Subject: TeXhax Digest V95 #05
From: [email-masked]
To: TeXhax Distribution: ;
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 1995 18:15:53 +0000

TeXhax Digest    Thursday,  9 Feb 1995  Volume 95 : Issue 05
(incorporating UKTeX Digest)

Today's Topics:
            BLUe's Format goes public. Beta-testers asked.
                            RE: DVItoLN03
                       DOS color dvi previewer
              Commands for page selection in Ghostscript
       Re: TeX, how to detect already defined control sequences
       Re: TeX, how to detect already defined control sequences
                             Fax software
                       EDMAC and line numbering
                          conversion program

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 27 Jan 1995 08:52:17 +0100
From:    [email-masked] (Kees van der Laan)
Subject: BLUe's Format goes public. Beta-testers asked.

The last time I worked hard on BLUe's Format and it has ripened a lot.
I introduced BLUe's Format altready at CyrTUG 94 and EuroTeX 94, but
I schedule it to go public at EuroTeX 95 (and CyrTUG 95), because it has
ripened and the user's guide Publishing with TeX is in the polishing
phase.

Spring is scheduled to let friendly TeXies look at it and comment on it, 
bete-testing so to say.

The beta-version will be distributed also on next NTG's CD-ROM.

The user's guide is in English, physically and logically thin,
and will be translated into Russian. 

The PWT guide will be offered to the CWI, for their CWI sylllabi series,
and also to NTG, to be rleased as a MAPS special.

Best wishes, ---Kees---

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 27 Jan 1995 15:40:21 +0000
From:    "Brian {Hamilton Kelly} <[email-masked]>" <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: DVItoLN03

In private mail to [email-masked] of Thu, 26 Jan 1995 15:42:43
- -0500 (EST), Alan Mankofsky <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I just brought over your DVItoLN03 package from one of the CTAN archive sites
,
> and found that unfortunately the .OBJ and .EXE files are not available. Since
> I don't have the software (notably a PASCAL compiler!) on this Vax to build
> the executable from the WEB source, is there some way I can get .OBJ and
> .EXE files from you? I appreciate your help.

I can't really help you, Alan.  The archive (when it used to be at
Aston) had binaries for all sorts of systems; amongst those for VAX/VMS
were .OBJ files for nearly everything, including DVItoLN03.  These
binaries were VVencoded, so that they could be mailed anywhere, as well
as being FTPable.  Some binaries existed as separate files, but most
were in bundles, as BACKUP save_sets.

It seems that these files were lost when the archive was moved to a Unix
machine at Cambridge (at least, I can't find them there now).  I _have_
found some binaries, which _don't_ include DVItoLN03, but those that are
there are of VERY LITTLE UTILITY: note for archivists --- it's pointless
keeping .EXE images, because they may not be linked with the same
version of the shareable libraries as on the target machine.  OTOH, .OBJ
files, either VVencoded (under VMS) or zipped (also under VMS) _are_
acceptable, and remarkably portable.  (I saw that there is at least one
zip file of .OBJs, but I'd guess that it doesn't include what Alan
wants.)

I'm copying this reply to TeXhax; hopefully someone who is more
conversant with the present-day layout of the archive than I am can
assist Alan.  It may be that I'm mistaken, and that the files wanted
_are_ still in the archive: if so, I can only say that the layout
nowadays is non-intuitive.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ Brian {Hamilton Kelly}                         [email-masked] +
+ Smail:     School of Electrical Engineering & Science, Royal Military   +
+            College of Science, Shrivenham, SWINDON SN6 8LA, U.K.        +
+ Phone:     Swindon (01793) 785252 (UK), +44-1793-785252 (International) +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 31 Jan 1995 10:33:21 -0500
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: DOS color dvi previewer

I am looking for a DOS/Windows dvi previewer that supports the
color packages and the virtual fonts. I acquired a commercial version
of Tex/Latex from PCTEX, after having read their publicity on the 
compatibility with Latex2e and packages. It is far from being compatible.
So please if you have this information, We will appreciate.
Thanks in advance
                                     Erick Pgam

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 01 Feb 1995 20:08:49 -0000
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Commands for page selection in Ghostscript

I wonder if anyone can shed light on this. In the ftp site at:

src.doc.ic.ac.uk/0-Most-packages/uk-tex/support/psview

There is what appears to be some utility and batch files for running
ghostscript with keystrokes for selection of pages, magnification,
translations etc.

These have been written by P.Pianowski and B.Jackowski and were
presented at the 8th EuroTex Conference 1994.

My problem is that I have tried to run ghostscript (MS-DOS) with these command
procedures with no success. The "batch files" do not appear to be DOS. 
Does anyone have any more information on this stuff, or know how/where I
can contact the authors of the work?

Many thanks

Chris Radcliffe,

Department of Mechanical Engineering,              __o
University of Leeds,                       _     _`\<,_
Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.                       -_    (_)/ (_)
[email-masked]  (0532 - 332152)

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 02 Feb 1995 23:12:00 +0000
From:    Jonathan Fine <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: TeX, how to detect already defined control sequences

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tuesday 24 Jan 1995, Paolo Vicario ( [email-masked] ) wrote:
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
I would like to know if there is a way, in TeX, to test for
the existence of a control sequence.   [...]

I devised this (ugly) piece of code:

        \def\MYMACRO{anything}
        \ifx\MYMACRO\UNDEFINED
             The macro is {\it not\/} defined
        \else
             The macro {\it is\/} defined
        \fi

It works, provided that the dummy macro \UNDEFINED is
*really* undefined!

There must be a more reliable (and elegant!) way to do the
same thing. Can you give me any hint?
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Paolo has written pretty much what I would have done in the
same situation, except that I would use the lowercase form of the
control sequence \undefined, and I would take the constant code out
the the conditional, like so
        The macro 
          \ifx\mymacro\undefined
             is {\it not\/}
          \else
             {\it is\/}
          \fi
        defined.

The optimisation of placing the italic correction \/ outside the
conditional is hardly worth bothering with, and likely to cause
errors later.

If you look up \undefined in the TeXbook you will be pointed to
page 384.  It is almost a pukka control sequence of plain.  And like
any other such control sequence, if you change its meaning you will
cause things to mess up.

What I find most interesting about this question is the doubt the
author expresses about his own answer.  It is not ugly.  It is just
as it should be.  (There is one wrinkle.  Perhaps he would prefer to
have \und@fin@d?)

By the way, the LaTeX \@ifundefined construction is a waste of time,
by which I mean that 
        \expandafter \ifx \csname #1\endcsname \relax
          etc \else etc
        \fi
will execute much quicker than
        \@ifundefined{#1} etc
and this is because the former code takes TeX straight to what needs
to be done.

best regards
Jonathan Fine
Mailing Address: 203 Coldhams Lane, Cambridge, England

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 03 Feb 1995 06:26:39 -0500
From:    "K. Berry" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: TeX, how to detect already defined control sequences

From the TeXbook via Eplain:

% From p.308 of the TeXbook.  This cannot be used in places where TeX
% might be skipping tokens, e.g., in conditionals.
%
\def\ifundefined#1{\expandafter\ifx\csname#1\endcsname\relax}

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 03 Feb 1995 09:59:08 -0700
From:    [email-masked] (Andrew Bernat)
Subject: Fax software

Does anyone know of DOS or Windows fax software that will use a DVI
file directly?  Similarly for UNIX.

Thanks,

Andrew Bernat                         [email-masked]
Professor and Chair                   http://cs.utep.edu/bernat/bernat.html
Computer Science Department           915/747-6950
The University of Texas at El Paso    915/747-5480 CS office
El Paso, Texas  79968-0518            915/747-5030 fax

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 06 Feb 1995 16:55:35 -0600
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: EDMAC and line numbering

As suggested in TeXhax 95/04, I have looked at the EDMAC package for
numbering lines. It looks like will certainly do what I ask, and
more, for most people. Unfortunately, however, it contains an
undocumented (at least, I _think_ it's undocumented) constraint that
renders it not useful for my purposes: one cannot use a redefined
\par.

So... does anyone know of any other packages that might permit me to 
have my cake and eat it too, in that I can use my redefined \par and 
still get line numbers in the margins?

If I have to, I suppose I'll try hacking EDMAC to do the job I want, 
but I'd much rather not, because I'll probably break three things for 
everything I "fix".

- -------------------------------------------------------
Doc Evans NQ0I / G4AMJ : [email-masked]
                         [email-masked]
- -------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 06 Feb 1995 17:15:28 -0600
From:    Larry Wos <[email-masked]>
Subject: conversion program

Do you know of any program that will take troff source and
return the equilanet TeX source?
I am als interested in the converse.
Indeed, I have some TeX source (paers) and sme in troff,
and wish to convert each.  Thanks in advance.  LW

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End of TeXhax Digest [Volume 95 Issue 5]
****************************************