Ubuntu Manpages

fbi

linux framebuffer imageviewer

fbi [ options ] file ...

fbi displays the specified file(s) on the linux console using the framebuffer device. PhotoCD, jpeg, ppm, gif, tiff, xwd, bmp and png are supported directly. For other formats fbi tries to use ImageMagick's convert.

print usage info
framebuffer device to use. Default is the one your vc is mapped to.
name of the video mode to use (video mode must be listed in /etc/fb.modes). Default is not to change the video mode.
be verbose: enable status line on the bottom of the screen.
Enable textreading mode. This has the effect that fbi will display large images without vertical offset (default is to center the images). Space will first try to scroll down and go to the next image only if it is already on the bottom of the page. Useful if the images you are watching text pages, all you have to do to get the next piece of text is to press space...
timeout: load next image after >sec< seconds without any keypress (i.e. slideshow)
gamma correction. Can also be put into the FBGAMMA environment variable. Default is 1.0. Requires Pseudocolor or Directcolor visual, doesn't work for Truecolor.
select resolution. PhotoCD only, n = 1..5.
set scroll steps in pixels (default is 50).
Set font. This can be anything fontconfig accepts. Try fc-list for a list of known fonts on your system. The fontconfig config file is evaluated as well, so any generic stuff defined there (such as mono, sans) will work as well. It is recommended to use monospaced fonts, the textboxes (help text, exif info) look better then.
Enable autozoom. fbi will automagically pick a reasonable zoom factor when loading a new image.
Like autozoom, but scale up only.
Like autozoom, but scale down only.
Randomize the order of the filenames.
Enable editing commands.
create backup files (when editing images).
preserve timestamps (when editing images).
Display comment tags (if present) instead of the filename. Probably only useful if you added reasonable comments yourself (using wrjpgcom for example), otherwise you likely just find texts pointing to the software which created the image.

cursor keys     scroll large images
+, -            zoom in/out
ESQ, Q          quit
PgUp            previous image
PgDn, Space     next image
Return          next image, write the filename of the current
                image to stdout.
P               pause the slideshow (if started with -t, toggle)
V               enable/disable status line
H               display textbox with brief help
I               display textbox with some EXIF info
<number>g       jump to image #<number>
<number>s       set zoom to <number>%

The Return vs. Space key thing can be used to create a file list while reviewing the images and use the list for batch processing later on.

fbi also provides some very basic image editing facilities. You have to start fbi with the -e switch to use them.

Shift+D         delete image
R               rotate 90° clockwise
L               rotate 90° counter-clock wise

The delete function actually wants a capital letter 'D', thus you have to type Shift+D. This is done to avoid deleting images by mistake because there are no safety bells: If you ask fbi to delete the image, it will be deleted without questions asked.

The rotate function actually works for JPEG images only. It does a lossless transformation of the image.

fbi needs rw access to the framebuffer devices (/dev/fbN), i.e you (our your admin) have to make sure fbi can open the devices in rw mode. The IMHO most elegant way is to use pam_console (see /etc/security/console.perms) to chown the devices to the user logged in on the console. Another way is to create some group, chown the special files to that group and put the users which are allowed to use the framebuffer device into the group. You can also make the special files world writable, but be aware of the security implications this has. On a private box it might be fine to handle it this way though.

fbi also needs access to the linux console (i.e. /dev/ttyN) for sane console switch handling. That is obviously no problem for console logins, but any kind of a pseudo tty (xterm, ssh, screen, ...) will not work.

fbset(1), convert(1)

Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org>

Copyright (C) 1999-2004 Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.