TeXhax Digest Monday, January 21, 1991 Volume 91 : Issue 3 Moderators: Tiina Modisett and Pierre MacKay %%% The TeXhax digest is brought to you as a service of the TeX Users Group %%% %%% in cooperation with the UnixTeX distribution service at the %%% %%% University of Washington %%% 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) + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %%% Further information about the TeXhax Digest, the TeX %%% Users Group, and the latest software versions is available %%% in every tenth issue of the TeXhax Digest. %%% %%% Concerning subscriptions, address changes, unsubscribing: %%% %%% BITNET: send a one-line mail message to LISTSERV@xxx %%% SUBSCRIBE TEX-L % to subscribe %%% or UNSUBSCRIBE TEX-L %%% %%% Internet: send a similar one line mail message to %%% TeXhax-request@cs.washington.edu %%% JANET users may choose to use %%% texhax-request@uk.ac.nsf %%% All submissions to: TeXhax@cs.washington.edu %%% %%% Back issues available for FTPing as: %%% machine: directory: filename: %%% JUNE.CS.WASHINGTON.EDU TeXhax/TeXhaxyy.nnn %%% yy = last two digits of current year %%% nnn = issue number %%% %%%\bye %%% End of TeXhax Digest ************************** -------