Bryan@SIERRA.STANFORD.EDU (Doug Bryan) (11/14/86)
I would like to thank everyone who responded to my request for
information about TeX/dvi previewers for Sun-3 workstations. In
short, there are a number of good previewers out there. The
following is a summary of the responses I received.
doug
====================
Full-Name: John A. Scott
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 86 12:34:24 EDT
From: scott@mitre-gateway.arpa
I have a dvi previewer that runs in sunwindows. If you have TeX you
probably already have the fonts it needs. Let me know if you want it
and I mail the source to you.
--John <scott@mitre-gateway>
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Date: Thu, 23 Oct 86 16:07:47 EDT
From: brisco@toccata.rutgers.edu (Thomas Paul Brisco (Tp))
You may get this one suggested to you about a thousand times,
but whatever --
An *excellent* previewer that we use on Sun2 && Sun3
workstations is jwm@renoir.berkeley.edu 's `dvitool' (v1.0). The
current version is 2.0 but is still under testing, request the 1.0
(if you have problems getting it, let me know and I will bundle it
and send it to you).
What it actually does is map the dvi file to a window under
suntools using 118 dpi fonts (in the TeX distribution). It is
reasonably fast, and looks *very spiffy*. The actual size of the
document on your screen is about 1.5 -> 2.0 times the size of the
printed document, but it is (relationally) correct. Lines and such
are handled perfectly, some of the characters are a bit rough around
the edges ... (but hey! Whatya want for free?) ...
I highly recommend it here, we run in it on 40 - 50 suns with
only minimal problems.
tp.
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- ARPA: Brisco@rutgers -
- UUCP: (ihnp4!ut-sally, allegra!packard) !caip!brisco -
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Date: Thu, 23 Oct 86 19:20:46 PDT
From: defron%violet.Berkeley.EDU@BERKELEY.EDU (Daniel Efron)
Doug,
I have such a previewer (dvitool) which runs under suntools.
It's fairly decent, but I'm not sure if it's public domain or what.
But I'll set you on to someone here at Berkeley who can help you
(maybe).
His address is: john@renoir.berkeley.edu
--Dan Efron
defron@violet
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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 86 09:40:35 PDT
From: berry@s1-solaria.arpa
Berkeley has one called dvitool that is pretty neat; you can get it
by anonymous ftp to ucbarpa; cd to the pub directory and get
dvitool2.0.shar. There is a README that explains what to do from
there. They say it's a beta-test version.
--berry
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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 86 18:27:50 PDT
From: jwm@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (Jeff Mc Carrell)
dvitool is part of the VorTeX (Visually Oriented TeX)
distribution. The vortex distribution is not public domain; there is
a licensing agreement and a small fee ($500 for corporations, $100
for everyone else). The official contact point is:
dist-vortex@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
Send that address a request. They'll send you the licensing
agreement and after you sign and return it, you get a tape. This is
not a brief process.
As we speak (sic) dvitool version 2.0 is in beta-test. version
2.0 is radically different from the distribution version (1.1);
however, there is no documentation and I have little time for
hand-holding. Using the program is fairly straight-forward, though.
What I'm trying to say is that I'd be willing to let you have a
beta-test version if you are willing to be a guinea pig and to
guarantee that the code won't be distributed any further than you.
What I'd like is for you to set it up (presumably on a file-server or
servers) at Stanford and field bug reports etc. There have been very
few bug reports to date. Also, presumably you'd concurrently begin
to get the official distribution.
Hmm. After writing this, I'm not at all sure it's actually worth
the effort. Unfortunately, I cannot simply put it somewhere for you
to ftp -- and it's not clear that the alternatives are attractive.
So I'm throwing it all back in your lap; if you want to pursue
something along these lines, let me know.
jeff
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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 86 19:06:49 PDT
From: jwm@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (Jeff Mc Carrell)
yes, 2.0 is miles better than 1.1. there are too many features to
list (I'm late for dinner) right now, but you want 2.0. I'll be in
tomorrow (sat) so presumably we can do it then.
jefgf
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Date: Sun, 26 Oct 86 12:01:44 -0500
From: Comfy chair <ken@rochester.arpa>
You probably have had several replies on this but...
The Unix TeX tape has a previewer. I haven't used that one.
The Vortex group at Berkeley had a very good previewer to run under
Suntools.
The X windows distribution has a DVI previewer.
Most (probably all) TeX previewers start from the DVI file.
Ken
Herewith the Vortex announcement of a while back. I heard a new tape
is available.
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Date: Thu, 17 Oct 85 11:43:41 PDT
To: unix-tex@washington.arpa
From: phc@ucbrenoir.Berkeley.EDU (Peehong Chen)
Subject: Announcement from Berkeley VorTeX group
Announcements from Berkeley
The Berkeley VorTeX project now has a new distribution of their work
ready for public release. It consists of a tape containing a number
of programs which greatly facilitate using TeX and related systems
for high quality document preparation. Here is an overview of the
major subsystems:
1. ``dvitool'' is a previewer for DVI files which runs on the SUN
workstation. This system is very robust, handles arbitrary DVI
files, and provides a great many features. It is a full tool in the
sense of the SUN window system and can be adjusted to any size the
user finds appropriate. It is possible to keep a small window on the
screen for previewing at the same time a source window is present.
This is extremely valuable in debugging. Changing the view you have
of a page is instantaneous.
2. ``texdvi'' is a program that runs TeX and previews the results
using ``dvitool.'' If the tool does not exist it is started, if the
tool exists it is opened and the file is read into it automatically.
``latexdvi'' and ``slitexdvi'' are similar systems for LaTeX and
SliTeX respectively. This is actually one program and would work
with your own version of ``FooTeX'' as well (by linking ``texdvi'' to
``foodvi'', for example).
3. ``pxtool'' is a SUN-based font editor for PXL files. It is
similar in spirit to ``icontool'' or ``fonttool''. A graphics window
is available and an image of the font is shown with the pixels
depicted on the screen. Using the mouse, one is able to edit pixels.
There is also a ``show mode'' in which the finished character is
displayed on the screen. This tool is very useful for creating and
editing fonts.
4. FONTS: A rather complete set of fonts is available for TeX and
LaTeX in the sizes needed for the previewer (note that SliTeX fonts
are not included in this distribution.) These are regularly in use
at Berkeley and rarely have people run into missing font problems
(``dvitool'' responds gracefully to missing fonts.) These fonts,
mostly supplied by the UNIX TeX distribution at the University of
Washington, are somewhat bit-tuned using ``pxtool'' for the SUN
screen.
5. ``bibtex.ml'' is a very large macro package for Gosling Emacs that
greatly facilitates the preparation of ``.bib'' files for document
preparation. This is intended for use with LaTeX and BibTeX. The
user selects the type of reference intended such as an article and
the program provides fields to be filled in, copies fields from
previous entries, provides various kinds of checking and assists you
in other ways. One particularly useful option is preparing a draft
bibliography which includes numerical references, symbolic references
and a formatted version of the entries. Another of the options
allows previewing on the SUN or printing on any of your local
printers. This particular system is not SUN specific although it
does interface nicely with ``dvitool'' mentioned above. A companion
program ``texbib.ml'' can be used as a bibliography preprocessor for
TeX documents under Emacs. These programs are expected to be ported
to GNU Emacs in the near future.
If you are interested in the this distribution, please write to:
Professor Michael A. Harrison
Re: VorTeX Distribution
Computer Science Division
571 Evans Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
or through the net, to: vortex@berkeley.arpa.
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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 86 11:48:17 CDT
From: "Steven M. Miller" <steve%umn-duluth.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
TeX previewers for suns.
VorTeX from Berkeley is inexpensive and works.
TeXtsets previewer is great.
If you need info on how who to contact reply and I'll dig up it out
of my files.
-Steve
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Date: Thu, 23 Oct 86 22:00:27 EDT
From: Barry Shein <bzs@BU-CS.BU.EDU>
This is a version of dvisun I hacked up to use the mouse and suntools
(the original only worked from outside of suntools.) It uses standard
.tfm files and the pxl (font) files for the BBN BitGraph terminal
which was on the TeX distribution tape (they're files like
amr10.590pxl, somewhere down there like =tools, look around, you'll
find them, then set the path in the Makefile, there are instructions
contained within.)
-Barry Shein, Boston University
[ Barry was good enough to send me source code, but since it
has already been posted to some of these lists, I have not
included it here. db ]
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From: Neil Bodick <Bodick@cis.upenn.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 86 09:09 EST
The Sun Catalyst Winter 1986 third party vendor catalog lists
a product called TeX Preview from a company called Textset, Inc. The
address is:
Textset, Inc.
416 Fourth Street
P. O. Box 7993
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
(313) 996-3566
Bruce Baker
If you don't have a copy of the Catalyst catalog, you should
get one from your Sun vendor. I believe they're free.
I have no knowledge of the price or performace of this
product, but I am interested in using the Sun for typesetting. So,
if you reach any conclusions, I'm interested in how you reached your
decision. Good luck.
Andre Marquis
bodick@cis.penn.edu (ARPANET)
Let's try that again/
bodick@cis.upenn.edu (ARPANET)
bodick@upenn (CSNET)
---------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 86 16:56:25 PST
From: Don Gardner <gardner@gryphon.stanford.edu>
We were trying to make a previewer for the microVAX for postscript,
but we ran into lots of difficulties with the xfonts. If you are
interested in what was actually created, it is on one on our
microVAXes; it was made by Stuart Marks who is now at DEC
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Date: Sat, 1 Nov 86 17:52:27 pst
From: elroy!smeagol!earle@csvax.caltech.edu (Greg Earle)
The Unix TeX distribution, available from Washington, has a DVI
previewer for the Sun-3 available via anonymous FTP. To get it, ftp
to WASHINGTON.ARPA, and the file is contained in <TEX.XFER>DVISUN.TAR
(TOPS-20 style directories). Then, you can contact lln-cs!yl (not
sure if this machine is on the ARPAnet), who made changes to it to
support the SunView interface under Sun OS 3.x. He called the final
result `texview' but the program is basically the same as `dvisun'.
If you have the Unix TeX distribution you can contact the VorTeX
people at Berkeley (I think it's dist-vortex@ucbarpa) and they'll
send you literature on their VorTeX distribution which is a set of
programs for use with TeX that run on Suns; this includes a previewer
of course, plus other tools.
There is also a troff previewer available, but you didn't mention
troff so I'll assume you don't care about that.
As far as PostScript goes, I think you'll have to wait for Sun OS 4.0
when Gosling's SunDEW/NeWS (take your pick) whizbango window system
becomes available. The preliminary brochure Sun just distributed has
a page where a display is shown, and there is a PostScript previewer
running in it.
--
Greg Earle UUCP: sdcrdcf!smeagol!earle; attmail!earle
JPL ARPA: elroy!smeagol!earle@csvax.caltech.edu
smeagol!earle@usc-oberon.usc.edu
AT&T: +1 818 354 0876
Do you guys know we just passed thru a BLACK HOLE in space?
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From: jim%computer-science.strathclyde.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK
Full-Name: Jim Reid
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 86 09:43:07 GMT
I have two TeX previewers for SUN workstations. One was posted to the
net a few months ago and the other was developed at the Turing
Institute next door to us. The former uses the full SUN screen and
the TI one works in a window (with scroll bars?).
I've not used them yet - I've not even had time to install TeX yet -
but I do know the TI previewer works on a SUN3. I've seen it in
action and it is very nice.
Let me know if you want them. I expect your mailbox will be bursting
with previewers...
Jim
ARPA: jim%cs.strath.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa, jim@cs.strath.ac.uk
UUCP: jim@strath-cs.uucp, ...!seismo!mcvax!ukc!strath-cs!jim
JANET: jim@uk.ac.strath.cs
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Date: Wed 29 Oct 86 12:25:07-PST
From: Maurice J. Wuts <WUTS@USC-ECLC.ARPA>
I have a program that will preview DVI files on the Sun under
suntools. You are welcomed to it without support. There are at
least two others out there, one of them was posted on one of the news
groups.
Maurice
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Date: Tue, 4 Nov 86 11:25:55 EST
From: Root Boy Jim <rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
Try anonymous FTP to `sally.utexas.edu'.
(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell <rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
I had pancake makeup for brunch!
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Date: Thu, 6 Nov 86 02:48:30 EST
From: der Mouse
<mosart!mcgill-vision!mouse%think.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU>
I wrote a program to display TeX .dvi file output on a Sun-3. You
need an auxiliary program I wrote to convert the fonts from .pxl
format to an information file and a vfont-format font. This was
finished just recently, so the UNIX-TeX people don't know about it
yet. Mail me if interested.
der Mouse
USA: {ihnp4,decvax,akgua,utzoo,etc}!utcsri!mcgill-vision!mouse
think!mosart!mcgill-vision!mouse
Europe: mcvax!decvax!utcsri!mcgill-vision!mouse
ARPAnet: think!mosart!mcgill-vision!mouse@harvard.harvard.edu
Aren't you glad you don't shave with Occam's Razor?
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Date: Wed, 29 Oct 86 14:51:30 PST
From: wuts%altair.usc.edu@usc-oberon.ARPA (Maurice Wuts)
Message-Id: <8610292251.AA10001@altair.usc.edu>
Subject: dvisuntool
[ Maurice was also good enough to send me source code. It
has not been included here in an effort to keep this
message below 1mb. db ]