fbgs(1)

fbgs1

Poor man's postscript/pdf viewer for the linux framebuffer console.

Usage

fbgs [{-l | -xl | -xxl | -r n}] [-c] [-b] [-p password] [--fp number] [--lp number] [fbi options] file

Overview

Fbgs is a simple wrapper script which takes a PostScript (PS) or Portable Document Format (PDF) file as input, renders the pages using gs(1) - GhostScript - into a temporary directory and finally calls fbi(1) to display them.

Options

Fbgs understands all fbi(1) options (they are passed through), except: store, list, text, (no)comments, e, (no)edit, (no)backup, (no)preserve, (no)readahead, cachemem, blend.

Additionally you can specify:

-h, --help

Print usage info (overwrites fbi option).

-b, --bell

Emit a beep when the document is ready.

-c, --color

To render the pages in color (default is N&B).

-l

To get the pages rendered with 100 dpi (default is 75).

-xl

To get the pages rendered with 120 dpi.

-xxl

To get the pages rendered with 150 dpi.

-r n, --resolution n

To get the pages rendered with n dpi (overwrites fbi option).

-fp number, --firstpage number

Begins interpreting on the designated page of the document.

-lp number, --lastpage number

Stops interpreting after the designated page of the document.

-p password, --password password

You can use this option if your PDF file requires a password.

Releases

13 releases since Debian 3.0 (Woody); the text changed 4 times.

  1. 3.0
  2. 3.1
  3. 4.0–7
  4. 8
  5. 9–Arch

--bell since Debian 8 (Jessie); --color since Debian 8 (Jessie); --help since Debian 8 (Jessie); -b since Debian 8 (Jessie); -c since Debian 8 (Jessie); -h since Debian 8 (Jessie); -l since Debian 8 (Jessie); -xl since Debian 8 (Jessie); -xxl since Debian 8 (Jessie).

Author

Gerd Hoffmann <[email protected]>

From fbida 2.14-6 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.