UKTeX V88 #42 Friday 16 December 1988 Stretching minipages Compress utility & TeX - a marriage... PostScript metrics TeXMaG V2N6 to appear soon... Copyright material in the Aston archive. Tables and LaTeX TUG and credit cards mode_defs bug in all versions of DVItoVDU and PSPRINT Searching for the DVICAN driver Editor Peter Abbott Issue #41 was ready to be despatched last Friday when a small hardware hiccup occured. It has rather blemished the regularity of the digest but everything now appears to be back to normal. Subgroup unix has been deleted and subgroup unix_30_11_88 has been added Apart from the tape for Admiralty Research and the six for BUSS all others have been created and posted from Aston. They should arrive early after the Xmas period. Latest TeXhax in the Archive is #107 Latest TeXmag in the Archive is V2N5 --------------------------------- Received: from lena by kestrel.Ukc.AC.UK with UUCP id aa01223; 12 Dec 88 15:18 GMT Received: from kernel by lena with netmail(8.4); Mon Dec 12 13:29:41 GMT 1988 From: "Mark J. Hewitt" Date: Mon, 12 Dec 88 12:30:26 (GMT) Message-Id: <6347.8812121230.marvin@kernel.co.uk> To: info-tex@uk.ac.aston Subject: Stretching minipages Does anyone know how to stretch a LaTeX minipage out to the bottom of the current physical page? I'm setting out a sheet that can have a small amount of text at the top, but there must always be an item at the bottom. The item at the bottom is a PostScript insert, and the whole minipage is in a frame. Now, I could do some of this in PostScript, but communicating the size of the local LaTeX printing area into the postscript is hard. Just to let you try it out, here is a test file: \documentstyle[a4]{article} \begin{document} \begin{minipage}{\textwidth} start text\par % \vfill % doesn't work % \vspace{\fill} % doesn't work % \vbox to \fill{} % doesn't work % \vspace*{\fill} % doesn't work % \vspace*{\textheight minus \textheight} % !! doesn't work (properly!) % \rule{0pt}{\fill} % doesn't wor... \par end text \end{minipage} \end{document} Mark J. Hewitt usenet: ...!{mcvax,uunet}!ukc!kernel!mjh JANET: mjh@uk.co.kernel voice: (+44) 532 444566 other: mjh@kernel.co.uk fax: (+44) 532 425456 old style: mjh%uk.co.kernel@uk.ac.ukc paper: Kernel Technology Ltd, Development Centre, 46 The Calls, Leeds, LS2 7EY, West Yorkshire, UK --------------------------------- Date: 10 Dec 88 17:24:16 gmt From: G.Toal @ uk.ac.edinburgh Subject: Compress utility & TeX - a marriage... To: texhax%cs.washington.edu@earn-relay cc: info-tex@uk.ac.aston.mail Message-ID: <10 Dec 88 17:24:16 gmt 050296@EMAS-A> Someone (hi tiggr!) asked for this recently; I thought others might be interested, given the volume of data TeX systems can read at run-time: it is a filter to be added to C sources (easily hacked into ctex headers, for instance) which lets you use LZW compression on your data files %without% decompressing them before you use them. Here is a short extract from the comments in the source, followed by a sample of use. If more than a critical mass of people mail me for it I'll submit it to the various archives. I must admit I haven't built it in to my own ctex yet, but will do shortly. Graham. /* * The original decompress has been restructured so that data can be * fetched on demand a byte at a time. This lets it be used as a filter * for programs which read large data files - you do not need the disk * space to decompress the input files first. * * (Incidentally, programs reading data off floppies will be speeded up * because decompression is always faster than the equivalent amount * of disk I/O). * * This implementation supplies 'z' versions of fopen, fputc, feof and fclose * to be used as direct substitutes for the originals; it would be cleaner * and more transparent if the decompress filter were hidden under the * real stdio procedures. An extra call zfilter() is supplied to convert * an already-opened stream into a z-stream: see the example at the end * of this file. * * If a file opened by zfopen() was not compressed, the files contents are * still recovered correctly at the low expense of an extra procedure call * per byte. This makes the routines more generally usable - they can be * left in production programs which can be speeded up in the field by * compressing selected input files; also, files can be compressed or * not selectively depending on whether or not the compression makes them * smaller - code accessing the files does not need to know. * */ /* A zcat substitute to show consumer-driven decompression... */ int main(int argc, char **argv) { ZFILE *in; int i, c; if (argc == 1) { in = zfilter(stdin); for (c = zfgetc(in); c >= 0; putchar(c), c = zfgetc(in)) ; zfclose(in); } else if (argc > 1) { for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) { in = zfopen(argv[i], "r"); if (in != NULL) { for (c = zfgetc(in); c >= 0; putchar(c), c = zfgetc(in)) ; zfclose(in); } else { fprintf(stderr, "%s: cannot open %s\n", argv[0], argv[i]); } } } return(0); } --------------------------------- Received: from r7.cs.man.ac.uk (mucs-r7) by r1.cs.man.ac.uk; Sat, 10 Dec 88 15:17:35 GMT From: Mario Wolczko Message-Id: <3441.8812101517@r7.cs.man.ac.uk> Date: Sat,10 Dec 14:22:37 1988 To: info-tex@uk.ac.aston Cc: spqr@uk.ac.soton.cm Subject: PostScript metrics Sebastian, As "perpetrator" of the PSLATEX TFMs, maybe I should say something about how and why they were created. I started working on PSLaTeX about 9 months ago, and at the time could find no ready TFMs, only AFM->TFM convertors. I had two at the time: one (an awk script) by Greg Lee (Hawaii), and the other (in C) by Clayton Elwell. First, using C seemed like gross overkill; awk is an almost ideal tool for the task. Further, Clayton's program didn't produce a lot of information, and some of what it did produce was just plain wrong (I still think his non-unity quad is wrong). I heard that Clayton was improving his program, and tried to e-mail him, but never got a reply. So, I had two incomplete programs, and had to take a pick which to use as a starting point; I chose Greg Lee's. I decided immediately that I would stay with the PostScript font encodings, and modify the lplain file to match; I was going to have to modify lplain anyway (for the maths symbols). The whole idea was to be able to use any suitable family of PostScript fonts within LaTeX (Times, Palatino, and anything that might come along later), and they were all going to use the same Adobe encodings. Also, I didn't want to have to change the dvi2ps driver to do the conversion from TeX to Adobe encodings (I had to change it for another reason, but more on that later). I have never intended to produce "definitive" TFMs. There is some information in TFMs that simply cannot be derived from AFMs, and I realised quite soon that eventually a real typographer would have to tweak some of the values. Hence, I decided to have a reasonable try at converting AFM to TFM, but without being exhaustive. I have always assumed that sooner or later someone would produce the definitive TFMs, and as long as they use the Adobe encodings, they could be used with PSLaTeX immediately. So, after a lot of messing about, eventually I had a super-duper aftopl that did all that I thought was feasible (or at least, all that I thought was necessary for a first cut). It can be found on the Aston server in the PSLATEX directory, or I can send you a copy, if you're interested. Many things are not optimal. Several fonts (smallcaps, oblique, etc) have to be "synthesised" from existing fonts. This of course requires some PostScript trickery in the header file, so the driver does need a small amount of hacking. The kerning data for these fonts is basically little more than a guess based on the kerning data of the originals. The fontdimens that you mention in your message are guessed using plausible values from other fonts. To reply to some of your specific points: >a) Is it possible that the Palatino metrics have changed between >releases of PostScript? We have ~10 LaserWriters here, with interpreters from version 23 to version 48 (about), and all the internal tables are different! Not by much, (certainly not as much as the variety of fontdimens) but different nonetheless. I have derived some of my TFMs from the latest metrics I have access to in a LW+. >c) What do other people think about how the relationship between an >Adobe font layout and a TeX font layout should be managed? For PSLaTeX, the easiest way was to use Adobe encodings. Personally, I feel that PostSscript will live for a long time, and have my doubts as to the longevity of CMR outside of the AMS. Its only real advantage is the careful design given to the math fonts. Most publishers that I have spoken to hate CMR, especially when laser printed, any many books are now produced using camera-ready copy from laser printers. Not nice, maybe, but that's the way it is. Also, the commercial pressures to use PostScript fonts are increasing as its use becomes more widespread. Despite DEK's best efforts, METAFONT has been largely ignored. Hence, I would choose use the PS encodings on these grounds as well. The only problem occurs if you choose to mix CMR and Adobe fonts in the same document (which is dubious practice anyway). >d) Why do we have at least 4 sets of metrics for the same font floating >around? Do we want to agree on a common set? I am prepared to use any TFMs that are complete (ie have at least as much info as mine, and are available for the same fonts) and are widely accepted as well-tweaked. I haven't looked at any of the others you describe (I am, after all, supposed to be doing research on something completely unrelated), but am open to persuasion that one of them is the best. Mario Wolczko ______ Dept. of Computer Science Internet: mario@ux.cs.man.ac.uk /~ ~\ The University USENET: mcvax!ukc!man.cs.ux!mario ( __ ) Manchester M13 9PL JANET: mario@uk.ac.man.cs.ux `-': :`-' U.K. Tel: +44-61-275 6146 (FAX: 6280) ____; ;_____________the mushroom project____________________________________ --------------------------------- Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 4873; Sat, 10 Dec 88 00:41:56 GM Received: from IRLEARN.BITNET by UKACRL.BITNET (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 9625; Sat, 10 Dec 88 00:41:55 G Received: by IRLEARN (Mailer X1.24) id 9106; Sat, 10 Dec 88 00:39:43 GMT Date: Fri, 9 Dec 88 00:22:00 PST Reply-To: Don Hosek Sender: TeXMaG - Magazine for TeX Enthusiasts Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was TEXMAG-L@DEARN From: Don Hosek Subject: TeXMaG V2N6 to appear soon... To: Peter Abbott TeXMaG V2N6 will be out by the end of next week. I am not dead. --------------------------------- Date: 9-DEC-1988 15:24:42 GMT From: CHAA006@UK.AC.RHBNC.VAXB To: Info-TeX@UK.AC.ASTON Subject: Copyright material in the Aston archive. Sender: JANET"CHAA006@UK.AC.RHBNC.VAXB" Message-Id: <222033C2_000A31A4.0091D14F735DE500$24_1@UK.AC.RHBNC.VAXB> Originally-to: $UK-TEX Originally-from:CHAA006 "Philip Taylor (RHBNC) " Mailer: Janet_Mailshr V3.2 (27-Oct-1988) On a couple of occasions in the past, I've discovered copyright material that has been accidentally or deliberately lodged in the Aston TeX archive, and have had to ask Peter to delete it. I have now discovered that several (if not all) of the .EXE files in DISK$COMPSER:[PUBLIC.TEXVMS.TEX.EXE] are derived from copyright sources and/or change-files. Rather than quietly asking Peter to delete these as well, I feel that is better to bring the matter out into the open, and to ask {\it all\/} U.K. TeX sites to ensure that the software which they run is not subject to copyright restrictions for which they do not hold an appropriate licence. Companies like (the late, lamented) Kellerman & Smith charge a very reasonable fee for the effort which they put into producing operating-system specific implementations of TeXware and MFware; surely it is not unreasonable for the U.K. academic community to play the game, and not to place such implementations effectively into the public domain, thereby depriving the developers of much-needed income with which to fund the further developments of their implementations ? ** Phil. --------------------------------- From: Tim Bradshaw Date: Fri, 9 Dec 88 09:54:34 GMT Message-Id: <4067.8812090954@ms.maths.soton.ac.uk> To: info-tex@uk.ac.aston Subject: Tables and LaTeX This must be a question which has been asked many times before, but ... are there any macros around which enable LaTeX to handle multi-page tables easily? I would like something that will allow repeated heading on subsequent pages, and handle page breaks elegantly (or at all). Failing that, does anyone have macros that do this sort of thing for plain TeX, which I could take as a starting point for developing such a package for LaTeX? - ---Tim Bradshaw +++Editor - The files [public.score.texhax]taj.txh and [public.clarkson]supertab.sty contain just what you need. I have used an older version and sometimes it breaks with an error but we can usually overcome those. I have not tried the latest version but it does allow for repeated headings. +++ --------------------------------- Received: from robin.cs.nott.ac.uk by much.Cs.Nott.AC.UK id aa16039; 13 Dec 88 9:30 GMT Received: from clan by Robin.Cs.Nott.AC.UK id aa17480; 13 Dec 88 9:22 GMT Date: Tue, 13 Dec 88 9:28:56 GMT From: David Osborne To: UKTeX cc: Peter Ilieve Subject: TUG and credit cards Message-ID: <8812130128.aa01422@clan.nott.ac.uk> in issue 41, Peter Ilieve writes: > In #40 Dave Osbourne was enthusing about paying for TUG things by quoting his > credit card number in an email message. > > Before anyone else does this I would urge them to consider how porous the > email system is. How many machines, about which you know nothing at all, > will your message go through? hmm, i take your point, Peter. my main concern was to receive an acknowledgement from the TUG office that the mail had arrived ok. i guess i'm just a trusting soul. i'll look out for unexpected US$ deductions on my next bill (i always suspected that *someone* had to pay for all this transatlantic mail traffic... it might be me!) dave osborne cripps computing centre university of nottingham. --------------------------------- Received: from seed.ams.com by NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK via Satnet with SMTP id aa05256; 13 Dec 88 14:57 GMT Date: Tue 13 Dec 88 10:06:53-EST From: b beeton Subject: mode_defs To: mcvax!ed.ac.uk!G.Toal@net.uu.uunet cc: info-tex , dlatex , bnb@com.ams.seed Message-ID: <12454102246.18.BNB@SEED.AMS.COM> doug henderson, of the university of california, berkeley, implementor of pcmf and metafont coordinator for tug, is collecting mode_defs, though i don't know whether he has the one you're looking for. he has written a most eloquent plea for more mode_defs and assistance in testing them, which appears in the latest tugboat (9#3). i've already forwarded graham's note to doug, suggesting that they might cut a wider swath by cooperating and pooling resources. doug's address on the u.s. bitnet is DLATEX@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU. -- bb - ------- --------------------------------- Received: from munnari by kestrel.Ukc.AC.UK with UUCP id aa09498; 14 Dec 88 2:41 GMT Received: from g.ua.oz (via mimir) by munnari.oz with SunIII (5.5) id AA05328; Wed, 14 Dec 88 13:05:16 EST (from ATREVORROW@g.ua.oz for @ukc.uucp:abbottp@aston.ac.uk) From: ATREVORROW@au.oz.ua.g Received: from g.ua.oz by sirius.ua.oz (4.0/UCS(3.0MX)) id AA08633; Wed, 14 Dec 88 12:07:34 CST Date: Wed, 14 Dec 88 12:06 CST To: abbottp@uk.ac.aston X-Vms-To: GATEWAY::"abbottp@aston.ac.uk" Sender: ATREVORROW%au.oz.ua.g@oz.munnari Subject: bug in all versions of DVItoVDU and PSPRINT Niel Kempson has found a bug lurking in all versions of DVItoVDU and PSPRINT, including the recently completed Pyramid Pascal versions. The bug occurs in the FixToDVI routine (in the FontReader module) and only rears its ugly head if a font has a scaled size >= 128pt. (FixToDVI is called ConvertTFMWidth in versions < 2.0). Here is a correct Modula-2 version of FixToDVI (in fontreade.mod): PROCEDURE FixToDVI (b0, b1, b2, b3 : CARDINAL) : INTEGER; (* Convert the given fixword (made up of 4 bytes) into DVI units using the method recommended in DVITYPE. *) VAR alpha, beta, s : CARDINAL; temp : INTEGER; BEGIN s := currfont^.scaledsize; (* so we don't change scaledsize! *) alpha := 16 * s; beta := 16; WHILE s >= 40000000B DO (* 2^23sp = 128pt *) s := s DIV 2; beta := beta DIV 2; END; temp := (((((b3 * s) DIV 400B) + (b2 * s)) DIV 400B) + (b1 * s)) DIV beta; ... etc ... If you are using the Pyramid Pascal versions you need to make a similar change to the FixToDVI routine in fontreader.p. The reward for the next bug found has been doubled to \$\char48. Andrew Trevorrow (ACSnet: atrevorrow@g.ua.oz) --------------------------------- Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 4826; Thu, 15 Dec 88 08:43:01 GM X-Delivery-Notice: SMTP MAIL FROM does not correspond to sender. Received: from TWNMOE10.BITNET (MAILER) by UKACRL.BITNET (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 1938; Thu, 15 Dec 88 08:43:00 G Received: by TWNMOE10 (Mailer X1.25) id 7967; Thu, 15 Dec 88 16:43:22 CST Date: Thu, 15 Dec 88 16:38:14 CST From: Jough-Tai Wang Subject: Searching for the DVICAN driver To: abbottp@UK.AC.ASTON Dear friends: I am searching for a DVICAN laser driver program for my laser printer, which is going to be connected to the PC-DOS OS. I knew that your University has one. Can you send me one , or tell me hoe to access to the public domain files ? Thanks a lot. And wish you have a merry Christmas and happy new year. Sincerely, Jough-Tai Wang Associate Professor National Central University, Taiwan, ROC +++Editor - I have already sent details of the help file on the mail server+++ --------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Dec 88 09:34:26 GMT From: Dr. Colin V Stephens 051-653-8633 To: INFO-TEX@UK.AC.ASTON Message-ID: <15 Dec 88 09:34:31 GMT #1112@UK.AC.NBI.IA> Hello. I'm currently evaluating TeX for possible future use in NERC. Could you mail me any interesting info you have about it please - opinions would be welcome! Also, could I go on the mailing list please? Thanks, Colin Stephens. +++Editor - Details of mail server sent. +++ --------------------------------- !! !! 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