PSPRESENT(1)

📦 version 1.3, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 PSPRESENT — the manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about pspresent(1) from the General Commands Manual and honestly? it's giving "I have to present my thesis in 20 minutes and my hands are shaking" but make it iconic. let's go. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

pspresent — the fullscreen PostScript presentation tool. no cap, that's literally it. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pspresent [options] file.ps

that's the whole vibe. options, then your PostScript file. periodt. ✨

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like, pspresent is a tool that displays PostScript slides in fullscreen, specifically for giving presentations. yes, like actual talks, in front of actual people. main character energy fr fr. 👑

navigation is simple (we'll get to it, don't rush me 💀), and the display is double-buffered for seamless transitions between slides — no ugly flicker, no weird tearing, just smooth slides like a fairy godmother did it. 🧚

the actual rendering? it's done in the background using Ghostscript. so pspresent is basically the girlboss frontend and Ghostscript is doing the heavy lifting backstage. teamwork makes the dream work, iykyk. 🔥

💅 OPTIONS 💅

one bullet per option, every single one, no skipping. we don't do that here. 🎀

  • -h — show a summary of options. the classic "help me i forgot everything" flag. 🙈
  • -o — do not override the window manager. so pspresent will attempt to disable decorations and resize itself to the size of the screen, but otherwise it will co-operate with your window manager. and heads up bestie: that may mean it is not truly fullscreen. the window manager said "i'm the captain now". 😭
  • -s — limit pspresent to only use the given head on a XINERAMA display. one screen only, no wandering eyes. 👀
  • -O Portrait|Landscape|Upside-Down|Seascape — override the orientation. you get exactly those four, spelled exactly like that, and yes Seascape is real and yes it's as dramatic as it sounds. 🌊
  • -l — loop mode! when you hit the end of the document, it goes back to the start, and vice versa. it's a circle, it's a cycle, it's lowkey eternal. 🌈
  • -t[delay] — automatic slideshow mode. the delay is optional, and the default value is 20 seconds. set it and forget it, bestie. ⏰
  • -Tfile — automatic slideshow mode, but ✨customised✨. the file contains one integer value per line, corresponding to the delay between the current slide and the next one. you must put a value for each page of your document (and yes, count overlays too — do not forget the overlays, i'm begging you 🥺). a value of 0 will disable the timer for the current slide. per-slide control, we love to see it. 🍓

👑 COMMANDS 👑

these are the keys you can use from within pspresent to navigate the slides. okay so important lore first: if Shift is depressed, then only the last page of each series of overlays is shown — and an overlay set is identified as a series of pages with the same logical page number. write that down. 📝

  • spacebar
  • page down
  • right arrow
  • down arrow

— move to the next slide. if Shift is depressed, it skips overlays. ➡️

  • backspace
  • page up
  • left arrow
  • up arrow

— move to the previous slide. if Shift is depressed, it skips overlays. ⬅️

  • home — warp to the start of the presentation. teleportation but for slides. ✨
  • end — warp to the end of the presentation. we love a dramatic finish. 🎬
  • number enter — warp to slide number. type the digits, hit enter, boom, you're there. 🔢
  • escape
  • q — quit the program. goodbye, you did amazing, go drink some water. 💜

the mouse buttons can also be used to navigate through a presentation. yes, your mouse is a presentation remote now. glow up. 🖱️✨

  • left button — move to the next slide.
  • middle button — quit the program. (the dramatic exit button, honestly)
  • right button — move to the previous slide.

and one more time for the people in the back: if Shift is used together with the navigation keys or buttons, then only the last page of each series of overlays is shown, and an overlay set is identified as a series of pages with the same logical page number. 🫶

💖 AUTHOR 💖

pspresent was written by Matt Chapman <matthewc@cse.unsw.edu.au> — thank you for the slay, king. 👑

this manual page was originally written by Jamie Wilkinson <jaq@debian.org>. icon behaviour, truly. 🎀

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one's from the General Commands Manual, dated January 24, 2005, and yeah it's PSPRESENT(1) — a vintage baddie but she still eats. 💅✨ go present something iconic. 🦋
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