TeXhax Digest Wednesday, July 29, 1987 Volume 87 : Issue 61 [SCORE.STANFORD.EDU]TEXHAX61.87 Editor: Malcolm Brown Today's Topics: LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #57) macro problems Help! How do you selectively print some .dvi pages? LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #58) SliTeX fonts screenplay macros? Re: Xerox 3700 driver Some questions on tex for a MacIntosh. \special command and the GTEX driver for a QMS printer ... Re: Please Help with DVI-Drivers (and a puzzle) Re: Help! How do you selectively print some .dvi pages? latex graphics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 21-Jul-87 11:40:16-PDT,3518;000000000000 Date: Tue, 21 Jul 87 11:43:28 PDT From: lamport@src.DEC.COM (Leslie Lamport) To: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.edu Subject: LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #57) Jerry Sweet writes: Can anyone suggest a way to put horizontal rules below the header information, or above the footer information, with LaTeX? The LaTeX book is an example of the kind of effect I'm interested in. I've done some experimenting, and I can get the rule in there, but I haven't figured out how to put vertical space between the rule and the text of the header. The file report.doc files includes the following comment (found by searching for "head"): % The \ps@... command defines the macros \@oddhead, \@oddfoot, % \@evenhead, and \@evenfoot to define the running heads and % feet---e.g., \@oddhead is the macro to produce the contents of the % heading box for odd-numbered pages. It is called inside an \hbox of % width \textwidth. Searching the .doc file or latex.tex for "\ps@" will explain the opening phrase. Section 5.4 of the LaTeX manual should explain enough about space and boxes to produce the desired format. Raul Machuca writes: Subject: Latex diagrams To: texhax@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU In trying to use Latex to do flow charts a problem with circles arises. Namely after careful measurements lines to circles sometimes miss by quite a bit. I know that this is because Latex only uses a finite set of circles and will substitute for sizes ~rthat it doesn't have. I can't find the sizes in the documentation and would likee to know what the Latex circle sizes are? One fast solution is to use ovals instead of circles. This has the advantage that ovals scale nicely while circles don't. There are four ways to find out the answer to this question: * Look at the Metafont code that generates the circle font. * Search file latex.tex for "\circle" to how LaTeX figures out what size circle to draw. * Print all the characters in the circle font and measure them (see the file tryfonts.tex). * Simply draw a whole mess of circles with LaTeX and measure them. He continues: Another problem is that lines at some slopes have the jaggies while others don't. Is this implementation dependent or is it a property of Latex lines? I suspect that this depends upon the resolution of the output device. Victor S. Miller writes: Are there any programs around to help convert SCRIBE (tm) files to TeX or LaTeX? I realize that this might not be 100% automatic, but might get 98%, with rest flagged. I suspect that the optimal conversion depends a lot on the personal conventions one uses in Scribe. The easiest thing is probably to use a programmable text editor, like Emacs, and write your own program to make what conversions it can and prompt you to manually change other things. Leslie Lamport ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Jul 87 22:01:43 EDT From: "David F. Rogers" To: texhax@score.stanford.EDU Subject: macro problems I am working on a book using Plain TeX. No I don't for various reasons want to use LaTeX. I have written the basic macros package for the format that I want to use. However, I have three minor problems in the nice to have category. So far I have not been able to successfully make them work. The problems are: 1. Some sectionheads are too long to fit on a single line. In this case I would like to have the line automatically folded and aligned under the beginning of the first line of the sectionhead. The current macro, which does not do this, is given below. Any suggestions for modifications to accomplish the stated objective. 2. A similar problem occurs for figure captions. Again the current simple maco is given below. 3. The third problem undoubtedly has to do with a lack of understanding on my part of the assignment concept in TeX. Using the running head macros from the TeXBook on page 252 works fine except that I can't get it to give me 14pts under the Running Head above the first line of text (????). However, I would like to have the RH pick-up the section title by assigning the section heading to a variable. Sectionhead should also pick it up. Tried several ways - no luck. Any suggestions. I have work arounds for all these and I'm sure all these have been done before, but .....nice to have. Thanks in advance. Please reply directly to dfr@usna.arpa Dave Rogers Aerospace Engineering Department U. S. Naval Academy Annapolis, MD 20402 USA _______ mcros follow _____ % section heading (needs work to account for long lines \def\sectionhead#1#2{ \noindent \hbox{{\bf{#1}}\hskip 1em #2}\hfill \vskip 3pt \noindent \hskip -5.0pt \relax} % define running head macros (The TeXbook page 252) % must redefine right running head at each section % would like to be able to pick-up sectionhead both in running % head and in sectionhead by using some kind of an assignment % statement, e.g. % \let\rrhead=VARIABLE RIGHT RUNNING HEAD % can't make it work \def\rhead{VARIABLE RIGHT RUNNING HEAD} \nopagenumbers % suppress footlines \headline={\ifodd\pageno\rightheadline \else\leftheadline\fi} \def\rightheadline{\tenrm \hfill {\sc \rhead} \hskip .7em {\bf \folio}} \def\leftheadline{\tenrm {\bf \folio} \quad {\sc CONSTANT LEFT RUNNING HEAD} \hfil} \vskip=14pt %previously 2\baseline skip - does not work gives % baseline skip between headline and top of text. % figcap macros needs work to account for long lines % % if the caption is too long for the page width it needs to be % folded and left-justified to the position corresponding to % the beginning of the caption, e.g. % % Figure 4-1 This is a very long figure caption that extends % beyond the right edge of the page. Needs to be % folded. % \def\figcap#1#2{\hbox{{\bf Figure #1}\hskip 1em #2}\bigskip} % bottom insert similar to Knuth's top insert ------------------------------ From: Ralph Becker-Szendy RALPH AT UHHEPG To: GATEWAY::"texhax@score.stanford.edu",RALPH Sorry to ask really stupid questions, but i'm a recently reborn TeXnician (after over a year of forced abstinence), and this place is just trying to set up a decent TeX environment. I need some help on getting good, but cheap (if possible public domain) drivers: We have a Talaris 800 laser (happens to be a QMS with a different sticker on it). We bought the DVI-driver from Talaris, but unfortunately it comes with a very limited set of fonts, and it seems not know what to do with $\specials. Is there any good public domain driver for QMS-type laser printers ? I heard about some from the University of Utah, and DVILG8. If possible they should have some facility to include graphics QUIC code via a \special statement. For improving our font library: How can i create the TFM and FXX/FXY files for the one we have (assuming i have METAFONT running) ? For previewing: is there any public domain DVI-driver for Tektronix 401x compatible terminals ? Do they come with some decent fonts ? Resolution won't be very good, but that's ok for previewing. For very crude previewing for people who don't have graphics terminals in their office, but want to know whether the TeX output came out all right: is there any DVI-driver for regular (alphanumeric) terminals ? The TFM files for it would be rather stupid, but it saves the user walking to the nearest graphic terminal or laser printer to get an idea of what it looks like. Now towards bigger and better things: is there a version of TGRIND which works under VAX/VMS for FORTRAN source (please don't laugh, physicists seem to be old-fashioned)? I am far to lazy to write one myself. Now comes the tough question (or rather puzzle): using LaTeX, i want to have a figure right next to a text paragraph. I know how to make the text become much narrower (even using plain TeX), for as many paragraphs as needed. But how do i get the figure to go into the empty space created at the right side of the text ? And how do i prevent accidents (like page-breaking across the whole mess) ? I would like to keep the "floating" property of figures, therefore only the output routine would know which paragraphs have to be made narrower (and i never messed around with output routines before). Any suggestions and incomplete solutions are welcome. I appreciate any helpful mail to RALPH@UHHEPG.BITNET, and am willing to make (and post) a summary of the results if someone wants it. Ralph Becker-Szendy University of Hawaii / High Energy Physics Group ------------------------------ To: to-TeXHax@uunet.UU.NET Subject: Help! How do you selectively print some .dvi pages? Date: 22 Jul 87 17:17:01 EST (Wed) From: munnari!mimir.dmt.oz!khl@uunet.UU.NET Sometimes I want to print out only a few pages from a lengthy report prepared with LaTeX. This happens especially towards the end of the writing-revising process where relatively minor corrections are required. The LaTeX book says the input file can be split using \include and \includeonly, but this appears to be inconvenient. Is it at all possible to select the pages to be printed as one can with Troff? Thanks in advance for your help. Khoa Khoa Ho-Le, CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology, Melbourne, Australia. PHONE: +61 (03)487-9257 ACSNET:khl@mimir.dmt.oz ARPA: khl%mimir.dmt.oz@seismo.css.gov UUCP: {seismo,ukc,mcvax}!munnari!mimir.dmt!khl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 09:08:56 PDT From: lamport@src.DEC.COM (Leslie Lamport) To: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.edu Subject: LaTeX Notes (Re: TeXhax Digest V87 #58) gfoster@violet.Berkeley.EDU writes: Occasionally, when I place a \ref{} inside a figure caption, I get a Latex error message; "Paragraph ended before \@writefile was complete" and/or "Extra } or forgotten \endgroup". What gives? \ref is a fragile command, and the \caption command has a moving argument. (Look up "fragile command" in the index. Leslie Lamport ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 10:33:22 PDT From: KARNEY%PPC.MFENET@nmfecc.arpa Subject: SliTeX fonts To: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.EDU Mark Roth wants to know how to get the fonts for SliTeX: The directory at SCORE.STANFORD.EDU contains the following Metafont files. These can be used to generate the special fonts used by LaTeX and SliTeX LaTeX fonts: circle.mf circle10.mf circlew10.mf line.mf line10.mf linew10.mf lasy.mf lasy10.mf lasy5.mf lasy6.mf lasy7.mf lasy8.mf lasy9.mf lasyb10.mf SliTeX fonts lcmss8.mf lcmssb8.mf lcmssi8.mf sroman.mf sromanu.mf icmex10.mf icmmi8.mf icmsy8.mf icmtt8.mf ilasy8.mf ilcmss8.mf ilcmssb8.mf ilcmssi8.mf You will of course need Metafont. Also, the *lcm* fonts access the standard Computer Modern MF files (found in ). Charles Karney PHONE: 609/682-2607 MFENET: Karney@PPC.MFENET ARPANET: Karney%PPC.MFENET@NMFECC.ARPA BITNET: Karney%PPC.MFENET@ANLVMS.BITNET CC: TeXhax@Score.Stanford.EDU MROTH@AFIT-AB.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 11:48:17 PDT From: dorab@CS.UCLA.EDU (Dorab Patel) To: texhax@score.stanford.edu Subject: screenplay macros? does anyone have a set of TeX macros to help format a screenplay? in particular, i'd like to know how to handle the situation when a dialogue section gets broken at a page break. for those that arent familiar with this, here is what a typical page break in a dialogue should look like. ACTOR And then I told him that he was to go away and never come back CONTINUED ========== page break ========================= ACTOR to this place for fear of his life any help appreciated. please mail responses unless you feel they may be of general interest. thanks 'dorab dorab@cs.ucla.edu {ucbvax,sdcrdcf,rutgers,ihnp4}!ucla-cs!dorab ------------------------------ Date: Wed 22 Jul 87 17:42:09-EDT From: John Gourlay Subject: Re: Xerox 3700 driver To: texhax@score.stanford.edu, dlatex@ucbcmsa.bitnet The Xerox 2700 driver I wrote apparently also works for 3700s and 4045s. Please obtain it from Margot Nelligan, Xerox Printing Systems Division, 880 Apollo Street, El Segundo, CA 90245, (213) 333-6058. ------------------------------ Date: Wed 22 Jul 87 23:13:28 From: "Torbj|rn Kronander, ISY" Subject: Some questions on tex for a MacIntosh. To: texhax@score.stanford.edu The TexTures program is a Tex implementation for the Apple MacIntosh, and I have some more questions concerning it: 1) Is LaTeX available? In the (mini-)manual of version 0.9 one can see a LaTeX style in one of the pictures, but it is never referenced to in the text. 2) Is TeXTures on the MAc using full 8-bit characters. And if so, is foreign language symbols defined as characters. 3) Is it possible to write a typeset document on a file (as a paint document)? 4) Has anyone really tried both MacTeX and TexTures, if so please make a statement on the pro's and con's of the two implementations. Torbj\"orn Kronander (see the problem with 7-bits...?) dept of EE, Link\"oping University, Sweden T-Kronander@Linnea.SuNet.Se (or) T-Kronander%Linnea.Sunet.Se@Seismo.CSS.GOV ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 JUL 87 16:49:36 PDT * From: "Micro Mauler" To: TEXHAX Subject: \special command and the GTEX driver for a QMS printer ... Does anyone know if the \special command is operational in the dvi driver called GTEX for the QMS laser printer? If so, would you forward the syntax for the \special command. 10Q Len Schwer Micro2.Schwer@CRVAX.SRI.COM (408)241-7192 ------------------------------ Mail-From: BEETON created at 23-Jul-87 04:33:45 Date: Thu 23 Jul 87 04:33:45-PDT From: Barbara Beeton Subject: Re: Please Help with DVI-Drivers (and a puzzle) To: RALPH%UHHEPG.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU in answer to the question, how to get more .fxx, .fxy and .tfm files for a talaris 800 printer, metafont will make the .tfm file (which is standard). however, the .fx* files are in a proprietary format. (i tried to persuade talaris to use .pk format, but failed; this may be due partly to the fact that there are different requirements, apparently, for portrait and landscape modes. in any case, it is, at present, a fact of life.) the talaris metafont package (now in beta test) will contain the software necessary to translate .gf files to .fxx and .fxy format; it is, however, not going to be public domain, and i'm also not sure how much it will cost. and there are some things about it that aren't yet as user-friendly as one would wish; that will, one hopes, be remedied before the full release. although i understand the desire and need for least-cost alternatives, i'd like to point out that font generation is an exceedingly time-consuming operation, in terms of both people and cpu usage; a well-organized commercial alternative may in the long run be less costly, and both sides of the question should be examined before plunging in. this is a voice with some experience in the matter. -- barbara beeton ------------------------------ Mail-From: BEETON created at 23-Jul-87 04:50:44 Date: Thu 23 Jul 87 04:50:44-PDT From: Barbara Beeton Subject: Re: Help! How do you selectively print some .dvi pages? To: munnari!mimir.dmt.oz!khl@UUNET.UU.NET most competent dvi output drivers permit the selection of specific pages to be printed; although this does not avoid the complete re-texing of the file, it at least cuts down on output time and paper. the upcoming issue of tugboat will contain a suggestion from don knuth on how to run only selected pages through tex; his need for this feature was to prepare corrected pages for a reprinting of several volumes of computers & typesetting, and is rather specific to that task, but the theory should be more generally applicable. in any case, first look at what your output driver can do for you. -- barbara beeton ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 10:27 EDT From: Subject: latex graphics To: texhax@score.stanford.edu Myself and several others at our company have started using TEX for our documentation. We use a VAX/VMS with a XEROX 2700 printer. We obtained the Stanford distribution and joined TUG. We obtained an excellent 2700 driver for VMS from Illinois State. We use TEX, LATEX, and have experimented with METAFONT. The majority of our work utilizes LATEX. We have been very pleased with the results. The remaining problem is to integrate graphics capability into TEX (or LATEX). The most commonly used graphics terminals are Tektronix based. Our printer does not have Tektronix or any other graphics capability. What is needed is a general graphics line drawer within LATEX. I originally thought to just utilize the picture environment within LATEX. I wrote a program to convert instructions in a Tektronix graphics file to LATEX picture macros ( I have tried both line and bezier macros). I quickly found out that TEX's memory capacity is exceeded. Typically about 100-400 vectors can be drawn before this happens. I need to be able to draw several thousand vectors on a single figure. Is there any way to get around this problem? Am I stuck with having to use a printer which has graphics capability as a subset and use the \special command? Can I utilize the METAFONT program or other TEX support programs to generate a graphics package? Thanks in advance for a response James D. Freels Technology for Energy Corporation One Energy Center Lexingtion Drive P.O. Box 22996 Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0996 freels%utkvx1.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu or just freels@utkvx1 ------------------------------ %%% %%% subscriptions, address changes to: texhax-request@score.stanford.edu %%% %%% submissions to: texhax@score.stanford.edu %%% %%% BITNET redistribution: TEX-L@TAMVM1.BITNET (list server) %%% %%%\bye %%% ------------------------------ End of TeXhax Digest ************************** -------