TeXhax@Score.Stanford.EDU (TeXhax Digest) (06/29/88)
TeXhax Digest Tuesday, June 28, 1988 Volume 88 : Issue 59
Moderator: Malcolm Brown
Today's Topics:
Re: TeXhax Digest V88
Verbatim and alltt
BibTeX for CMS
Three Column Style for LaTeX
GFtoPXL on CMS
New BiBTeX Styles
Any trip tested versions of TeX running under Xenix
Dview Dvi previewer
TeX for a PC without hard disk
TeX88 European Conference and Courses --- LAST CHANCE!!
BUG in TeX
Metafont problems in VMS
I got the LaTeX blues. . . .
TeX on VAX under VMS
Re: TeXhax Digest V88 #56 (LaTeX notes)
Mirror-image fonts
Hyphenation
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Date: Thu, 16 Jun 88 00:19 EDT
From: <IA0%PSUVM.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Re: TeXhax Digest V88
PiCTeX Problems:
1) Why do plot, put, and rule each have a wrong and different x-coordinate?
The axes and labels come out fine, but not the data.
2) Has anyone developed error-bar plotting macros, which take the central
position and the errors and plot a the data and errors?
3) How can I get a manual?
reply if possible via internet to dph@astro.psu.edu. (David Huenemoerder)
------------------------------
Date: 16-JUN-1988 09:14:47 GMT
From: ABBOTTP%aston.ac.uk@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK
To: TEXHAX <@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK:TEXHAX@score.stanford.edu>
Subject: Verbatim and alltt
When using verbatim the system runs out of space on my PC.
When using alltt the problem goes away except that I have \ characters in
the text and do not wish to edit it.
Has anyone produced an `allverbatim' style i.e. works like verbatim but
does not run out of space.
Peter
Computing Service JANET abbottp@uk.ac.aston
Aston University ARPA pabbott@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Aston Triangle or abbottp%uk.ac.aston@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Birmingham B4 7ET UUCP ...!ukc!aston!abbottp
U.K. BITNET abbottp%uk.ac.aston@ac.uk
Tel (+44) 21 359 5492
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 88 08:37:54 PLT
From: Dean Guenther <GUENTHER%WSUVM1.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: BibTeX for CMS
The CMS changes file for BibTeX 0.99 is now available. You can FTP it
and all the rest of the BibTeX files (be sure to get them all) from
<TEX.BIBTEX> on SCORE.STANFORD.EDU. The new 0.99 files will also be on
the next CMS distribution tape, whenever I can get to cutting one
that is.
Dean Guenther
TeX IBM VM/CMS Site Coordinator
Washington State University
Pullman, Wa.
99164-1220
phone: 509-335-0411
BITnet: GUENTHER@WSUVM1
------------------------------
Date: 16-JUN-1988 17:18:23 GMT
From: ABBOTTP%aston.ac.uk@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK
Subject: Three Column Style for LaTeX
I have just acquired the triple column format viz:
% ********************************************************
% This is the triple column format. *
% Tomas Rokicki, 29 September 1984 *
% ********************************************************
This alters the output routine and when using with LaTeX I then get the
following.
.........
\vmargins=\dimen105
\leftcolumn=\box25
\middlecolumn=\box26
) (C:\TEX\TEMP.AUX)
! Undefined control sequence.
<argument> \pagebody
\leftline #1->\@@line {#1
\hss }
<output> ...lobal \setbox \leftcolumn =\columnbox
\global \let \lmr =M \else...
<to be read again>
\unhbox
\leavevmode ->\unhbox
......
Is there a LaTeX equivalent for triple column output.
Peter
Computing Service JANET abbottp@uk.ac.aston
Aston University ARPA pabbott@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Aston Triangle or abbottp%uk.ac.aston@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Birmingham B4 7ET UUCP ...!ukc!aston!abbottp
U.K. BITNET abbottp%uk.ac.aston@ac.uk
Tel (+44) 21 359 5492
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 88 12:33:42 CDT
From: Don Hosek <U33297%UICVM.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: GFtoPXL on CMS
A brief quote from GFtoPXL CMS-CHAN:
> Important remark: in large parts of the TeX community, there is a
> belief that a PXL file must always consist of exactly 128 characters.
> There are even driver programs that try to find the pxl directory at
> exactly 128*4+5 words from the end of the pxl file. This belief is
> wrong. The last but one word of the pxl file is the pointer to the
> beginning of the directory, so it is easy to calculate the number
> of characters that are defined. This change file allows GFtoPXL to
> convert up to 256 characters, and the resulting directory is as
> small as possible.
I discovered this little comment to be false recently while working on
a CMS Change file for PXtoPK; to quote the documentation on the PXL format:
>The Font Directory follows, occupying a fixed position with respect to the
>end of the file (in words 517 through 6 from this end), and assigns 4
>words for each of the potential 128 different glyphs that could be
>contained in this particular font in the order of their assending ascii
>values (not in the order that the glyphs appear in the raster section,
>which may be entirely arbitrary). This means that the first four words are
>for the ascii zero glyph. All four words reserved for any missing glyphs
>are set to zero.
and later,
>@ When we get to this section we have all of the esential information
>needed to write the |4*max_glyph_no| words of the font directory and the
>last five words of the |pxl_file|.
I think that this makes it rather clear that the PXL format requires a
pointer for *every* character code from 0 to max_glyph_no (127 for
standard PXL files); the current CMS-CHAN for GFtoPXL stops writing the
glyph directory after writing the pointer for the character with the
highest ASCII code. In most fonts this is 127, so there is no problem,
but in the logo* fonts, the glyph pointer ends after character 84 ('T')
causing the font to be rejected by PXtoPK.
I am changing the CMS-CHAN for GFtoPXL to conform to the documented
format for PXL files and forwarding the result to Dean Guenther. As for
those individuals who choose to modify the PXL format for their own use,
they should change the PXL id byte or some such to indicate the change.
Better yet, use PK files. They're *much* better.
-dh
------------------------------
From: toms@ncifcrf.gov
Subject: New BiBTeX Styles
Is there an easy way to find out if the files available by ftp in
Rochester contain one that does what I want? Do I really have to
wade through gobs of stuff on a foreign computer to find it? Why do
we need 500 styles? Since shapiro-btxbst-0.98.doc doesn't do quite what
I need, will I be forced to write my own TeX code even
though I'm a beginner? What about all those beginners out there who
would never even consider writing code and will hate LaTeX because of this?
This is a dishonerable state of affairs for such a fancy type setting system.
A better solution is needed.
One solution is to have a bunch of nice neatly packaged switches, that
can be flipped inside the document itself:
reference
inline / superscripts / author-year / author-year fused (etc)
brackets / parenthesis (etc)
alphabetization of bibliography
unalphabetized/alphabetized listing
order of author namess
first last / last, first
position of year
titles / no titles (I had to write a program
to do this!!!)
boldface / not bold volume number
The list could go on. perhaps the question of order would be better
addressed by the order of requests. A single function that did
this might look like:
\bibform{ last, first, (year) journal {\em bf}, page-page. }
(This is the form I need, by the way---do you know if it exists?)
Since I didn't put 'title' in the list, it wouldn't put the title
EXCEPT for books (which must always have a title of course).
The punctuation would be as given in the bibform, so if I wanted brackets
around my year I'd simply:
\bibform{ last first, [year] journal {\em bf}, page-page. }
The citations would be defined by something like:
\citeform{(\superscript)}
Wouldn't it be nice to simply say these simple lines IN YOUR TeX FILE?
Are there any TeXhackers out there who could do this?
Tom Schneider
National Cancer Institute
Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
Frederick, Maryland
toms@ncifcrf.gov
------------------------------
From: munnari!munmurra.oz.au!alw@uunet.UU.NET (Alex Warman)
Subject: Any trip tested versions of TeX running under Xenix
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 88 19:56:26 +1000
I would appreciate details of any implementations of TeX running on
Xenix; must be properly trip tested of course. Is it in Pascal or C?
Is it public domain or for money, and from whom?
thanks,
Alex
Alex Warman ACSnet: alw@munmurra.mu.oz
TeXworks, Pty Ltd Internet: alw@munmurra.mu.oz.au
157 Danks Street UUCP: uunet!munmurra.mu.oz!alw
Melbourne, Victoria, 3206 BITNET: alw%munmurra.mu.oz@uunet.uu.net
Australia
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 01:25 CDT
From: Daniel Keizer <BUSU%Uofmcc.Bitnet@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Dview Dvi previewer
I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but I can't recall
it on TeXhax before, so ... there is a public domain dvi viewer for
the pc supporting CGA,EGA and a Toshiba I believe. It comes with an
example and enough PXL files (6 or7 i believe) to run the sample.
It is rather good (at least to me as this is the first previewer I
have used). I found it by doing a dir on the files on the simtel20
fileserver through rpicicge. The file is as such:
PD:<MSDOS.TEX>DVIEW.ARC
and the HP2TEX font converter is there as:
PD:<MSDOS.TEX>HP2TEX.ARC
To get them from BITNET, send mail to
LISTSERV@RPICICGE with the /PDGET PD:<MSDOS.TEX>xxx.yyy
I specified ( UUENCODE after the filename as I have problems receiving
straight binary files on this node.
I am not sure of the whereabouts for the source for dview, but
I think it might be around somewhere.
All I need to do now is load some fonts down from our VAX. Anyone
have a straight-forward way to download them? I tried with kermit and
also turned the FILE TYPE BINARY on, and it won't work (Kermit 3.3.111)
Do I have to convert them on the VAX before I can download them?, or
what am I missing here? (I sure hope that we have the proper fonts for
the use of this DVIEWER).
BTW: With all this hoopla re: ctex and tex-in-c etc. I downloaded
my copy of CTEX from the mainframe to my pc and tried to get it working
... no go on MS DOS. COmpiles OK, Links OK (so it seems), the INITEX
file is 270K+ but DOS says it's too big to fit in memory (I have 640,
540+ useable thereabouts). Did I have tochange some constant first,
or what?
I have seen requests go by for people asking the whereabouts and
availability of these TeX programs, but I have not seen too much.
Could it be possible to list the whereabouts of these programs and the
possibilities or receiving them to this BITNET node? Is it possible to
list such things as a post-amble to the digest?
Just some ideas ...
Cheers
Dan.
------------------------------
Subject: TeX for a PC without hard disk
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 08:48:20 +0100
From: Steve Kille <steve@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK>
I have a PC (Toshiba), with two 720k floppies, and would like to use laTeX
on it. Following assumptions:
- I will be able to trim down the number of style files to a fairly
small number
- High quality output will be made elsewhere. This is for document
development only. Even dvidoc style output would be OK.
- Need to print on a simple (Epson) printer
Some experiments with PCTeX (which says that it needs a hard disk) have been
close enough to suggest that it could be made to work. Has anyone managed
to make one of the TeXs (public or commercial) work in this environment?
Steve
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 13:03:31 BST
From: BOOTH.CM%EXETER.AC.UK@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
Subject: TeX88 European Conference and Courses --- LAST CHANCE!!
TeX88 European Conference and Courses at Exeter University (England) in July
Hopefully all you TeXites will by now be fully conversant with this fine event.
In case any of you have been in darkest Africa, in hibernation, or otherwise
slipped through the net, this note serves as a timely reminder.
The Conference is from 18th to 20th July, and includes papers on a wide range
of topics, with contributors from America as well as most parts of Europe.
There are also various social events to complement the pursuit of knowledge.
The cost of the conference is 210 pounds sterling, including accommodation.
For non-residents the fee is 120 pounds sterling.
A varied range of courses and workshops are also on offer immediately before
and after the conference. These comprise:
16th and 17th July: Beginning Non-Technical TeX
Beginning Metafont
Design of Documents
21st and 22nd July: Beginning LaTeX
TeX Macro Writing
Hitch Hacker's Guide to LaTeX Style Files
Each course and workshop costs 125 pounds sterling (residential)
or 65 pounds sterling (non-residential)
There's less than a month till the start of the conference and courses,
so if you haven't yet registered (tut tut) then you should do so NOW!
Contact Malcolm Clark in London using one of the addresses below.
If you use email, and don't get a reply within a few days, it may be that
his mailer has sent the message into a black hole, which happens occasionally.
If so, I'd suggest resending the email, or contacting him by other means.
Details as follows:
Malcolm Clark Janet: TEXLINE@UK.AC.IMPERIAL.CC.VAXA
Imperial College Computer Centre Telephone: 01 589 5111 extension 4949
Exhibition Road Telefax: 01 584 7596
London SW7 2BP Telex: 929484 Impcol G
U.K.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1988 09:39 EDT
From: Brian Holmes! <BHOLMES%WAYNEST1.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: BUG in TeX
I'm not sure if anyone has addressed this bug, but here it is anyway.
When using \item and \itemitem, with \bf appearing in the body, not the
header, it never gets turned off. Example:
\item{1)} Even though this should be in \bf{bold} this should not!
All the text after \bf{bold} is also in bold.
* Brian Holmes \ / _____ *
* Wayne State University \/\/su | | *
* Detroit Michigan ____| |____ *
* | | | | *
* BITNET : BHOLMES@WAYNEST1 | | | | *
* INTERNET : Brian_Holmes%WU@UM.CC.UMICH.EDU | | | | *
* UUCP : {UMIX|ITIVAX}!WAYNE-MTS!BRIAN_HOLMES ============= *
------------------------------
From: Karl R. Wurst <WURST%CTSTATEU.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Metafont problems in VMS
We recently received the Stanford TeX Distribution for VMS, and
are having problems with fonts. I have tried to run Metafont 1.3
from that distribution and get the following error:
! METAFONT capacity exceeded, sorry [main memory size=30001].
This happens with every font file that I have tried so far. How
do I go about fixing this?
Also included on the tape were some WEB files for converting between
various font formats. However, there were no change files included.
When I try to compile them, I get errors from the VAX Pascal
compiler. Can anyone point me to the VMS change files for the
following WEB files:
GFTOPK.WEB PKTOPX.WEB PKTYPE.WEB PXTOPK.WEB
I am especially interested in the PKTOPX.WEB change file, as we
have an old QMS driver that requires .PXL files, and all we have
are .PK files. But, of course, I would like to have all of them
for future use.
Any help with either of these problems woud be greatly appreciated.
Karl R. Wurst
Information Systems Department
Central Connecticut State University
WURST@CTSTATEU.BITNET
------------------------------
From: DBUERGER%SCU.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 10:58 PDT
Subject: I got the LaTeX blues. . . .
Someone just sent this to me. Reproduced without permission. Enjoy...
The Underfull Badness Blues
by
Frankeye Jones
(Sing to the tune of "Do Run Run")
I thought I put the backslashes in
I thought I did it right;
But when I tried to run the thing
The screen displayed this sight:
"Error, error, error," it said
So I've got no time to lose
My line's too long and my bracket's missing
I've got the underfull badness blues
(a-do-run-run-run, a do-run-run)
I can do most anything
With Latex as a tool
Make boxes, tables, Greek letters too
And I can alter the size of my pool
But wait! I got too excited again
It's the same old, not-good-news
My control sequences are in error again
I've got the underfull badness blues
(a-do-run-run)
My life is like a Latex run
With trials and errors each day
The fates one minute are on my side
Then they slip and slide away
I lose my keys, I'm out of Scope
I'm totally missing my cues
The cats have fleas and the water heater burst
I've got the overfull/underfull badness blues
(a-do-run-run-run, a do-run-run)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 14:02:33 EDT
From: Mr. Scott Bodarky (ART-UGRAD) <bodarky@umbc3.UMD.EDU>
Hi, I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me with a problem.
We are working with a double column format producing indexes, but in order
to get the page headers correct, we need to have the first and last word on a
page listed up top. \Splitbotmark works, except when there is nothing in the
right column, in which case \splitbotmark is empty and I need to use \botmark.
The question is, How do I test for an empty \splitbotmark? Neither
\ifx\empty\splitbotmark nor \ifx\null\splitbotmark seem to work.
Thanx,
Scott Bodarky
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jun 88 14:46 EST
From: SPACIL H S <SPACIL@ge-crd.arpa>
Subject: TeX on VAX under VMS
We've gotten the TeX VAX/VMS distribution tape and the 300 dpi VAX/VMS
font tape (Stanford version, from Maria Code) for our mivroVAX II running
VMS 4.6 with output to an LN03+ laser printer. Attempts to generate GF
fonts (before we received the font tape) were generally unsuccesssful;
only a few of the MF files could be used for generation. And now that we
have the font tape, attempts to convert GF fonts to PXL fonts with GPtoPXL
(for use with the LN03 driver) result in an error message to the effect that
the GF font file contains an erroneous byte. Are we doing something really
stupid?
Steve Spacil/spacil@crd.ge.com
------------------------------
From: lamport@decwrl.dec.com (Leslie Lamport)
Date: 17 Jun 1988 1211-PDT (Friday)
Subject: Re: TeXhax Digest V88 #56 (LaTeX notes)
Ken McGlothlen wants to make a column of numbers like
| Column 1
----------|---------
Row 1 | 32.0
Row 2 | 983.21
Row 3 | 1.1
in a tabular environment. I believe I've already indicated that the
easy way to do this is
\begin{tabular}{...r@{.}l...}
... & 32&0 & ... \\
... & 983&21 & ... \\
... & 1&1 & ...
\end{tabular}
I will be away for about a month, and will probably not examine a
month's worth of TeXHaXes very carefully when I return. So, anyone
with a question for me would do well to hold it til August.
Leslie Lamport
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 16:30 EST
From: <SPITZ%JCUVAX.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Mirror-image fonts
Does anyone happen to have fonts for the English alphabet in *reverse*--
that is, mirror image? A psychologist here needs to print backwards
words for use in an experiment. We are running TeX on VAX/VMS.
I suppose that Metafont could be used to create the fonts, but I have
no knowledge of how to use Metafont.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Carl Spitznagel
Dept. of Mathematics
John Carroll University
BITNET: SPITZ@JCUVAX
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 14:45:17 PDT
From: John Lee <jslee@nrtc.northrop.com>
Subject: Hyphenation
I've noticed a tendency that TeX not consider hyphenation of the second
word of a compound word, preferring instead to justify ridiculously.
For example, for the sentence:
This device is a new design micro-accelerometric transducer
assembly capable of perpetual motion.
TeX would rather:
This device is a new design
micro-accelerometric transducer assembly capable of
perpetual motion.
or
This device is a new design micro-
...
(Sorry for the poor examples), but the best place to have
justified the line would have been to hyphenate micro-accelerometric
at something like micro-accel-
erometic
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End of TeXhax Digest
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