UKTeX V89 #01 Friday 6 January 1989 KWIC index for 1988 UKTeX articles Some answer to Dominik's queries on DVI to PostScript New release of PC-WriTeX converter driver TeX 2.95, MF 1.7, changes to CM fonts, TANGLE 2.9 {} as EL ? Twocolumn stylo option for LaTeX TeX and PostScript fonts. DOSTeX Editor Peter Abbott A happy new year to all Since TeXhax V88 #111 has a date of December 31 I assume the next issue will be V89 #01. Latest TeXhax in the Archive is #111 (for 1988) Latest TeXmag in the Archive is V2N5 --------------------------------- Date: 23-DEC-1988 13:40:38 GMT From: CCZDAO@UK.AC.NOTT.VAX To: uktex@UK.AC.ASTON Subject: KWIC index for 1988 UKTeX articles Message-Id: <23803246_000A2F6C.0091DC413CB190E0$11_1@UK.AC.NOTT.VAX> Originally-to: JANET"uktex@aston",CCZDAO Originally-from:CCZDAO "David Osborne" Sender: JANET"CCZDAO@UK.AC.NOTT.VAX" X-Organization: Systems Group, Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham X-Postal: University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England X-Phone: (0602) 484848 ext 2064 here is the kwic (keyword in context) index for the 43 issues of the UKTeX digest during 1988. a search of all issues for lines beginning "Subject:" produced 444 matches; the kwic index contains 1187 entries. this seems a good opportunity to send thanks to Peter and his staff at Aston for making both the Digest and the Archive possible. the archive is already an unrivalled TeX resource and I know we will be improving it even further in 1989. best wishes for the New Year to TeXers everywhere! dave osborne, university of nottingham. +++Editor - The index is available in [public.uktex]uktex88.index +++ --------------------------------- Date: 29-DEC-1988 13:44:59 GMT From: FPS@UK.AC.IMPERIAL.CC.VAXA To: INFO-TEX@UK.AC.ASTON.MAIL - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________ * * * First Announcement and Call for Papers * *________________________________________________________* ________________________________________________________ * * * 4th Annual Meeting of European TeX Users * * * * TeX89 * * * * September 11--13, 1989, Karlsruhe, FRG * *________________________________________________________* TeX89, the 4th European TeX Conference, will take place at Karlsruhe University, FRG, from Monday, September 11, to Wednesday, September 13, 1989. The conference will be organized by Anne Brueggemann-Klein, Department of Computer Science, University of Freiburg, and Rainer Rupprecht, Computing Center, University of Karlsruhe. Following the tradition of last years' conferences, contributions are welcome from all areas of TeX, Metafont, and related subjects. Likely themes might include: * document structures (LaTeX, SGML, ODA,...) * non-technical TeX (humanities, music, exotic languages,...) * other technical areas (chemistry, physics, biology,...) * difficult jobs with TeX, LaTeX,... * graphics and TeX * TeX training * TeX as part of a larger system (user interfaces, tools, environments,...) * TeX as a production tool * fonts to use with TeX (Metafont and other systems) * TeX and PostScript * Macro packages * public domain TeX vs. commercial TeX Besides traditional paper sessions, discussion groups on special subjects and exhibitions will be organized. In a special session at the end of the conference, highlights of the discussion groups will be presented to the general audience. Conference proceedings will be published after the conference. Various workshops and participatory seminars will be offered before and after the conference. Proposals for topics and voluntary tutors are welcome. The conference fee will be approximately DM 280,--. The fee includes registration materials, lunches, social events and a copy of the conference proceedings. A second circular containing a preliminary program will be out by March 31, 1989. ___________________ ___________________ ___________________RETURN UNTIL FEBRUARY 28, 1989___________________ Name ________________________________________________________ Affiliation ________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Telephone __________________ email ___________________________ Please tick where appropriate: _ |_| Please add my name to the TeX89 mailing list. _ |_| I seriously consider to attend the conference. _ |_| I would like to present a paper. The title will be: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ My talk will take ______ minutes. The abstract (1 page) is included. _ |_| I would like to contribute to or participate in discussion groups on: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _ |_| I would like to offer a workshop before or after the conference on: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _ |_| I would like to participate in a workshop before or after the conference on: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Send to: Rainer Rupprecht Rechenzentrum Universitaet Karlsruhe Postfach 6980 7500 Karlsruhe 1, FRG email: RZ32@DKAUNI48 (bitnet) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________RETURN UNTIL FEBRUARY 28, 1989___________________ --------------------------------- Date: 3-JAN-1989 14:26:31 GMT From: CHAA006@UK.AC.RHBNC.VAXB To: Info-TeX@UK.AC.ASTON Subject: Some answer to Dominik's queries on DVI to PostScript Sender: JANET"CHAA006@UK.AC.RHBNC.VAXB" Reply-to: Philip Taylor (RHBNC) Originally-to: JANET%"ucgadkw@ucl.euclid",$UK-TEX Mailer: Janet_Mailshr V3.3 (14-Dec-1988) Dominik asked: >>>Could we have a definitive statement (Phil, Peter, anyone ...) about >>>printing TeX documents at high resolution on, say, a Linotronic 300. >>>Let's use the London ULCC system as a concrete example. >>>Test question: I have a 350 page book in TeX, using exclusively CM fonts, >>>and I would like to print it at 1270 dpi on the ULCC L300. What do I need >>>to do, and what are the problems? Assuming that you use ArborText's DVILASER/PS (for which the University of London, of which Dominik is a part, has a site licence), then you (a) modify the |printer| verb of DVIPS.OPT to reflect a target resolution of 1270, a workspace of 3810, and spare vm of 150000 printer laserwriter memoryavailable 150000 resolution 3810 1270 (b) modify the same file to reflect your page sizes height 297mm width 210mm (c) tell DVILASER/PS to download all fonts download prolog all (d), process your file throught DVILASER/PS, annd send the results using blue-book FTP to Ulcc.Typeset. >>>Variant question: As above, but book uses exclusively Times Roman PS font >>>(Say I was able to use TFMs generated by Elwell's AFtoTFM). No difference, but use ArborText's TFMs rather than Elwells (why introduce an unecessary unknown ?) >>>Variant question: As above, but book mixes CM (say math) and PS fonts. Ditto. >>>Variant question: As above, but book uses other Metafont-generated fonts. Say >>>I have some classical Greek using Silvio Levy's fonts, or some Sanskrit >>>using Frans Velthuis's MF Devanagari. Assume I have Metafont and can >>>generate the fonts at 1270 dpi. (But what mode_def is appropriate for >>>the L300?) Build TFMs and PKs for your new fonts. Place them in the 'correct' place. Modify DVIPS.FNT to reflect the new fonts, their available magnifications, and the download mechanism to be adopted. Then proceed as above. >>>Some of the issues I would like to see addressed are as follow: >>> >>>1/ If I am using Adobe fonts, *WHICH* TFMs correspond best to the >>> fonts available to the ULCC L300? This follows from the question >>> that Sebastian has raised recently, but is specifically aimed at the L300 >>> and its fonts. I don't know. I use ArborText's, and they're fine. Elwell's are probably fine as well, but I have no experience of them. >>>2/ I am disturbed to find that most of the DVI->PS programs I have looked >>> at *include bitmaps of any CM fonts referred to*! This means that >>> the use of a 1270 dpi font makes the PS file so big as to be unusable. Yes, well ... ArborText's DVILASER/PS would do so by default, for all but the most common CM fonts, which it will assume have already been downloaded, but its behaviour is entirely under the control of the user, so if all referenced fonts can be assumed to be pre-loaded, then DVILASER/PS can be instructed not to send any bitmaps. Furthermore, there is an option whereby only bitmaps for the referenced {\it glyphs} are sent, rather than a bitmap for the entire font. >>> Ideally, the 1270 dpi CM bitmaps should reside on a hard disk >>> available to the L300's RIP, and this is indeed the case at ULCC (thanks >>> Phil). I can send a PS file (converted from DVI) to the RIP (via its >>> server) by Kermit or FTP. The PS file should *not* have to >>> contain bitmaps, but simply calls to the CM fonts, in the >>> same way that the DVI file contains calls to the fonts, but not the fonts >>> themselves. Then *at print time* the software driving the L300 would >>> read my PS file, go off and find the fonts on its own hard disk, >>> download them to the L300 and print my document. That way, I don't have >>> to send *HUGE* files by Kermit. In fact, with a document of any size >>> beyond a page, the bitmaps at 1270 dpi make it completely impossible to send >>> the file over a comms f*ne in a reasonable length of time. Well, I can't agree with the last statement: I produced a 300 pp book for UCL, which was highly mathematical and therefore referenced CMMI, CMSY and CMEX, but the overall PostScript file size was 4.5Mb, which transferred to ULCC without difficulty. I seem to recall it took about two and a half hours to ship. >>> Is there a DVI->PS program around, and especially one that can be compiled >>> under DOS, that is able to produce a PS file of this type? Calls to fonts, >>> but no bitmaps? And does this presuppose some special software at the RIP >>> serving the L300? If so, does this exist? I hope James Clarke will answer this question; I have referred it to him. >>>3/ The alternative, which has been suggested, is that ULCC itself will >>> have a copy of a DVI->PS program (Arbortext's) and so DVI files >>> can be sent in and converted on the spot. This is very convenient, >>> of course, but might not meet the need of someone who wants to use >>> some \special not supported by the Arbortext translator. True ! But then there is no obligation to use the ULCC DVILASER/PS; one can always use ones own. >>>No doubt you have divined from the incoherence of the above that I am >>>thinking aloud. But how about it? You out there with your own pet >>>L300s: how do you do it?! ** Phil. --------------------------------- Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 3409; Tue, 03 Jan 89 16:53:06 GM Received: from IRUCCIBM by UKACRL.BITNET (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 2647; Tue, 03 Jan 89 16:53:06 G Received: from IRUCCVAX.UCC.IE by IRUCCIBM (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 5779; Tue, 03 Jan 89 16:48:07 I Date: Tue, 3 Jan 89 16:26 GMT From: Peter Flynn UCC Subject: New release of PC-WriTeX converter driver To: abbottp@UK.AC.ASTON.MAIL, $92@EARN.DHDURZ1, x230gv@EARN.TAMVM1, mrd@ EDU.CLARKSON.SOE.SUN X-VMS-To: IN%"abbottp@mail.aston.ac.uk",IN%"$92@dhdurz1",IN%"x230gv@tamvm1",IN%" mrd@sun.soe.clarkson.e Version 2.3 of the PCWRITeX converter driver is now available. This release has some bug fixes and has been tidied up considerably. As before, I am supplying this version on request only. The servers run by Michael deCorte at Clarkson, Peter Abbott at Aston and the LISTSERVs at Heidelberg and Texas A&M have all been sent their copies. Please reduce network traffic, and retrieve your copy from your local repository rather than asking me for it unless you are unable to get it from them. Peter Flynn --------------------------------- Received: from vax02.ams.com by NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK via Satnet with SMTP id aa01929; 23 Dec 88 18:54 GMT Date: Fri 23 Dec 88 13:27:19-EST From: bbeeton Subject: TeX 2.95, MF 1.7, changes to CM fonts, TANGLE 2.9 To: TeX-implementors@com.ams.vax02 Message-ID: <598904839.0.BNB@VAX02.AMS.COM> Mail-System-Version: Date: 23 Dec 88 Message No: 011 To: TeX implementors and distributors From: Barbara Beeton Subject: TeX 2.95, MF 1.7, changes to CM fonts, TANGLE 2.9 As you were warned last week, TeX has again been modified, to handle the change first made in 2.94 more robustly. The change also affects MF, which is now at version 1.7. Updates to TeX82.BUG, MF84.BUG, TeX.WEB, MF.WEB and ERRATA.TEX are given below; note that these changes reverse some of the changes made in TeX 2.94 and MF 1.6, so be particularly careful applying them if you are using the line numbers for reference. +++Editor - The file is [public.texstatus]message_011.23_dec_1988 +++ --------------------------------- Date: 4-JAN-1989 11:18:16 From: 75003678@VAX2.NIHED.IE To: abbottp@UK.AC.ASTON Subject: {} as EL ? sender: hea"CARROLLJ@vax2.nihed.ie" Hello Peter, Thanks again for your recent help and advice. I have one further request for information. I have just noticed that, in any of the TeX (or LaTeX) files which I receive from the server, the left curly bracket "{" appears as an "E" and the right curly bracket "}" gets changed into an L. Can anything be done about this at either end? (All other characters are transmitted normally). Best wishes, John Carroll ~~~~~~~~~~~~ +++Editor - I think the problem lies in one of the gateways but no doubt someone will supply the correct answer to your question. +++ --------------------------------- Date: 4-JAN-1989 14:19:17 GMT From: PHYOKANE@CS8700.UCG.IE To: info-tex@ASTON.AC.UK Subject: Twocolumn stylo option for LaTeX sender: hea"phyokane@cs8700.ucg.ie" Does anyone know of a twocolumn style option for LaTeX which will produce balanced length columns on a partially filled page (e.g. last page)? I know how to do it in plain TeX but it's much easier to do everything else in LaTeX. --------------------------------- Date: Thu, 05 Jan 89 15:26:43 GMT From: Roger.Gawley @ uk.ac.durham Subject: TeX and PostScript fonts. To: info-tex @ uk.ac.aston Message-id: Several questions were asked about TeX and the PostScript fonts. One of them was whether we should use the TeX (well Computer Modern) or Adobe character positions. We need both! The Arbortext distributions of DVIxxx come with two sets of TFM files. The names are squashed to fit in the miserable filenames allowed by MSDOS. For the Adobe font Times-Roman, there are two TFM files: psmtimr and pstimr. The m stands for mapped and gives the Computer Modern character positions, so this can easily be substituted for a cmr font, at least in a simple document. Characters outside the the CM set are inacessible through this TFM file. The pstimr (no m) TFM gives you all the Adobe characers in the Adobe positions. For example, a proper upright pound sterling symbol appears as \char163 in every Adobe text font. There are no mapped versions for such fonts as the Adobe symbol font or the Zapf dingbats. This arrangement works very well and allows you to adapt existing documents fairly easily to use the Adobe fonts. As many people have noted, the present set of PostScript fonts are inadequate for setting mathematics. How many TFMs do you need? Nobody seems to have raised the fundamental question of spacing. Within the Knuth scheme of things we have TFM files which are all that TeX needs and the pixel (PXL, PK or whatever) files for the actual device. To give an example, I have cmr10.tfm and six pixel files corresponding to the available magsteps. But I also have cmr12.tfm and another six pixel files. Once upon a time (I wrote this over Christmas) I did not have cmr12 at all so I had to make do with cmr10 at 12pt. This is not the same thing. Try printing a couple of pages of each. Now, to come to the point, with PostScript I have no pixel files---they are effectively in the printer---and only one TFM file. The question of whether Adobe's fairly intelligent scaling of character glyphs is a good thing or not has been flogged to death elsewhere and I will not revive it but I am concerned about the spacing. I have only one TFM file so I ask for psmtimr at 10pt or psmtimr at 12pt or psmtimr at 2in from the point of view of character spacing does this leave me in the same position that I was with cmr10 at 12pt ?? Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you know the answer please tell me and/or uktex. If you can forward the question to someone who might that would help. Roger Gawley Computer Centre University of Durham Roger.Gawley@UK.AC.Durham --------------------------------- Date: 05 Jan 89 19:53:40 gmt From: G.Toal @ uk.ac.edinburgh Subject: DOSTeX To: info-tex@uk.ac.aston.mail Message-ID: <05 Jan 89 19:53:40 gmt 050052@EMAS-A> I'm beginning to understand the problems with fetching this package: You fetch the ascii-encoded .boo files (like BtoA or uuencode-ed files) and copy them to your PC using kermit or xmodem or whatecver. If your transfer is successful, e.g. via kermit with checksums, then you can be fairly certain that the file produced by deboo is the same as the file sent to Aston. I did this, and found that bigexe.boo produced an archive file bigexe.arc (an archive is a single file which contains several smaller files, sometimes compressed). The program to extract files from the archive (xarc) reported that it contained two 'real' files, initex.exe and virtex.exe. Unfortunately, although virtex.exe extracted correctly (and ran as far as it could without a format file), initex.exe was not extracted as it had a checksum error in the archive file. I am fairly sure that this all means that the file stored on Aston does indeed have a genuine checksum error and that the blame cannot be laid at the feet of VMS records or FTP modes or whatever; consequently I have ordered a new copy of DOSTeX from Gary Beihl in the states and will forward it to aston (probably by paper mail) when I am sure it works correctly. {I'll keep you posted. (P.S. No, honestly, I don't use PC's. It's my bos..s... :-) ) --------------------------------- !! !! Files of interest [public]000aston.readme !! [public]000directory.list !! [public]000directory_dates.list !! [public]000directory.size !! [public]000last30days.files !! !! Editor - I have a tape labelled TeX 2.9 LaTeX 2.09 Metafont 1.3 !! Unix 4.2/3BSD VAX SUN 2/3 Pyramid Sequent SYS V: 3B2 Tar 1600 bpi blocked !! 20 1 file dated 30 November 1988 (from washington.edu). !! !! I have the facility to copy this tape for anyone who sends the following !! 1 2400 tape with return labels AND RETURN postage. !! !! Send to !! !! P Abbott !! Computing Service !! Aston University !! Aston Triangle !! Birmingham B4 7ET !! !! A VMS backup of the archive requires 2 (two ) 2400' tapes at 6250bpi. !! Remaining details as above. !! Other tape options in the pipeline. !! !! Replies/submissions to info-tex@uk.ac.aston please !! distribution changes to info-tex-request@uk.ac.aston please !! !! end of issue