TeXhax Digest Friday, January 8, 1988 Volume 88 : Issue 03 [SCORE.STANFORD.EDU]TEXHAX03.88 Editor: Malcolm Brown Today's Topics: TeX on individual workstations METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) Re: METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) TexHax on BITNET dviimp specials and plot on tops-20 DVI2LN3 V12.2 ENVISION 220/230--Lear-Siegler 7105/7107 driver for DVItoVDU HP Laserjet RCS headers in a title under LaTeX? LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V88 #02) WANTED: Hyphenation Exception Log from TUGboat V NEXT8 No 3 inquiry about a \botinsert for Plain TeX Wanted: DVIQMS which uses PK format fonts problem with CTeX SGML/TeX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Jan 88 12:32:38 +0200 From: Malka Cymbalista Subject: TeX on individual workstations We have been running TeX on our IBM mainframe for several years and are very pleased. Because we are experiencing slowdown and overload problems on the mainframe, we are trying to get many of our users, particularly word-processing users, off the mainframe and on to PCs. Can anybody give me any advice as to which workstation implementation of TeX to recommend? We have IBM PCs and compatibles, Macintoshes (also Mac 2), Suns, Appollos, Amigas, and VAX workstations. I would be interested in hearing opinions on strengths and weaknesses of various systems. Thanks in advance. Malki Cymbalista ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 05:56:24 PST From: mackay@june.cs.washington.edu (Pierre MacKay) Subject: METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) %% In texhax01.88, James Davenport reported difficulties in bringing up %% TeX under SUNOS 3.0, 3.2 and 3.4. --- Malcolm This is a puzzling message, and leads me to wonder whether the versions of SUNOS are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. 1) SUNOS 3.0 won't compile some things (I never got as far as METAFONT) I don't recall any problem with 68020 machines, although 3.0 was impossible for 68010 machines 2) SUNOS 3.2 compiles it all, but TeX fails TRIP A few copies of the UnixTeX distribution were inadvertently sent out with an outdated set of SAVEtrip files. They reflected version 2.1 rather than 2.3, and the change caused minor problems with the trip.log and dvitype output. Mostly interword spacing problems. THere was never an outright failure that I can recall. 3) idem + "mod_by_power_of_2" patch tape + "Pascal_mod_by_power_of_2" patch tape gets TeX to work, and I believe METAFONT as well (I haven't tested my METAFONT much) I have heard of this problem, but we must have received the corrected version of the 3.2 system. Since the 2.1-to-2.3 glitch, each upgrade of TeX has been tested on at least one SUN architecture under 3.2 or above. Usually, on more than one. Both TeX and METAFONT have tripped and trapped successfully. 4) SUNOS 3.4 includes those patches as standard. Have only had a chance to do TeX on this. It passed. We are staying clear of 3.4 until there are no more hints of network problems. Pierre A. MacKay TUG Site Coordinator for Unix-flavored TeX %% Jim Davenport responds in the next message: ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 14:05:00 GMT From: James Davenport Subject: Re: METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) Odd. My experience with native 3.2 was a disaster until I installed the compiler patches. I had MAJOR differences in the trip.log. Unfortunately, I have deleted all that, and don't feel inclined to recreate. I have a working TeX (2.0) on SUNos 3.4, and a working METAFONT 1.0. I would be interested to know what the best way of getting the upgrades is - do you have (UNIX) diffs to the WEB, for instance? James Davenport %% ...and Pierre MacKay responds: ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jan 88 15:56:11 PST From: mackay@june.cs.washington.edu (Pierre MacKay) Subject: METAFONT on SUN3/50-60 (TeXhax Digest V88 #01) I have unix diffs from 2.1-->2.3-->2.5-->2.7, but I can't get the last link for you. I try to leave reasonably up to date changes on ftp--I have to update those this weekend. There is a new process for a for an even better (faster, smaller) TeX via a Pascal to C translater that has just been made available. See ftp/pub/tex-to-c.tar.Z ------------------------------ Date: 7 Jan 88 10:56:00 EST From: Henry (H.W.) Troup Subject: TexHax on BITNET The standard trailer on TeXhax digests advises one that BITNET redistribution is available thru TEX-L. Unfortunately, this causes those as naive as myself to send SUBSCRIBE requests to TEX-L. TEX-L redistributes these to the mailing list. In the two weeks since I subscribed, I've received six or seven such misrouted requests - over the Christmas holiday, alone. Could the banner be clarified? Subscription requests are sent to LISTSERV@TAMVM1. %% I quite agree! The trailer was changed last issue. I hope that it %% is now quite clear. Malcolm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 08:42:09 PST From: Max Hailperin Subject: dviimp specials and plot on tops-20 I want to incorporate graphs in my TeX documents, which I am printing using dviimp, Tops-20 version 0.93. It appears that the right way to do this is to use the Tops-20 plot program to produce a generic plot file, run that through a converter to get the right "special" commands for dviimp, and then off I go. My questions are: 1) Does anyone have such a converter already? 2) Does anyone have documentation for the dviimp specials, so I can write my own converter? I can see from dviimp.web that there are two called point and join that will do what I need, but it looks like working out the details (are the coordinates relative or absolute ....) would require substantial understanding of dviimp, so if anyone has that documentation, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Thu 7 Jan 88 10:08:45-PDT From: BELL%KUPHSX.SPAN@STAR.STANFORD.EDU (Did someone need a Subject: DVI2LN3 V12.2 Changes made to DVI2LN3 (V12.2) E. V. Bell, II Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Kansas The following are the changes to DVI2LN3, the TeX driver for LN03/LN03+ printers originally written by Flavio Rose of Digital Equipment Corporation and modified by me to look more like a VMS routine. Although I have tried to restrict those changes which are specific to VMS, it is possible that some of the modifications I have made to the code will make UNIX users unable to use the driver. I have made the following alterations: (1) Restructured the directory search for the PXL files. The program used to look for files named TEX$PXLDIR:fontname.nnnnPXL, where nnnn is the magnification of font "fontname". It now looks for files named TEX$PXLDIR:[nnnn]fontname.PXL. This necessitates the logical name change from $ define/system/exec TeX$PXLDIR TeX$DISK:[TeX82.PXL] (for example) to $ define/system/exec TeX$PXLDIR TeX$DISK:[TeX82.PXL.] (notice the additional period before the closing bracket). This means you can no longer SET DEFAULT to TEX$PXLDIR at DCL, but still allows directories and file access (a minor inconvenience). (2) Implemented the CLI routines (for VMS) so that DVI2LN3 may be "installed" as a DCL command. This requires several things to be done, but allows easy modification of the parameters (such as horizontal and vertical offsets) depending on what your situation requires. (3) Restructured the downloaded names of the fonts. Flavio's scheme was to call the fonts UTEXFNT when the program is started and then substitute 00, 01, 02, ..., as necessary for the NT. This has the disadvantage of requiring each downloaded font to be separately deleted (a process which takes the LN03 some time to do). I call ALL of the fonts UTeXFNT (notice the lower-case e) and use two "comment" characters in the full font name to distinguish them. This enables ALL of the fonts to be deleted with the "Delete entire font family" sequence for the LN03 (although the driver itself never issues this command). In the following, the carets (arrows) indicate Flavio's "numbering" distinctions for the fonts and the vertical bars indicate mine. UTeXFNT000SK00GG0001UZZZZ02F000 ^^ || (Aren't DEC's font names ugly?) (4) Finally fixed the problem associated with round-off problems in the calculation of PXL magnifications. Really! (5) Eliminated all leading and trailing form feeds. There are no more blank pages! (As it turned out, they were merely wasteful). (6) Modified the display of page numbers so that the first ten of TeX's internal counters (\count0 through \count9) are displayed. Like TeX, only the numbers through the last non-zero one for that page are listed. This modification also allowed me to prevent unnecessary wrapping of lines when the next page number was too long. This differs from Flavio's version in that his only lists the first counter (\count0, usually the page number). For those of you not running V12 of DVI2LN3, I should point out that several bugs/lacks have already been implemented by Flavio. Included among those is the recent bug report of pixel round-off problems for horizontal and vertical rules reported by Henk Davids in TeXhax V87, #97 (Thurs., Dec. 3, 1987). The primary change which I have implemented is the inclusion of the VMS CLI (Command Line Interpreter) routines in order to make the parsing of command qualifiers for the program look like any other VMS command. The qualifiers which are currently supported by version 12.2 of DVI2LN3 are: (1) /number=n Print n pages of document (default=all) (2) /start=n(.n...) Start printing at page n(.n...) (default=beginning) (3) /hoffset(/voffset)= Horizontal and vertical offsets to add to those already in the DVI file. The default are set via the CLD (Command Language Definition) file. These will now not only accept pixel units, but inches, centimeters, and all of the units known to TeX. An example would be /hoff=1.0in (4) /landscape Print document in landscape mode. The /portrait command is no longer specifically supported, although /nolandscape results in this and is the default. (5) /a4 Print document in European A4 format. This allows the printer to use all of the printable area for all you people who use A4 paper. Flavio's qualifier would have translated into /european, but I felt /a4 was more mnemonic. (6) /copies=n Print n copies (default=1) (7) /magnification=n Print document at an additional magnification. As usual, n is the magnification x 1000, so if the equivalent of \magstep1 is desired, /magnification=1200 is used. I have still not had the time to implement the following changes: (1) Addition of the /pxl_directory, /font_directory qualifiers. This has caused some confusion, since the comments in the driver imply that I have already implemented them. Be warned! I have not. PXL and TFM files are only looked for once (on TeX$PXLDIR:[nnnn] and TeX$FONTS, respectively). (2) Addition of the /pages=(range1,range2,...). This would be easier to use that the /start, /number combination and would enable the user to print off several page ranges in one pass rather than a pass for each range, but I haven't had the time to ponder this one, even though I need it. (3) I have NOT implemented the use of PK format files. Flavio promises that with version 13. I'm afraid that I just figured out the PXL format, so until I have some time (perhaps not until my dissertation is done) this will have to wait unless Flavio can do it. (No pressure from me... after all, I'm used to all the space that the PXL files take up. That's all I've ever had.) (4) The downloaded TeX fonts are not deleted following the job. I don't know the circumstances in which some people have had trouble with this (unless they have another font-loading print job which is non-TeX and conflicts), so this has not been a pressure job either. (So far only one person has questioned whether or not this was being done.) If you are interested, I am willing to send interested parties: (1) Copies of the C source for the driver. This consists of three files. (2) The CLD file necessary to "install" the program on your system. (3) The HLP file to insert into your VMS help library. (4) Documentation as to how to get all of this up and running. If you are on SPAN, you can retrieve these files without any problem. The files are on KUPHSX::TeX$DISK:[TeX82.LN03]. The C files called DVI2LN3_NEW.C, DVI2LN3NFT_NEW.C, and SPECIALS_NEW.C. The CLD file is called LNTEX.CLD and the HLP file is called LNTEX.HLP. The file AAAREADME.TXT contains some (rather terse) instructions as to how to alter you DCL tables to include the new command and how to insert the help file into the system help library. The method for recompiling the code from scratch is outlined in Flavio's LN03.MEM, so I haven't altered that. If you do retrieve the file via SPAN, please let me know. I would like to keep track of all places which are using my version. If you have sent me mail before, you may know I can at times be slow to reply. If you don't get a reply to your note, (say within two weeks) try again until you do. I apologize to anyone who thinks I have neglected them in the past. I often lose track of time. Ed Bell Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Kansas Lawrence, KS 66045-2151 (913)864-3610 Reply to (in order of preference for each net): ARPANET: Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@STAR.STANFORD.EDU or Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@JPL-VLSI.ARPA or Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@128.8.250.4 BITnet: Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@SU-STAR.ARPA or Bell@UKANVAX SPAN/Hepnet: KUPHSX::Bell (7.220) ------------------------------ Date: Thu 7 Jan 88 10:11:27-PDT From: BELL%KUPHSX.SPAN@STAR.STANFORD.EDU (Did someone need a Subject: ENVISION 220/230--Lear-Siegler 7105/7107 driver for DVItoVDU For any interested users of DVItoVDU: I have written a driver for ENVISION 220/230 (also known as Lear-Siegler 7105/7107) terminals for DVItoVDU. These are incredible graphics terminals. If you use them and have been chafing for them, I can send you more info. I have only tested it on V1.5 of DVItoVDU, but assume it would work on V1.7 as well. Ed Bell Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Kansas Lawrence, KS 66045-2151 (913)864-3610 Reply to (in order of preference for each net): ARPANET: Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@STAR.STANFORD.EDU or Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@JPL-VLSI.ARPA or Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@128.8.250.4 BITnet: Bell%KUPHSX.SPAN@SU-STAR.ARPA or Bell@UKANVAX SPAN/Hepnet: KUPHSX::Bell (7.220) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 15:33:53 EST From: mroth@afit-ab.arpa (Mark A. Roth) Subject: HP Laserjet We don't have our TUG publications yet, so I am asking the net. Is there a dvi to laserjet or laserjet 2 driver available for the Sun 3 workstation running Unix? There is an HP driver on the TeX tape but it was written for another machine and I have no idea how hard it would be to remove the system dependencies to make it work. We would be interested in both public domain or commercial products. Thanks, Mark A. Roth AFIT/ENG Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433 513-255-3576 mroth@afit-ab.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jan 88 21:42:04 EST From: John T Kohl Subject: RCS headers in a title under LaTeX? I am editing a document in which I wish to insert an RCS keyword into the title of a document. RCS keywords are all of the form: $Keyword: value $ The problem is that I want the string to appear verbatim in the title. But I can't use \verb+$Keyword: value $+ since verb and verbatim must not appear in the argument to \title{}. I cannot just quote all the special characters in the RCS keyword since the next time I check things out or in, the quoting will get replaced with the latest version of the keyword:value pair. Any solutions to this problem? John Kohl MIT/Project Athena ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 13:53:50 pst From: lamport@src.dec.com (Leslie Lamport) Subject: LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V88 #02) Mario Wolczko wants to create a PostScript version of LaTeX for use with a dvi -> PostScript converter. The basic problem he will encounter is that, to my knowledge, there are no complete TFM files for PostScript fonts. In particular, there is no MATHX PostScript font, and the fonts with math symbols don't have the necessary TFM information to allow them to be used properly in formulas. Therefore, it appears that CMR fonts must be used for characters in math mode, and these must be drawn dot by dot on the printer. There are a number of other problems that are likely to result in dvi -> PostScript conversion. Because of incorrect or missing TFM information, accents are unlikely to be placed properly. In light of these problems, one should examine closely whether or not the advantages of the larger selection of fonts is worth the hassle. I have heard rumors that Adobe is doing something about creating PostScript fonts for TeX, but I have no reliable information about this. I am interested in whatever is done in this field, and I trust that Wolczko will keep TeXHaX posted. Leslie Lamport ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 JAN 88 18:06:15 PST * From: "Micro Mauler" Subject: WANTED: Hyphenation Exception Log from TUGboat V NEXT8 No 3 Would someone point me to an FTPable location for or mail me the Hyphentation Exception list that appeared in the recent TUGboat V 8 No 3. 10Q Len Schwer Schwer@KL.SRI.COM Micro2.Schwer@CRVAX.SRI.COM ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Jan 88 12:51:09 +0200 From: Steve Subject: inquiry about a \botinsert for Plain TeX I have an inquiry: has anyone written a a \botinsert macro or macros similar to the floats used by LATEX, which could be utilized in PLAINTEX. Thanks, Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 88 16:35:54 pst From: Alex Woo Subject: Wanted: DVIQMS which uses PK format fonts I know that this was discussed before, but is there a QMS QUIC device driver which uses PK formatted fonts available? For VAX/VMS? Thanks. Alex Woo (415) 694-6010 ------------------------------ Date: 8 Jan 88 14:43 +0100 From: Igor Metz Subject: problem with CTeX I tried to bring up CTeX on my SUN (SUNOS 3.4). I compiled it, linked it and used it's version of initex to generate plain TeX. Everything worked fine. But when I try to initex lplain (LaTeX), I get the following strange error: gina% initex lplain This is Common TeX, Version 2.1 (INITEX) (/usr/lib/tex/macros/lplain.tex Preloading the plain format: codes, registers, parameters, macros, math definitions, hyphenation (/usr/lib/tex/macros/hyphen.tex) (/usr/lib/tex/macros/lfonts.tex) (/usr/lib/tex/macros/latex.tex LaTeX Version 2.09 <9 Mar 1987> counters, hacks, errors, par, spacing, control, files, env. counters, page nos., x-ref, environments, LaTeX error. See LaTeX manual for explanation. Type H for immediate help. ! Missing \begin{document}. \@latexerr ...te help.}\errmessage {#1} \ l.2841 \message{math,} ? Do I have to change any constants in tex.h? Which? To what value? HELP !!! Igor Metz X400: metz@iam.unibe.ch Institut fuer Informatik ARPA: metz%iam.unibe.ch@relay.cs.net und angewandte Mathematik UUCP: ..!uunet!mcvax!iam.unibe.ch!metz Universitaet Bern Switzerland Phone: (+31) 65 49 02 ------------------------------ Date: 01/08/88 1957 From: Subject: SGML/TeX I am presently trying to collect information about connections between SGML and TeX, in particular SGML parsers able to produce TeX code as an output. I know that several projects incuding development of this type of product are now underway at several universities (The Chameleon Research Project at Ohio State Univ., Dr. Le Van Hu's work at Milano University, Italy) or as in-house corporate developments (paper published by Dr. Lynn Price from Hewlett-Packard in the TUGBOAT). Unfortunately, I do not even have any electronic address for all these people. There are also, probably, many projects I am not aware of. More specifically, since my present concern is mostly to evaluate what can be done which such tools and experiment with them, I would appreciate having access to public domain programs, or considered as being universitary prototypes. I will welcome any information in this field. Thanks in advance Francois CHAHUNEAU INRA 78350 Jouy-en-Josas FRANCE BITNET : fch@frinra72 ------------------------------ %%% %%% subscriptions, address changes to: texhax-request@score.stanford.edu %%% please send a valid arpanet address!! %%% %%% BITNET distribution: subscribe by sending the following %%% line to LISTSERV@: %%% SUBSCRIBE TEX-L %%% %%% submissions to: texhax@score.stanford.edu %%% %%%\bye %%% ------------------------------ End of TeXhax Digest ************************** -------