CUNNINGHAMR%HAW.SDSCNET@LLL-MFE.ARPA (07/15/86)
Some notes on the Kellerman & Smith distribution of TeX for VMS.
The latest distribution (dated May 1986) is TeX 2.0.1 for VAX/VMS.
(We'd been running 1.3.2.)
In the installation guide...
The example installation keeps referring to SYS$SYSDISK. That may be a
quasi-standard name for the system disk at some installations, but it's not a
VMS standard, and many sites don't so define their system disk. Using
SYS$SYSDEVICE instead should work nearly everywhere.
After ``Step 3.'', copying the executable files to the system command
directory, most or all of those same executables should be set public execute
(SET FILE/PROT=W:E).
In ``Step 7.'', adding TEX.HLP to the system help library, there should be a
caution that this should be done when there are no users on the system. If
someone is accessing the system help library while the update occurs, it is
possible that the system file can be scrambled (most VMS system administrators
know this, but mentioning it never hurts). Incidentally, all the rest of the
installation can be done with users on the system---as long as the various TeX
programs are not in use.
``Step 10'', setting up font raster files, is a bit obscure, particularly down
where it says ``If your interface software expects raster files in the old PXL
format...''. It would be very nice if K&S provided a brief (even if
incomplete) list of the devices they know of which do and don't need the PXL
files. At a minimum, I would have liked to have had a precise indication of
what the Imagen printers required (K&S should know, they wrote the IMPrint
software for Imagen).
About the distribution in general...
Most of the file permissions that came along with the installation make
sense, except for various sub-directories that are W:RWED. I found it simplest
just to make all directories & files W:RE instead:
$ SET DEFAULT [TEX]
$ SET FILE/PROT=W:RE [...]
About the distributed fonts...
K&S kindly provide raster files for three classes of laser printers: the 240dpi
old Canon LBP-10 wet toner printer; the current Canon LBP-CX engine; and XP-24
type (Ricoh and Xerox engines).
Unfortunately, the ones we needed were the XP-24 type GF (in the QMS_FONTS
sub-directory) files, only supplied in the current version of the distribution
in the default (1500) magnification (\magstep1), while the other two font sets
are for the complete range of magnifications.
Thus, I had to:
$ SUBMIT [TEX.QMS_FONTS]BUILD
(and: add a ``DEFINE SYS$TEX yoursystemdisk'' at the beginning of that command
file first) in order to build the complete set of GF fonts. This batch job
takes several days on a VAX-11/750.
Then, because our printers are Imagen 12/300 printers which apparently require
the .PXL files, have to build those by doing:
$ SET DEFAULT [TEX]
$ @PIXELS [QMS_FONTS]
Which, fortunately, only takes an hour or so.
Indicating where to find the .PXL files to a printer takes a little creativity.
For our Imagen 12/300, I simply modified the IMPRINT.FMT file as follows:
.... font_directory=(imp_fonts:,tex_fonts:,qms_fonts:),
where the `,qms_fonts:' new. Then I added another system definition:
DEFINE/SYSTEM QMS_FONTS SYS$SYSDEVICE:[TEX.QMS_FONTS]
An alternative (if you only use one brand of laser printer) is to move all
of the [QMS_FONTS.1500] and similar sub-directories completely over to
[TEX.FONTS].
Note that some of the style files (and, alas, some of our users) still want
to use the old AM-type fonts. I finessed that problem by copying all the
AM*.TFM files over into [TEX.FONTS] and the AM*.PXL files over in to the
corresponding [...1500] directories together with the new CM-type fonts.
On DVITOVDU ...
It's nice to have a screen-based .DVI file previewer. Unfortunately, the
VT100/VT200 mode is about as I expected: disappointing. A bit disconcerting
is the tendency of the program to pop back to the default window size every
page (I find myself settling on previewing about 1/2 a page at a time on most
terminals). The Regis mode is nice.
There is---unfortunately---no option to preview on a vanilla Tektronix-type
terminal/emulator, of which we have a decent number, only the VIS model
terminals which need to be able to simultaneously show Tektronix graphics and
VT100-type text.
Also DVITOVDU likes to eat a lot of cpu time (not entirely unexpected,
considering what it has to do though).
Bob Cunningham
cunninghamr%haw.sdscnet@LLL-MFE.ARPA