TeXhax Digest Tuesday, June 9, 1987 Volume 87 : Issue 43 [SCORE.STANFORD.EDU]TEXHAX43.87 Editor: Malcolm Brown Today's Topics: ...............TEX TEXT VIA Multi-page tables in LaTeX dvi to PS converter comments, and interactive TeX VorTeX distribution update Re: Magnifications and finding font files VorTeX LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #41) Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #41 .PK fonts with Utah DVI family ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 26-May-87 03:22:40-PDT,701;000000000000 Date: Tue, 26 May 87 12:26:06 ZONE To: TEXHAX@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU From: ASSOUL%FRSAC11.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu Subject: ...............TEX TEXT VIA E. Assouline .... Paris ... France I have just got TeX and Metafont running on Atari ST. I would like to suscribe to TUG Boat. Is there is aniway to get other fonts like Helvetica or Times .. My adress is : Assouline Elie 5 place de Venetie 75013 Paris France You can send me e-mail at : ASSOUL@FRSAC11.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 May 87 08:21:13 EDT From: scott@gateway.mitre.org To: texhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: Multi-page tables in LaTeX I am struggling to convert our department from troff to LaTeX and have run into a problem I hope someone has already solved. Many of the documents produced here have large, multi-page tables. The troff table preprocessor (tbl) and the macro set we use are able to split the table across multiple pages. My reading of LaTeX is that it treats a table (made in the table environment) as a single block. This means that the table MUST fit on one page. Has anyone developed a sceme for handling this? John ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 May 87 07:49:50 EST From: "S Bechtolsheim" To: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.edu Subject: dvi to PS converter Well, I am finally done---it even comes with documentation. The only thing, which is missing, is the support of "tpic", which is just being added. This is of course a project, which could go on for ever: there are things like converting the picture environment of LaTeX to use PS directly, and other nice things, which could be added. There is one thing though, which somehow bothers me, and that is the handling of \special---there are five hundred different ways to do so, and so far I have gotten replies from about five people. So that means, that there are 495 other solutions out in the world. Any feedback of those people, who have not yet contacted me, would be appreciated. I would like to set up everything in such a way, that may be through some compile time constants we could get the whole thing organized in a convinient and clean fashion. Other than that---it's my sincere hope, that this driver will replace all the existing public domain drivers, so we finally have a driver, which does it right. One last thing---the driver was developed as part of my consulting contract with the Menil Foundation in Houston, TX. I approached them about making the driver available to the public, and they instantly agreed! I think, that's very generous, and I hope people, who use the driver, will find a piece of paper to send a short "thank you" note to the Menil Foundation. You know, courtesy gets you further in life... But don't approach them about any funding---they are using TeX for typesetting art history books, they are NOT a branch of ARPA or NSF! Their requirements for instance led me to use so called pfd files (PostScript font definition files), which give complete control over the encoding vector. The driver will be put on the UNIX tape from Washington, and that besides FTP will be the only way to get access to it. I will keep you posted. Stephan Bechtolsheim i5f@l.cc.purdue.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 May 87 15:24 EDT From: Subject: comments, and interactive TeX To: texhax@score.stanford.edu X-Original-To: @[rich.mail]texhax, RICH (1) On the subject of \begincomment-\endcomment constructs: of course one wants these primarily to comment out TeX code and text temporarily. But that's precisely what would make such a "comment" difficult to distinguish from "real" input unless you search for the delimiters. You're threatening yourself with a headache if you don't use the "%" for that purpose; or better yet, "%%%% Debug %%%%", or something equally non-overlookable. Any text editor that can't learn a macro to stick "%%%% Debug %%%%" in front of the current line and move the cursor to the next line ain't worth the disk it's written on. (2) Our library just got a copy of "TeX for Scientific Documentation", edited by Jacques D\'esarm\'enien, #236 in Lecture Notes in Computer Science from Springer-Verlag (ISBN's 3-540-16807-9 and 0-387-16807-9). All I've read is the first contribution, and maybe later I'll have some info on other stuff in the book, but since interactive TeX is a hot item here, I thought I'd rush this in. In "Running TeX in an Interactive Text Processing Environment," Wolfgang Appelt (Gesellschaft f\"ur Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung mbH, 5205 Sankt Augustin, Federal Republic of Germany) reports on a rather brute-force approach to interactive TeX as it existed in March 1986. They use a PERQ workstation from International Computers Limited (UK) running a UNIX Version 7 variant called PNX, which does windows. Essentially they just pipeline: editor | tex | driver The incremental processing apparently isn't automatic; one has to select a range (which could be the whole document) to be fed to TeX and displayed. It's not clear how, or whether, the effects of commands before the selected range are accounted for. He says there are "currently some efforts for porting our TeX implementation on the PERQ to other systems," and that they are working on integrating graphics into the whole mess. Rich Holmes rich@suhep.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 May 87 16:50:21 PDT From: vortex@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (The VorTeX Distribution) To: TeXhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: VorTeX distribution update The following is an update of the utilities for use with TeX which are currently included in the VorTeX distribution: dvitool - A previewer for DVI files which runs on the SUN workstation. fonts - A set of fonts used for TeX and LaTeX in the sizes needed for using the previewer. pxltool - SUN-based font editor for PXL files emacs - A large LISP library for use with emacs which facilitates editing of TeX, LaTeX, and BIBTex files. dvitoip - A DVI to INTERPRESS filter. It allows the printing of DVI files on an Xerox Dandelion printer. texdvi - A program which runs TeX, LaTeX, or SliTeX and previews the results using DVItool. gr2ps - A program which converts grelim files to POSTSCRIPT. makeindex - A general purpose index generator for use with LaTeX files. The VorTeX software is the copyrighted property of the Regents of the University of California, and may be licensed for a fee. If you would like further information on licensing, as well as the appropriate forms, please send your postal mailing address to vortex-dist@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU, and we will send you a licensing package. Mike Robinson VorTeX group, Univerity of California, Berkeley Please address any correspondence to: Professor Michael A. Harrison Att. Vortex Dist. Computer Science Division University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 UUCP: ...!ucbvax!vortex-dist ARPA: vortex-dist@ucbvax.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 May 87 21:19:12 EDT From: Chris Torek To: rokicki@sushi.stanford.edu, texhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Magnifications and finding font files The solution I have used is to allow a certain amount of `slop' in font file magnifications. The code starts at the computed size, then tries offsets up to (but, at present, not including) the maximum slop value. The code itself is rather complex, as it deals with the different naming conventions used in pxl and in gf and pk files. A somewhat simplified version reads: /* mag is double precision floating point; fmag is integer */ /* * The equation below means, approximately, `the font is * magnified by the ratio of the actual size dvimag to the * design size dvidsz, and then further scaled by the * global magnification.' We multiply this by the printer's * resolution in dots per inch, then use the per-font * conversion factor to convert a dots-per-inch value to * a font name `%m' magnification (extension). */ mag := dvimag / dvidsz * GlobalMag * PrinterDPI; for all known kinds of fonts do fmag := mag * this_font's_conversion_factor + 0.5; for slop in [0..this_font's_slop) do if the font exists in size fmag+slop then goto found; fi; if slop /= 0 and the font exists in size fmag-slop then goto found; fi; rof; rof; /* not found */ ... found: ... (Can you guess the original source language? :-) ) The configuration file then reads, e.g., # TYPE SPEC SLOP PATH font gf * 3 /usr/local/lib/tex/fonts/%f/%f.%mgf This gives the font type (gf), which implies the conversion factor; a device specification, so that you can separate Raven write-white fonts from Canon write-black fonts---here * means any device; the slop value; and the prototype path name of the font, where %f is replaced by the font base name (e.g., cmr10) and %m by the appropriate magnification (e.g., 432 += slop). All configuration is done at run time; the only file that must be in a known place is the configuration file itself. Alas, none of this has been documented, else I would release it now. I may make the code available for anonymous FTP anyway, and let some enterprising soul take up that task. Until then, you cannot get the code. In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: seismo!mimsy!chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 87 08:45:10 EDT From: scott@gateway.mitre.org To: texhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: VorTeX I heard some rumors about VorTeX. Anybody got the straight poop? (This is all part of my efforted to convert the department (and the company) to TeX. The department is based on troff and the company has just standardized on (I caution those with weak hearts) MASS11.) John Scott I don't want to be immortal through my work. I want to be immortal through not dying. --W Allen \end ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 87 09:52:26 PDT From: lamport@src.DEC.COM (Leslie Lamport) To: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.edu Subject: LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #41) Allan G. Weber wants to pair a figure and a table and make them appear together on the same page. His difficulty in solving this problem comes from a fundamental conceptual error that is made in different guises by many LaTeX users. He is thinking of the figure and table environments in terms of their common use rather than in terms of what they actually do. The figure environment does two things: it `floats' the contents of the environment and it redefines the \caption command so it puts the text `Figure XX' in front of the caption. What Webver wants is not really a figure or a table, but a new unit consisting of two parts--one labeled `figure' and one labeled `table'. (This leads me to wonder if the separate labeling is a good idea, and whether it wouldn't make things easier for the reader if it were labeled as a two-part object--for example, calling it `Illustration XX', with each illustration being divided into a picture and a table. However, I won't pursue this alternative.) So, the entire unit should be a single environment. Whether it should be a figure environment, a table environment, or some other float environment (scan for `float' in the style files and in LATEX.TEX) will depend upon the details of the document--the primary determinant being the fact that LaTeX will not print figure or table environments in the wrong order, but it can reverse the order of a figure and a table. Here's one possible solution. Define a \tablecaption command that, when used anywhere, produces the same caption as is produced by a \caption command in a table environment. (The appropriate definition can be obtained by reading about counters in the manual and tracking down the definition of \caption in the style files and in LATEX.TEX.) The figure/table pair is then obtained by \begin{figure} the figure \caption{figure caption} some vertical space the table \tablecaption{table caption} \end{figure} The moral behind this example is: When you're trying to format something, think about what LaTeX commands do that kind of formatting; don't just think about commands that handle similar logical structures. Leslie Lamport ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 87 13:36:13 PLT From: Dean Guenther Subject: Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #41 To: TeXhax Digest In issue #41, Don Hosek mentioned the different TFM formats between version 1.0 and 2.0. At the 1985 (I think) TUG meeting the VM & MVS IBM TUG members decided to come together on some standards. Thats when the format when from 2K to 1K. If you still have some old TFMs that are 2K, the VM distribution tape has a utility TFVTOPL to convert those into a PL which can then be run back through TFTOPL to get a 1K TFM. If you are having problems getting around the DVI file lengths in your drivers programs, look at DVI2LIST on the VM distribution tape. It is set up to handle a DVI file of any LRECL and RECFM. Dean Guenther TeX IBM VM/CMS Site Coordinator Washington State University Pullman, Wa. 99164-1220 phone: 509-335-0411 BITnet: GUENTHER@WSUVM1 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 87 16:35:24 PDT From: calvin@csvax.caltech.edu (Cal Jackson) To: texhax@score.stanford.edu >>... the baselineskip glue is missing between >>the a and b. >> >>\setbox0=\vbox{\hbox{a}\hbox{b}\hbox{c}} >>\showbox0 >> >>\setbox1=\vbox{\hbox{a}} >>\setbox0=\vbox{\unvbox1\hbox{b}\hbox{c}} >>\showbox0 No interline glue is inserted because of the definition of \unvbox (TeXbook Chapter 24); the key being that \prevdepth is not affected by the \unvbox command. \prevdepth was initialized to -1000 pt at the beginning of the vbox (ibid. Chapter 12). Thus, after the unpackaged box was appended to the list, \prevdepth was still -1000 pt. (The -1000 pt value suppresses interline glue.) You might try: \setbox1=\vbox{\hbox{a}} \setbox0=\vbox{\unvbox1 \lastbox\hbox{b}\hbox{c}} \lastbox will remove and replace the box in a "depth exposed" manner. And this is quite inexpensive internally. Cal ------------------------------ From: "Nelson H.F. Beebe" Subject: .PK fonts with Utah DVI family To: texhax@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU Re: query from Anita@astro.as.utexas.edu on TeXHaX V87 #41 The Utah DVI driver family supports PXL, GF, and PK files; we tend to use PK files locally because of the massive amounts of disk space saved. This is particularly important in PC environments. --Nelson H.F. Beebe ------------------------------ %%% %%% subscriptions, address changes to: texhax-request@score.stanford.edu %%% %%% submissions to: texhax@score.stanford.edu %%% %%% BITNET redistribution: TEX-L@TAMVM1.BITNET (list server) %%% SUBSCRIBE TEX-L %%% %%%\bye %%% ------------------------------ End of TeXhax Digest **************************