All of my course materials before the Fall 1998 semester are available online in only one format: PostScript.
All of my course materials from the Fall 1998 semester to present are available online in two formats: PostScript, and Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format).
This document describes how to read those two formats on a variety of
computers.
My class syllabus, and all of my lecture notes, are in PostScript format. PostScript has the advantage of being the easier of the two formats to generate, which is why I've used it for several years. However, it has two major disadvantages. First, it is somewhat "flakey" -- it works on my PostScript printer, and usually works on other PostScript printers, but occasionally refuses to print. Second, while there are good PostScript viewers that run under Unix, there PostScript viewers that run on PCs and Macintoshes aren't very good.
My suggestion to you would be to view all the current class materials in PDF format, and only view the old materials in PostScript.
To view PostScript files on Unix using Netscape, you may need to tell Netscape to use the "ghostview" program to open all PostScript files. Try to look at one of the lectures. If it opens, that's great. If it wants to download something to your directory, it doesn't know about ghostview.
To fix this problem using Netscape, choose "Preferences..." under the "Edit" menu. Then click on the "Navigator" triangle on the right, and select "Applications" underneath. In the scrollbox in the middle of the screen, scroll down and find "PostScript Document" in the "Description" column. Select that line and choose "Edit...". In the box that pops up, choose "Application" under "Handle By", type "ghostview %s" (without the quotes) in the box below "Application", and choose "OK" to close that box. Now the list under "Helpers" should show "Postscript Document" followed by "ghostview %s". Choose "OK" to save your changes. You should now be able to read the course materials.
If you want to view PostScript files on a PC or Macintosh, the procedure
is more complicated. Still, for those brave enough to try, here is the
procedure:
one method
easier method
All of my current files are available in Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format). I had to pay several hundred dollars for the software to generate my notes in this format, but the resulting files should be viewable on almost any computer.
For details on how to get the the Adobe Acrobat software, go to Adobe's web site. The software is free, and is available at http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html. Prior to Spring 2002, my PDF notes were in Acrobat version 3.0 format; as of Spring 2002 they are in Acrobat version 4.0 format.
In the KSU MCS Department, the Acrobat Reader is available as /local/opt/AcroRead/bin/acroread
Again, if your browser doesn't know what to do with PDF files, you'll have to tell it how to open them. If you are using Netscape, choose "Preferences..." under the "Edit" menu. Then click on the "Navigator" triangle on the right, and select "Applications" underneath. In the scrollbox in the middle of the screen, scroll down and find "Adobe PDF file" in the "Description" column. Select that line and choose "Edit...". In the box that pops up, choose "Application" under "Handle By", type "acroread %s" (without the quotes) in the box below "Application", and choose "OK" to close that box. Now the list under "Helpers" should show "Adobe PDF file" followed by "acroread %s". Choose "OK" to save your changes. You should now be able to read the course materials.
If "Adobe PDF file" does not appear in the "Description" column, choose "New", and type "Adobe PDF file" in the "Description" box, "application/pdf" in the "MIME Type" box, ".pdf" in the "Suffixes" box, and then follow the "Handle By" directions above.
The procedure on PCs and Macintoshes is similar, although it varies slightly depending on which platform you're using, whether you're using Netscape or Internet Explorer, etc. There's no way I could possibly cover all the possibilities here...