[comp.text.tex] \special, \psfig misbehaving.

arnold@freezer.it.udel.edu (frederick arnold) (07/04/90)

Hello, I'm using LaTeX 2.09 on the SGI Iris, and am having some
difficulties with the \psfig and \special environments.  When I
attempt to use \psfig dvi2ps reports a set of errors, most saying that
it can't find any special files, or unknown options in the \special
environment.  When I change to \special it prints the figure, but it
doesn't print any text (does eject a blank page), and won't scale the
figure.  Am I correct in assuming that my dvi2ps program is at fault,
or is it something in LaTeX?
					Thanks.

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
|Sex:                                      Frederick P. Arnold Jr,           |
|    The Pleasure Momentary,               University of Delaware            |
|    The Position Ludicrous,               Department of Chemistry           |
|    And the Expense Damnable.             Newark, DE 19716                  |
|               Lord Chesterfield.                                           |
|                                          ARNOLD@FREEZER.IT.UDEL.EDU        |
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spqr@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Sebastian Rahtz) (07/06/90)

In article <23538@nigel.udel.EDU> arnold@freezer.it.udel.edu (frederick arnold) writes:

   difficulties with the \psfig and \special environments.  When I
   attempt to use \psfig dvi2ps reports a set of errors, most saying that
   it can't find any special files, or unknown options in the \special
   environment.  When I change to \special it prints the figure, but it
   doesn't print any text (does eject a blank page), and won't scale the
   figure.  Am I correct in assuming that my dvi2ps program is at fault,
one cannot answer this without knowing something about your psfig
macros and your dvi2ps. psfig is an excellent piece of work, which
never fails me, but it does need to be tailored in 2 or 3 places for
different dvi to PS programs, which have different syntax for their
\special commands. If you have not already done so, junk any dvi2ps
program older than 12 months or so, and upgrade to one of these (no
ordering implied):
 - dvi3ps
 - dvips
 - dvitops
 - dvitps
and start with a fresh distribution of psfig

Of course if you have already done these things, and it still doesn't
work, you'll have to read the manual for the dvi to PS, and search for
\special in the psfig macros

Sebastian

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Sebastian Rahtz                        S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET)
Computer Science                       S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet)
Southampton S09 5NH, UK                S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp    (uucp)