UKTeX Digest Friday, 22 Nov 1991 Volume 91 : Issue 44 Today's Topics: {Q&A}: Possible TeX bug discovered -- boxes and rules Re: Document identification in LaTeX re: computers & typesetting, current state RE: computers & typesetting, current state Fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books Re: Fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books Lecture notes and overheads in LaTeX? Re: Lecture notes and overheads in LaTeX? Administrivia: Moderators: Peter Abbott (Aston University) and David Osborne (University of Nottingham) Contributions: UKTeX@uk.ac.tex Administration, subscription and unsubscription requests: UKTeX-request@uk.ac.tex ------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Nov 91 09:24:50 -0600 From: Hunter Goatley, WKU"Hunter Goatley, WKU" Subject: Possible TeX bug discovered -- boxes and rules This message documents what I believe is a bug in TeX. I welcome any corrections or explanations for what's going on. At the end of this message is a file (with comments) that demonstrates my claim. Just use plain TeX to process it. In my newsletter macros, I used a slight variation of the \boxit macro from exercise 21.3 in _The TeXbook_ to put boxes around article titles. For a long time, I've known about a problem with the boxes' rules not meeting properly on the right-hand side. As Rex Shudde <0024P@NAVPGS.BITNET> pointed out: >It's as if both the top & bottom horizontal rules run too far >to the right (or as if the right hand vertical bar is pulled to the right a >bit). Is this a glitch of some sort? > Before releasing the macros to the world, I tried my best to get rid of that anomaly, and was partially successful. It doesn't happen with all rule sizes; in fact, changing the rule size can cause the opposite effect: the vertical rule on the right will actually extend *past* the top and bottom horizontal rules. The \boxit macro is almost identical to Knuth's solution to exercise 21.3 in _The TeXbook_. All of my experiments led me to believe that it is some kind of bug in TeX (since the output is identical over several different DVI drivers under both VMS and DOS). If anyone finds a bug in what *I'm* doing, or has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear about it. I've spent several hours trying various combinations. Each time I think I have it solved, I find more examples that fail. Hunter - ------ Hunter Goatley, VAX Systems Programmer, Western Kentucky University goathunter@wkuvx1.bitnet, 502-745-5251 - -------------------------------- Cut Here ------------------------------- - % % Hunter Goatley, goathunter@WKUVX1.BITNET, November 8, 1991 % % The following TeX code demonstrates what I believe to be a bug in TeX's % processing of rules and boxes. % % The \boxit macro below is exactly the same as Knuth's answer to exercise % 21.3 in _The TeXbook_, except that I have added the ability to specify % the size of the rules and the amount of space to leave around the box. % \font\big=cmss17 \font\little=cmss9 \def\boxit#1{\vbox{\hrule height\boxitrule\hbox{\vrule width\boxitrule% \kern\boxitspace% \vbox{\kern\boxitspace#1\kern\boxitspace}\kern\boxitspace% \vrule width\boxitrule}\hrule height\boxitrule}} % % Now define the dimens used for the width of the rules and the spaces % \newdimen\boxitrule \boxitrule=1.2pt \newdimen\boxitspace \boxitspace=3pt % % A macro to calculate the extra width of a boxit'ed box. Used to subtract % the width of the box from \hsize so the box doesn't stick out. % \def\setboxwid{\boxitwidth=2\boxitrule \advance\boxitwidth by2\boxitspace} % % A macro used in my newsletter macros to do article titles. The inner box % rules are half the size of the outer box rules. % \def\articletitle#1#2{{% \setboxwid % Calculate width of outer box \advance\hsize by-\boxitwidth % Bring hsize in so it's not too wide \vskip 10pt plus 5pt % Skip some space \boxit{% % Box the box \divide\boxitrule by 2 % Make inside box lines thinner \setboxwid % Calculate width of inner box \advance\hsize by-\boxitwidth % Bring hsize in for inner box too \boxit{% % Box the text \vbox{\noindent % Create a box \centerline{\big #1} % Print title of article \centerline{\little #2} % Print article byline }}}}} % Create the text box %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % Now do an article title using the default boxitrule (1.2pt) and boxitspace % (3pt). After it, do a plain \boxit. % % BOTH OF THESE COME OUT JUST FINE!!! % \articletitle{Hello, world}{by me} \bigskip \boxit{\vbox{\hsize=4in\centerline{Hello, world}}} \bigskip % % NOW, change the \boxitrule size to 2pt and do the same thing. This time, % the right-hand vrule on the outer box of the article title extends a % little too far to the right. The difference is only something like % half a point, but it is noticeable (particularly when viewed by something % like XDVI). % % Note that the plain \boxit doesn't have the problem. % \boxitrule=2pt \articletitle{Hello, world}{by me} \bigskip \boxit{\vbox{\hsize=4in\centerline{Hello, world}}} % % Now, to *really* demonstrate the bug, change the boxitrule to 20pt and % just do some text. The text below lies; the first one is OK and the % other two stick out to the right. % % I first used "No more examples" and found the problem. To make more sense, % I changed the text to "Sticks out at 20pt" and the problem went away! % ("Sticks..." is about 2pts narrower than "No...") The problem came back % with "Not OK at 20pt". Changing boxitrule to other sizes may or may not % produce the problem. I've never been able to find any kind of pattern % to this (IMHO) MAJOR bug in TeX. % \boxitrule=20pt \bigskip \boxit{\hbox{Sticks out at 20pt}} \bigskip \boxit{\hbox{Not OK at 20pt}} \bigskip \boxit{\vbox{\hbox{No more examples}}} \bye - -------------------------------- Cut Here ------------------------------- - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Nov 91 12:44:48 +0100 From: Schoepf%de.zib-berlin.sc@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay Subject: Re: Document identification in LaTeX Peter Flynn asks: I need to put the college seal and name at the top of the title page of some LaTeX documents, above the document title, in 12pt type (for an 10pt text doc). I have the seal in a font file, so that's not a problem, but has someone a pointer to some additional code to do this: I can of course simply stuff in a couple of \centerline{}'s but that doesn't look like a very PC way of doing it. The other requirement is for version numbering (manually typed) to go below the author, in text-size type. Any suggestions? I would recommend to redefine the \maketitle/\@maketitle macros. The best way to do so isto look into article.doc where they are explained. Rainer Schoepf Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum ,,Ich mag es nicht, wenn fuer Informationstechnik Berlin sich die Dinge so frueh Heilbronner Strasse 10 am Morgen schon so D-1000 Berlin 31 dynamisch entwickeln!'' Federal Republic of Germany or ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Nov 91 16:35:22 -0500 From: bbeeton Subject: re: computers & typesetting, current state peter ilieve asks what the table of dates identifying the latest printings of all the volumes of c&t really means. sad to say, it's not possible by any means i can conjure up to get that information from addison-wesley. it took all my ingenuity to get them to provide the dates in the table. here's what i know about their general procedures. when they are getting to the point where they will need to reprint (presumably only because their inventory is about to be depleted), a-w notifies knuth, and he lets them know whether he has any corrections pending. if he does, he prepares new copy for just the pages that need to be changed and sends it to a-w to be incorporated in the reprint. this reprint will get the next sequential number, and the numbers are not parallel in the soft- and hardbound versions. i believe this procedure came into being after the disaster when a-w reprinted without first informing knuth just at the point when the new features of tex 3.0 were defined. in any event, i am pretty certain (though i haven't actually even seen any of the the recent printings, and in fact still use a first edition of the texbook as my own reference, along with a cumulative set of errata) that the printings listed in that table do contain all the tex 3/mf 2 upgrades. i know this isn't the answer you were looking for, but unless someone can get hold of a copy of each printing, and examine them against knuth's errata lists, i don't know how to get a better. -- bb ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Nov 91 19:10:41 +0000 From: Philip Taylor (RHBNC) Subject: RE: computers & typesetting, current state Barbara -- >>> peter ilieve asks what the table of dates identifying the latest >>> printings of all the volumes of c&t really means. >>> sad to say, it's not possible by any means i can conjure up to get >>> that information from addison-wesley. it took all my ingenuity to >>> get them to provide the dates in the table. >>> ... >>> i know this isn't the answer you were looking for, but unless >>> someone can get hold of a copy of each printing, and examine them >>> against knuth's errata lists, i don't know how to get a better. Would it not be possible for TUG to provide this service ? Is it not reasonable to ask them to request a review copy of each edition as and when it is released, and to maintain a check-list of editions v. modifications ? ** Phil. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 18:29:59 +0300 From: igor Subject: Fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books Dear colleagues, We are looking for MF sources for Westron and Kwenia fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books (we are not sure how the words "Westron" and "Kwenia" are spelled). Can anybody help us? Thanks in advance! Igor Romanenko (igor%d245.icyb.kiev.ua@relay.USSR.EU.net) Vladimir Rudenko (vovik%245.icyb.kiev.ua@relay.USSR.EU.net) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 91 12:06:49 +0100 From: Schoepf%de.zib-berlin.sc@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay Subject: Re: Fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books igor <@relay.ussr.eu.net:IGOR@d245.icyb.kiev.ua> asks: We are looking for MF sources for Westron and Kwenia fonts from J.R.R.Tolkien books (we are not sure how the words "Westron" and "Kwenia" are spelled). Can anybody help us? There are several sources for these fonts. I recommend that you try one of the following mail servers: TEXSERVER@TEX.AC.UK mail-server@rusinfo.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (directory soft/tex/fonts/metafont/tengwar) In both cases, a first message containing the line HELP will return more information on how to use these servers. For the DANTE server at Stuttgart, the lines PACK SEND soft/tex/fonts/metafont/tengwar END will send you the contents of that directory. For more information, please consult the help file. Rainer Schoepf ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 12:25:41 +0000 From: PAUL@uk.ac.qmw.ph.v1 Subject: Lecture notes and overheads in LaTeX? I would like to do the following perverse thing using La(Tex). Produce a set of lecture notes and overheads in the same file. The overheads would typically be large print few lines. The notes are my notes on what to say while the overhead is up on the screen - and more like a normal page of text. Ideally I would have an input structure like this Start of new overhead entry for overhead note for entry entry for overhead note for entry etc... End of overhead. Start of new overhead .... The output would produce an overhead on 1 sheet and following on, the notes to go with that sheet on one or more sheets. Repeated for all overheads. I rather doubt whether anyone has done anything at all like this and I don't expect it to be simple to do, but what I would appreciate is some advice on the most suitable way to set about doing this. In what direction should I be looking to find the appropriate tools ? Paul Kyberd ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Nov 91 17:21:02 +0000 From: David Osborne Subject: Re: Lecture notes and overheads in LaTeX? In message of 19 Nov 91 12:29:20 GMT, PAUL@uk.ac.qmw.ph.v1 said: > I would like to do the following perverse thing using La(Tex). > Produce a set of lecture notes and overheads in the same file. Consider using SliTeX, described in the LaTeX book. - --dave David Osborne, Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham d.osborne@mips.nott.ac.uk ------------------------------ UK TeX ARCHIVE at ASTON UNIVERSITY >>> UK.AC.TEX <<< JANET Interactive and NIFTP access Host: uk.ac.tex (JANET DTE 000020120091) Username: public Password: public [Sorry, no Internet ftp access is available yet] *** Mail server *** Send mail to TeXserver@uk.ac.tex (JANET) or TeXserver@tex.ac.uk (rest of the world) with message body containing the word HELP \section FILES OF INTEREST [tex-archive]00readme.txt [tex-archive]00directory.list [tex-archive]00directory.size [tex-archive]00directory_dates.list [tex-archive]00last30days.files \section DIGESTS This year's UKTeX back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.uktex.91] This year's TeXhax back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.texhax.91] Latest TeXhax: #50 TeXMaG back issues are stored in the archive in directory [tex-archive.digests.tex-mag] Latest TeXMaG: V5N3 \section MEDIA DISTRIBUTIONS \subsection Washington Unix TeX distribution tape Latest copy of May/June 1991 contains: TeX 3.14, LaTeX 2.09, Metafont 2.7, plus many utilities suitable for Unix 4.2/4.3BSD & System V tar format, 1600bpi, blockfactor 20, 1 file (36Mb) Copies available on: One 2400ft 0.5" tape sent with return labels AND return postage to Aston OR One Quarter-Inch Cartridge, QIC-120 or QIC-150 format (DC600A or DC6150) sent with envelope AND stamps for return postage to Nottingham (addresses below). \subsection VMS tapes VMS backup of the archive requires two 2400ft tapes at 6250bpi. 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