vober@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (10/11/90)
Could someone answer these rookie questions for me? I'm new to TeX and do not understand many of the concepts. I've ftp'd parts of the emTeX package and am not sure if I need all the files or not. 1) What is a .pk file, and how is it different from .tfm files? 2) What is a .fli file and how does it differ from .pk and .tfm files? 3) I will want to print on an IBM graphics printer (dot matrix) for draft purposes, and for final copies I will want to print out to a postscript printer. I understand that the dvidrv files im emTeX should do the job, but do they require .pk and .fli files to do the trick? 4) Sometimes I get an error message from TeX stating "Metric font file not found", or something like that. Is it looking for .pk or .fli files? 5) What's the difference betwen TeX, Latex, and Metafont. Which would be easier for a beginner to use? Many thanks for your patience. Your help is truly needed. Jim Vober
eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout) (10/11/90)
vober@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: >Could someone answer these rookie questions for me? I'm new to TeX and >do not understand many of the concepts. I've ftp'd parts of the emTeX >package and am not sure if I need all the files or not. >1) What is a .pk file, and how is it different from .tfm files? PK stands for PacKed format. It is a format for bitmaps, and it is needed only by screen/printer driver programs, not by TeX. TFM stands for TeX Font Metrics, and it gives the size descriptions of the fonts, but no shape descriptions. As a character is a box to TeX, these files are needed by TeX, but it would surprise me if a screen/printer driver would find any use for them, as all information is also included in the PK file. >2) What is a .fli file and how does it differ from .pk and .tfm files? FLI is not a standard TeX format. It must be an invention of the maker of the emTeX package. Sorry, dunno this one. >4) Sometimes I get an error message from TeX stating "Metric font file >not found", or something like that. Is it looking for .pk or .fli files? I'd guess it was looking for a .tfm file, but lacking the knowledge of what an .fli is... >5) What's the difference betwen TeX, Latex, and Metafont. Which would >be easier for a beginner to use? TeX is a program that can load a format. Usually there are two formats included in a package: plain.fmt and lplain.fmt. The first one stands for the PLAIN format, the second one for LATEX. If you call tex &lplain you get LaTeX, calling tex is equivalent to tex &plain So it's not a matter of TeX or LaTeX, but *plain* TeX or LaTeX. People who say the former really haven't understood matters properly. You can write your own format, but considering you're a rookie I suggest that you'd wait with that for a few years. Metafont is a program to generate letters. It is not an alternative to plain TeX or LaTeX. Plain TeX or LaTeX? Depends. If you only want to start writing articles I'd suggest LaTeX. Saves you a lot of learning and frustration. But if you are going to do more text processing than just scientific articles (or a book or a thesis), I'd invest some time in learning the whole of TeX, and starting with plain TeX, and then writing your own macros. But don't do this if you want to have your thesis printed one month from now! >Jim Vober Victor.