linux (a free Unix for PCs) and it uses a SVGAlib
graphics library. If there were any ports of this library, PBM could be
ported as well.

There is a port of BMV under SCO Unix by William Bader
<wbader@csee.lehigh.edu>. Contact him if you are interested. 

If you run X Windows, you are probably already using GhostView. But many
people cannot run X, because of memory or processing power limitations and
BMV is meant for these people, to enable them view their PostScript 
comfortably.

You must have Ghostscript installed to use BMV for previewing PostScript.


See bmv.INSTALL


INVOKING BMV

Simply type 'bmv myfile.ps' for previewing PS files and 'bmv -b myfile.pbm'
for previewing PBM files. The available options are:

-h	 : display all the options plus some additional help

-v<num>  : use VGA mode <num>. For all the modes see <vga.h>. Good choice
	   is 4, it means 640x480x16 colours and it should work on every
	   VGA. If you do not specify any mode, BMV asks SVGALIB for default,
	   and if there is no default, it uses the precompiled value.
	   If the desired mode is not available, BMV tries to find another.

-b       : Display rawPBM file. Default is to display PostScript
	  
-m<num>  : Sets initial magnification to <num>. If <num> is negative it means
	   reduction. Try 'bmv -h' to find the limits for <num>. For start
           you can try '-m-5' to be sure at least a part of the image fits on
           the screen.

-r<res>  :  The string <res> is passed to GhostScript to set the initial
           resolution. The format is same as for GS, e.g. you can say
	   'bmv -r300x300 foo.ps'. The default is 72dpi, which is enough to 
	   see the shape of the text. You will have to increase it to see the
	   the details. 150dpi is fine and 300dpi is about the most what you 
           will need as your printer will probably not be better.
	   Do not set it too high if you do not need it, as it increases
  	   processing time dramatically.	  

-w<time> : Timeout limit in seconds. You will not need to change it unless 	
           you get timeout message.

-t<num>  : Pixel threshold in percents (0-100). Default is 30%. The greater
	   the value the lighter fonts when reducing images.

-p<size> : Paper size for GhostScript. (For example -pA4)

-I<path> : Include path for GhostScript.

-g<path> : Path and name of the GhostScript executable.



INTERACTIVE COMMANDS

If you have some PS file, try 'bmv myfile.ps' now. If everything goes well
you should see your file within a few seconds, depending on your computer.
Then you can use the following commands:

q	: quit the previewing

h,j,k,l : move left, down, up or right respectively by one step
          with <shift> you move as far as to the page boundary

f,r	: increase/reduce step size for h,j,k,l commands

+,-     : increase/decrease magnification

n,p	: go to next/previous page; with <shift> you go to the very
          first/last page

g<ddd>  : go to page <ddd>, where <ddd> stands for three digits. 
	  For example, to go to page 10 you press <g><0><1><0>

s<n>    : switch to virtual console <n>. To switch back use ordinary
          <Alt>+<Fn> combination

If you press a key which has no meaning, it is silently ignored. Also if you
press a non digit after 'g', the command is discarded.


DSC

PBM works best with PostScript documents conforming to Document Standard
Convention, such as produced by Dvips. These files begin with '%!-PS-Adobe-'
and they contain additional information. You can preview non DSC PostScript
files with BMV, but you will see only the first page ! But most files you
meet are DSC ones anyway.



SUPPORT

I can promise no regular support at the moment but, nevertheless, any  
feedback will be more than welcomed at the above mentioned address.

I expect BMV to contain some bugs. If you find any and you do not feel like
correcting it yourself, send me a report and I see what I can do.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my thanks to many people who had suggested
improvements to BMV. I appologize for not listing their names here but I
lost the list due to a hardware failure. 

The colour support and the port to SCO Unix comes from William Bader
<wbader@csee.lehigh.edu>. I do not have any possibility to test it so if you
have any questions regarding these parts, please contact him directly.


CHANGES FROM THE PREVIOUS RELEASE

New command line switches, colour support, port for SCO Unix. BMV is now
more tolerant to the PostScript file format. I added also much requested
virtual console switching.

See bmv.CHANGES for the recent list of changes.


Happy PostScripting !

			Jan