TeXhax Neue Folge Yr. 86 Issue 1 %From the moderator: % This is the first real issue of TeXhax. % I'd like to apologize for the duplication that occurred with regard to the %"dummy" issue of TeXhax that I sent out several weeks ago. It appears that %a mailer on a node in Germany sent mail back to the sender, using the %address appearing in the "To:" line. Since that pointed at the TeXhax %distribution list, a loop was created. I have taken steps to ensure that that %won't happen again. My apologies, however, for the inconvenience it may have %caused. % A reminder: please address **submissions** to TeXhax to: % TeXhax@score.stanford.edu % Send mail concerning the distribution list additions, corrections etc to: % TeXhax-request@score.stanford.edu % thanks %Malcolm Brown 16-Sep-86 16:00:50-PDT,754;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Tue, 16 Sep 86 07:53 CDT >From: FRENCH%ti-eg.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA Subject: DVItoVDU query I just received the VMS distribution tape of TeX-82 V2.0. I expected to see the DVItoVDU program(s) on the tape as described in TUGBOAT (Vol.7 No.1). But, it was not there. Is this program available on the net for anonymous FTP? I really need to get it in a bad sort of way... Any help is appreciated, -Stewart French french%ti-eg@csnet-relay.arpa ------- 17-Sep-86 12:00:07-PDT,1004;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Wed, 17 Sep 86 12:55:33 cdt >From: vtcf@ncsc.ARPA (Williams) To: texhax@su-score.ARPA Subject: TeX Driver for LN01S on VMS Does anyone know of how I can get TeX with a driver for an LN01S? I am running a VAX 11/780, VMS V4.4. If possible, I'd like to get everything (sources, fonts, drivers, documentation, etc.) with one procurement (one source), because it's next to impossible to buy anything without having to generate some un-godly justification document, which costs 10-100 times as much just to generate than the software costs. Please respond directly to me, as I am not on this mailing list. Thanks in advance, Tom Williams vtcf@ncsc Code 4210 Naval Coastal Systems Center Panama City, Fl 32407-5000 (904) 234-4699 19-Sep-86 16:00:19-PDT,405;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: 0 0 00:00:00 PDT >From: "IMS/John Mulhollen" Subject: TeC To: "texhax" Date: 19-SEP-1986 15:45 PDT Please send me info on how I can obtain TeX for our VAX 8600. thanks JohnM ------- 25-Sep-86 17:24:45-PDT,640;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Thu, 25 Sep 86 16:28:40 pdt >From: Kamal Al-Yahya To: TeXhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: TeX on the SUN I was unable to get a preloaded version of TeX on the SUN. I got the message "core did not come from this a.out file", (which looks like machine dependent problem to me). Should the undump on the distribution tape work for the SUN? We got it working for the VAX. When we switched to the Convex, we had to get another slightly modified version (from Convex). Does anyone has any suggestion? ------- 25-Sep-86 19:21:03-PDT,1013;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: 24 SEP 86 07:48:21 CET To: TeXhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA >From: Subject: MAIL Networkadr: GWD82J@DGOGWD01.BITNET Ref. "Mathematical Symbols and Cyrillic Fonts Ready for Distribution", Barbara Beeton, TUGboat Vol. 6 (1985), No. 3, p. 124 Dear Sirs, Barabara Beeton states the font material to be available for METAFONT78 in the Score DEC-20 system in directory . We would like to know, if the font material referenced above is now available for the "new" METAFONT 1.0 as released on the TeX 2.0 distribution tapes. We would like to install the fonts on a VAX/VMS system, so we think the easiest way to get the material would be, to have a VMS BACKUP tape copy. Sincerely Th. Kneser 25-Sep-86 21:49:43-PDT,1015;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Fri 26 Sep 86 00:54:30-EDT >From: Barbara Beeton Subject: re: cyrillic and math symbol fonts To: GWD82J%DGOGWD01.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU cc: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA In-Reply-To: Message from "" of Wed 24 Sep 86 07:48:21-EDT Message-ID: <12241916269.45.BNB@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> the cyrillic and math symbol fonts created at the american math society are still, sadly, only available in the metafont78 implementation. we have no staff support to carry out the conversion in the near future. (however, i suspect that if there is a willing volunteer, the society might be interested in discussing the matter, and, at the very least, making available the proofs and other materials that were used in the mf78 implementation. if anyone is interested in tackling the job, please let me know.) -- barbara beeton ------- 26-Sep-86 02:07:47-PDT,884;000000000000 Return-Path: Return-Path: Date: Fri, 26 Sep 86 10:02:25 +0200 >From: Tor Lillqvist To: texhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: nodish_serif I noticed that the program for {\tt romanu} D in {\sl Computer Modern Typefaces} uses {\it nodish\_serif}. However, in the illustration, you can spot a dish on both serifs. Have I got something wrong or this an inconsistency between the program text and the illustration? \def\tml{Tor Lillqvist, Technical Research Centre of Finland} tml@santra.uucp == tml@fingate.bitnet ------- 26-Sep-86 10:20:18-PDT,2318;000000000000 Received: by sonora.dec.com (5.54.2/4.7.34) id AA15103; Fri, 26 Sep 86 10:16:47 PDT >From: lamport@decwrl.DEC.COM (Leslie Lamport) Message-Id: <8609261717.AA08130@magic.DEC.COM> Date: 26 Sep 1986 1017-PDT (Friday) To: TeXhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: LaTeX bugs Two bugs have surfaced in LaTeX's figure-placement algorithm. They seem to be rare--one was reported to me by a single user, the other I discovered by myself--and are avoided by simply moving a figure or table environment in the input text. I think that one can be fixed and the other made even less likely to occur. However, this would require fiddling with some of the most delicate and obscure interaction between LaTeX and TeX, and I'm afraid that I'd be likely to introduce worse bugs. LaTeX now seems to be fairly reliable, and I'd like to keep it that way. I am inclinaed to let these bugs stand, adding a warning to the Local Guide. However, before making such a decision, I'd like to find out if anyone else has encountered these bugs and how users feel about it. I can be reached as lamport@SRC.DEC.COM Here are the bugs: 1. A figure or table may appear on the page preceding its appearance in the text. (Its position in the text will be at the top of the following page.) This is corrected by moving the environment one or two lines down in the input file. [This bug can't be completely fixed, but can perhaps be made less probable.] 2. A figure or table may be put on the same page as its appearance in the text when there isn't quite enough room, causing a footnote that should fit entirely on the page to be split across two pages. Moving the figure down a line or two in the text will correct the problem. Leslie Lamport ------- 29-Sep-86 20:24:02-PDT,1135;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Mon, 29 Sep 86 22:27:41 est >From: S Bechtolsheim To: texhax@su-score Subject: {} versus bgroup/egroup Subject: {} versus bgroup/egroup I would like to write a macro \mymacro, which similar to \hbox, where one can say (1) \hbox {.....} and (2) \hbox \bgroup ..... \egroup accepts both forms of an argument. The difficulty I encountered was that none of the if tests (\if, \ifx, \ifcat) seem to work, because for all three of them { and \bgroup are the same. If the if test would work, then, with the help of \futurelet, I could make the distinction between the two of them. In case (1), I would use a macro \mymacroa #1{....} to read in the argument, and in case (2) I could use \aftergroup to regain control after the argument has been parsed. Help would be certainly appreciated! Stephan Bechtolsheim Purdue, Stat. 29-Sep-86 23:50:48-PDT,669;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Mon, 29 Sep 86 08:45 CDT >From: Tim Harrison To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA Subject: Change bars Has anyone devised a way of doing "change bars" from within LaTeX? If so, I would appreciate whatever guidance can be provided. -- Tim Harrison Texas Instruments CSnet: Harrison@eg.ti.com ARPAnet: Harrison%eg.ti.com@csnet-relay 5-Oct-86 21:50:25-PDT,2310;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Sun, 5 Oct 86 16:37:04 CDT >From: William LeFebvre Subject: Bug in gftopxl To: Unix-TeX@WARD.CS.WASHINGTON.EDU, TeXhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA Message-Id: <240.phil.titan@Rice> I'm not sure which list to send this to nowadays. With the revival of TeXhax, it would be more appropriate there, but the gf files that made me notice this bug were produced from the SLiTeX mf files recently mentioned on Unix-TeX. So, please forgive the double posting. It turns out that there is a bug in gftopxl (which converts GF files to PXL). It cannot handle zero sized glyphs, especially fonts that contain nothing but zero sized glyphs. This bug wasn't noticed until I tried to make PXL equivalents of the SLiTeX "invisible" fonts. Alas, we have an Imagen 8/300 and still need PXL files for the printer's driver. For those of you who have MF descriptions of, say, ilasy8: run gftopxl on any of the ilasy8.XXXgf files. Now try running pxtoch on the resulting ilasy8.XXXXpxl file. It didn't work, did it? I get: -------------------------------------------------- titan% ./pxtoch /usr/lib/tex/fonts/gf/ilasy8.204gf /tmp/chr This is PXtoCH, Version 1 Wrong file id. Are you sure this is a PXL file? The file is too short! Sorry, but I can't go on. Are you sure this is a PXL file? Pxl Id at beginning of file does not match Pxl Id at end of file. No processing done. titan% -------------------------------------------------- I am currently working on a fix in the form of an addition to the gftopxl.ch file. If anyone has already fixed this problem, then please send me the info. Otherwise, I will continue with my efforts and post the results when finished. There are actually two bugs, and I will explain the specific nature of them when (and if) I post the fixes. To which list should the fixes be sent? William LeFebvre Department of Computer Science Rice University 7-Oct-86 16:10:58-PDT,935;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: 06 OCT 86 09:57:24 CET To: TeXhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA >From: Subject: MAIL Networkadr: GWD82J@DGOGWD01.BITNET Ref.: TeX training courses Dear Sirs, we would like to know, if we might get written/printed copies of instructors material for the following training courses: - Beginning TeX - Intermediate TeX - Advanced TeX - Macro Writing which are announced in TUGboat Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 112 . We would like to enhance thereby our own instructors material for the training of our users. Our company is in the public domain, running an educational/academic computing centre on a fully non-profit base. Sincerely Th. Kneser 8-Oct-86 16:35:04-PDT,818;000000000000 Return-Path: Subject: 1:1 proceedings style file? To: texhax@su-score.ARPA Message-Id: <745.rbbb.ariadne@Rice> Does there exist a style file for a 1:1 ACM 1:1 proceedings format? There is a "proc.sty" in the new TeX distribution, but a quick look at any ACM proceedings reveals that the default font size is 9 point (footnotes at 7pt, I am told), and that is my current obstacle. I will forge ahead and cobble up an "art9.sty", but perhaps there is a better way. David 8-Oct-86 19:48:57-PDT,1152;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Wed 8 Oct 86 20:49:42-MDT >From: "Nelson H.F. Beebe [Physics, UofUtah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, (801)581-5254]" Subject: WordProcessor to LaTeX/TeX converter query? To: texhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA Does anyone have filters written for converting word processor files to LaTeX or TeX. I am particularly interested in the Muse, Lexidata, and WordPerfect word processors. I wrote a WordStar to LaTeX convertor (available in both C and Pascal) which has been successfully used to convert a Ph.D. thesis. It is available for the asking. The folks at Texas A&M have a similar one which converts WordStar to TeX, and another for Digital Standard Runoff to TeX. I do not require a perfect filter, but one that preserves font attributes (bold, underline, italic, greek, etc.) and simple math (at least subscripts and superscripts) is desirable. ------- 13-Oct-86 08:04:36-PDT,1805;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: Mon, 13 Oct 86 11:05:08 EDT >From: trevor@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Trevor Darrell) Posted-Date: Mon, 13 Oct 86 11:05:08 EDT Message-Id: <8610131505.AA12735@linc.cis.upenn.edu> To: texhax@su-score.arpa Subject: Some advanced macro questions A few questions about some hard-core TeX macros: I am writing a package of TeX macros for the scaling and translation of included PostScript figures (presently only with Textset's Dvilaser, but extendible to other dvi-to-ps programs). There are two tasks for which I need to find a decent macro (currently these are done in a pre-processor step): 1) Matching the first n characters in a token list register. The PostScript file is read in line by line into a token list register, which I then need to check and see if it contains the left anchored substring "%%BoundingBox:". If the string is present, it is followed by four numbers, which are read into registers, otherwise the line is ignored. Currently I have a macro that does this successfully, but with the following discrepancy: it matches the string anywhere in the input line, not just at the beginning. It is also very *slow*. Does anyone have any quick & dirty (or even better quick & elegant) solutions? 2) Floating point arithmetic. Right now I am using fixed point (to .01) math, but this is really inadequate: Does anyone have/know of any floating point macros for TeX? Thanks in advance, Trevor Darrell trevor@linc.cis.upenn.edu | trevor@grasp.cis.upenn.edu | (215) 898-5617 Systems Programmer, Computer Science Research Computing University of Pennsylvania CIS dept. 200 S. 33rd st. Philadelphia, PA 19104 14-Oct-86 04:42:19-PDT,997;000000000000 Return-Path: Date: 14 OCT 86 10:49:41 CET To: TeXhax@SU-SCORE.ARPA >From: Subject: MAIL Networkadr: GWD82J@DGOGWD01.BITNET Ref. TeX 2.0 , VAX/VMS Distribution Tape Dear Sirs, We have got the tape from Maria Code. We would like to know the particular 300 pixel/inch device, for which the GF-files (second BACKUP container on the tape) are generated. Here are some characteristics of the tape files: Written by: DRF UIC: [325,001] Date: 13-JUN-1986 Node name: _STAR:: Written on: _STAR$MFA0: [SCRATCH.DRF]CIRCLE10.300GF;1 16 13-JUN-1986 13:45 . . [SCRATCH.DRF]CMR10.300GF;1 26 13-JUN-1986 13:56 . . Sincerely Th. Kneser \bye -------