TeXhax Digest Monday, January 21, 1991 Volume 91 : Issue 3
Moderators: Tiina Modisett and Pierre MacKay
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Today's Topics:
Summary of responses concerning free TeX for the PC.
LaTeX macroes for MicroEmacs?
call for paper: 6th European TeX Conference
dvipage on Sun SLCs/IPCs
special characters in \index
TeX, script Math fonts
TeX for coherent
RE: Ker-mit-choo! (TeXhax V91 #1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 11:38 CDT
From: U2591AA@VMS.UCC.OKSTATE.EDU
Subject: Summary of responses concerning free TeX for the PC.
Keywords: TeX, PC
Thanks for all who sent me information regarding Public Domain (PD)
implementations of TeX for the PC. Here is my brief summary.
Note that it is a summary of responses and NOT a testimonial. I haven't
used any of these (yet)!
Five PD versions of TeX were mentioned in the responses:
1. emTeX (terminator.cc.umich.edu in dir msdos/text-mgmt/TeX/emtex).
2. sbTeX (terminator.cc.umich.edu in dir msdos/text-mgmt/TeX).
3. dosTeX (tut.cis.ohio-state.edu -- i forget which dir).
4. PublicTeX (rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de)
5. CTeX (LISTSERV@DHDURZ1)
The first four are available by anonymous ftp. For 1. and 2. you will
need the pkunzip program which is also available from terminator.cc.umich.edu
(shareware program). For 3., you need the pkxarc program (also shareware,
and available from terminator.cc.umich.edu). See the article on servers
which appeared in earlier issues of TeXhax for information on using ftp
and listserv.
If you don't want to read any further, the votes and evidence indicate
the order of preference, with a possible tie between emTeX and sbTeX.
emTeX --
Advantages: Very complete, pretty fast, support for LaTeX, bibtex
big TeX, big LaTeX, metafont, big metafont,
scripts to make fonts, a collection of printer
drivers (including a generic dot matrix driver
which can be set up to work on almost any printer),
and a screen previewer. exe files for 286 machines
are also included. Does fine in terms of memory use.
TeX version 3.0.
Disadvantages: Since it is complete, it is big. 6.8 Megabytes. It
will fit on 22 floppies or 6 1.44 Meg diskettes.
Original documentation was in German, but some kind
soul translated the docs to English (also available
from terminator.cc.umich.edu as engdoc.zip).
sbTeX --
Advantages: Very fast, and not a memory hog. Distribution fits
on one floppy (.zip file)! TeX version 3.0 (yup!).
Disadvantages: Preloaded versions not possible (though all sbtex users
said this isn't a disadvantage). Someone said it is a
little difficult for a novice to get latex going with sbtex
(Cookbook advice on how to run latex with sbtex would
be nice -- anyone out there done it?)
You are left on your own to come up with printer drivers.
There is no version of metafont with this, and no
screen previewer in the package. (I heard that the
author of sbtex, Wayne Sullivan, has a PC screen previewer
which he has made available. Any one care to comment.)
dostex --
Advantages: Complete system. Screen previewer, drivers, metafont,
latex, bibtex. Allows for preloaded formats.
Disadvantages: Bugs and memory problems. Slow. Metafont very buggy.
The last two, PublicTeX and CTeX, were mentioned only once or twice
and in each case some serious problem was mentioned. I will not say
more about these because I don't know more and because the others are
apparently (based on the responses) better versions.
Dostex, PublicTeX and CTeX may be unfairly represented in these responses.
I would welcome public comments and clarifications regarding public domain
TeX for the PC.
Finally, alternate places to get these versions of TeX.
-- wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (if you can get on, this may have everything)
emtex -- rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de ( == 129.69.1.12)
sbtex -- venus.ycc.yale.edu
Scott McCullough u2591aa@vms.ucc.okstate.edu
Dept. of Physics
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-0444
405-744-5813
405-744-7673 (FAX)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 11:30 CDT
From: U2591AA@VMS.UCC.OKSTATE.EDU
Subject: LaTeX macroes for MicroEmacs?
Keywords: LaTeX, macros, MicroEmacs
I have heard of some emacs macros for use when editing LaTeX files.
1. Do they work with MicroEmacs?
2. Where can they be obtained?
We have ftp.
Thanks,
Scott McCullough u2591aa@vms.ucc.okstate.edu
Dept. of Physics u2591aa@uccvms (bitnet)
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 91 17:51:40 +0100
From: gaulle%circe.fr@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU (Bernard GAULLE)
Subject: call for paper: 6th European TeX Conference
Keywords: paper, 6th European TeX Conference
Call for paper (#2)
6th European TeX Conference
&
GUTenberg'91
Paris 23th--26th September 1991
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
6th European TeX Conference
Paris, 23th--25th September 1991
The sixth European TeX Conference is
organised by the French speaking user group
(GUTenberg) and is concurently held with
the GUTenberg'91 congress.
TeX is a software now widely spread , in
the university and research community as
well as in the printers and editors world
notably for printing all technical and
scientific publications.
The active part played by the various
European user groups in bringing about the
modifications undergone by TeX over the
past few years clearly demonstrates how
essential it is that an annual conference
should be held in Europe.
Suggested topics
Contributions may deal with various topics,
including those suggested below. Selection
will be made on the basis of novelty,
interest and use to the TeX user community.
Although English is official language,
simultaneous translation for French
speakers is being considered.
--- Multi-lingual TeX
--- User groups
--- Developments around TeX, METAFONT. . .
--- Merging TeX with other systems and applications
--- Typographics layout and design
--- HyperTeXt and its relationship with TeX
--- Markup documents systems
--- Fonts design
--- Merging TeX with graphics
--- Specialist macros and their applications
--- Networks related to TeX
Call for paper
Following deadlines applies to the 6th
European TeX Conference and to the
GUTenberg'91 congress.
An one page abstract (about two 80 x 50
screens) should be submitted by mail,
e-mail or fax by the 1st February 1991.
Abstracts should be sent in first instance
to the author's national user group if
there is one; failing this, to one of the
programme coordinators.
Speakers selected will be notified of
acceptance by 1st March 1991.
Complete texts must be submitted by 1st May
1991, preferably in LaTeX source format
(details of layout, size and formatting
will be sent to the authors at time of
notification); if needed, camera-ready form
will be accepted.
Programe Committee
Bernard Gaulle (GUTenberg)
Roswitha Graham (Royal Institute of
Technology)
Joachim Lammarsch (Heidelberg University)
Chris Rowley (Open University)
Kees van der Lann (ntg, Holland)
Michael Ferguson (inrs-Telecommunications)
Nicolas Brouard (ined)
Pierre Dagnelie (Fac. sciences
agronomiques)
Maurice Laugier (Imprimerie Louis-Jean)
Didier Collin (Trema)
Denis Megevan (Observatoire Geneve)
Addresses
GUTenberg, 6th European TeX Conference
BP 21
78354 Jouy en Josas cedex, France
Telephone: + 33 1 34 65 22 32
Fax: + 33 1 34 65 20 51
E-mail: gut@irisa.irisa.fr
or to national user groups coordinators
Bernard Gaulle : ucir001@frors12.bitnet
Roswitha Graham: roswitha@admin.kth.se
Joachim Lammarsch: rz92@dhdurz1.bitnet
Chris Rowley: ca_rowley@uk.ac.open.acs.vax
Kees van der Lann: cgl@rug.nl
Organisation Committee
Olivier Nicole (inra)
Jacques Andre (inria-irisa)
Philippe Louarn (inria-irisa)
Michel Blanchard (Universite d'Orleans)
Alain Posty (inra)
GUTenberg, 6th European TeX Conference
BP 21
78354 Jouy en Josas cedex, France
Telephone: + 33 1 34 65 22 32
Fax: + 33 1 34 65 20 51
Tutorials
Tutorials on TeX and the TeXset are to be
held during the week of 16 to 21 September
1991.
Those who wish to be untrusted with such
tutorials are requested to get in touch
with the organisation committee. The
equipment required will be made available
to the teacher so that the tutorials meet
the highest standard.
Turorials can be teached in either English
or French.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
GUTenberg'91
Technical and Scientific Edition
Paris, 26th September 1991
This year the French speaking user group
held its congress concurently with the
sixth European TeX Conference. The
opportunity of holding an international
conference in France could not be skipped.
As we want to maintain a French speaking
part to this meeting, a fourth congress day
has been added.
The GUTenberg'91 congress deals with
``Technical and Scientific Edition''.
Although French is offical language,
simultaneous translation for English
speakers is being considered.
Suggested topics are the following:
--- Special fonts design
--- Developments around TeX and LaTeX
--- TeX and graphics
--- Rasterisation and output
--- Special macro-packages
--- Aspects of the French language
Advice to exhibitors
Exhibitors are requested to get in touch
with the organisation committee.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 91 15:24:28 BST
From: D.C.LINDSEY%ABERDEEN.AC.UK@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU
Subject: dvipage on Sun SLCs/IPCs
Keywords: dviware, SUN SLCs/IPCs
Does anyone have dvipage working under Suntools on Sun SLCs or IPCs?
If so, what's the secret? Having 'made' a version for the SLC on running
it I get a bus error shortly after the page viewing window is opened.
Any suggestions/fixes will be greatly appreciated.
Dave Lindsey (d.c.lindsey@uk.ac.aberdeen)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 91 12:38:17 PST
From: uunet!xilinx!castor!kelem@cs.washington.edu
Subject: special characters in \index
Keywords: LaTeX, \index
Goal:
I want to have index entries with some of LaTeX' special characters
(specifically $ and _) and change of typeface when specified.
Background:
Specifically, I would like to have an index entry for a prolog predicate
(in a web-like latex language) whose functor is in a typewriter face
and the arity is in a Roman typeface. I would like to write it like this:
\index{a_functor/3@{{\tt a_functor}/3}|bold}
rather than the way I have to do it now:
\index{a_functor/3@{{\tt a\_functor}/3}|bold}
(Note that this index entry is alphabetized by `a_functor', typeset in the
index as {\tt a\_functor}/3, and the page number is printed in boldface.)
The latter form is not as good as the former because global changes of or
searching for functor names have to be done twice --- once with the escaped
special characters and once without, and therefore a bother and error-prone.
Research so far:
\index calls \@sanitize so that it can write out LaTeX' special characters,
but the theindex environment doesn't treat these characters specially.
(So \index{a_functor} will cause a "Missing $" message to be printed when the
.ind file is processed.)
Questions:
There are a number of things that could be done to change (fix?) this so it
would work the way I'd like.
1. Change the definition of theindex so that it sanitizes some of the special
characters. This has the negative result that then it's hard to use the
special characters in the index and it's not portable.
2. Change one of the parameters to makeindex so that the desired characters
are escaped. This way the changes aren't as global, but special characters
still can't be used in the index.
3. Use \verb|a_functor|/3 instead of {\tt }. Can't be done because \verb
commands may not appear in the argument of any other command.
4. Is there any better way to do this for these specific index entries?
Steve Kelem (408)879-5347 xilinx!kelem@uunet.uu.net
Xilinx FAX: (408)559-7114
2100 Logic Drive
San Jose, California 95124
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 91 20:14:43 EST
From: lums@sobolev.mit.edu (Andrew Lumsdaine)
Subject: TeX, script Math fonts
Keywords: fonts, Math, script,
Hi;
I'm trying (desperately) to find script math fonts for TeX. By these,
I mean the really curly letters that one sees used (e.g.) for the 'L'
in L^p spaces or the 'S' in the Schwartz class of functions. The
calligraphic fonts that come with LaTeX are not satisfactory, nor are
the euler script fonts. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Please
reply by e-mail (lums@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu or lums@sobolev.mit.edu),
even if the answer is negative, so that I know you received this
request.
Regards,
A.L.
Andrew Lumsdaine "We don't understand the software, and
lums@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu sometimes we don't understand the hardware,
MIT RLE but we can *see* the blinking lights!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 91 07:52:08 EST
From: oak!jim@uunet.UU.NET (Jim Mochel)
Subject: TeX for coherent
Keywords: TeX, Coherent
It is unfortunately unlikely that you will find TeX for
the Coherent SYstem.
The Coherent Operating System compiler is currently limited to
80x86 small model. Thus it really cannot
produce a executable of TeX . Coherent is supposed to be releasing a
newer version of the OS with a protected mode compiler Real Soon Now.
Jim Mochel
chaman@oak.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 3 JAN 91 11:01:40 GMT
From: TEX@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk
Subject: RE: Ker-mit-choo! (TeXhax V91 #1)
Keywords: kermit
In a message dated Thu, 20 Dec 90 09:33:20 PST, published in TeXhax
Digest Volume 91 : Issue 1,
rousu@sicbm.boeing.com (DWIGHT ROUSU, 657-4235,MS82-26) wrote:
> Recent items on TeXhax regarding Kermit and FTP lead me to come out of
> the hacker's closet with these questions;
>
> With all these archives and mailservers available,
> I can get ASCII `e-mail'ed files nicely. Thank you kindly.
> For various reasons, including institutional caution of computer viruses
> (even from respectable univ. archives), FTP of (executable and binary) files
> from external sources is difficult.
> Kermit is a more available procedure, though slow.
> USMailed mag tape is a more bothersome, costly source I may have to resort to
.
>
> Immediate question: Is there a way to get Vax VMS .exe files from these
> respectable archives using Kermit, IF one so desired?
With VMS-VMS transfers, I've found that telling both ends to SET FILE
TYPE FIXED results in files that are validly interpretable as .exe
files; this won't work for VMS .obj files, unfortunately, because these
consist of variable-length records, with no carriage control. You may
find that SET FILE TYPE BINARY will help here, but I've never done it
myself.
However, the new encoding scheme VV{en/de}CODE, described by my colleage
Niel Kempson in TeXhax V90 #76 *does* encode, transmit and reconstitute
all such structured files correctly; in addition, it saves you the time
sitting around waiting for the transfer to complete, because it's
intended for e-mail transmission. However, even though the encoded items
may arrive in random order if split into separate e-mailings, the user
need make no special efforts to reconstitute the file(s), since VVDECODE
doesn't require that mail headers be removed, nor even that the separate
parts of a mailing are concatenated together in the correct order.
> Structural questions: What procedures DO the various archives use to
> vacinate against viruses? Could they characterize
> the degree to which they perform this function?
> If they don't vacinate, could cognizati of the
> protection business provide virus checkers to them
> so we can have safe TeX? Can we talk?...
I'll get my fellow archivists to discuss this with you off-line.
Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
pp UK TeX Archivists (at Aston)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ JANET: tex@uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs +
+ BITNET: tex%uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs@ac.uk +
+ INTERNET: tex%uk.ac.cranfield.rmcs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk +
+ UUCP: ...!mcvax!rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk!tex +
+ OR ...!ukc!rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk!tex +
+ Smail: School of Electrical Engineering & Science, Royal Military +
+ College of Science, Shrivenham, SWINDON SN6 8LA, U.K. +
+ Phone: Swindon (0793) 785252 (UK), +44-793-785252 (International) +
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