Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!pacbell!ames!bionet!agate!shelby!polya!rokicki
From: rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: Help with font files: trying to do TeX without the TeXBook
Message-ID: <11215@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 8 Aug 89 23:07:19 GMT
References: <2367@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu>
Sender: Tomas G. Rokicki <rokicki@Polya.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 63

In article <2367@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu>, cjoslyn@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Cliff Joslyn) writes:
> Alright, I'm getting a bit fed up trying to get TeX going without a
> TeXBook.

First mistake, although the TeXbook won't really help with the
installation.  People who use or attempt to use TeX without proper
documentation can be a real nuisance, asking questions whose answers
are in the manual.  Not a flame of you, just a strong recommendation
that you get the book.

> I've got SBTeX installed on an AT, and have two EGA previewers
> by now.  I'm confused by a forest of font files.  One viewer (DVIEW)
> only takes .PXL files, and the docs say they're everywhere, but I don't
> see them on score.stanford, simtel, or science.utah.edu.

The first and correct response to this is that PXL fonts are obsolete.
Nobody should be using them anymore for anything.  If your software is
so old that it only reads PXL files, it's time to get an update.  No
one will support PXL anymore.  And very few places have the disk
resources necessary to support PXL files.

PXL files are raster bitmap files with no compression that were used
in the original TeX project.  They were quickly replaced with GF and
PK files, which use run compression to keep the size small.  Metafont
generates GF fonts directly; these can be converted back and forth to
PK with GFtoPK and PKtoGF, which are generally available in both C and
WEB.  PK files contain all the information in the GF files but tend
to be half the size, and are the recommened format for storing and
using fonts.

> I found an executable PXTOPK on score, which hangs my AT when
> I try to run it.

Imagine that!  A DEC-20 executable that fails to work on a PC!

> The other previewer (DVIVGA) takes .PK, .GF, or .PXL
> extensions, but is inferior in design.  It gives no error messages, less
> control, and I can't get it to work.  I don't know if it's a font
> problem or not.  Arghh!

My personal recommendation is that you pick up a copy of the latest
TUGboat and order a package from one of the companies that support TeX.
There are plenty of cheap systems that will do everything you need
quickly and cleanly, with telephone numbers for support.  How much is
your time worth?  It quickly becomes very economical to get a supported
commercial product then try to figure out all the PD stuff out there.
And judging from the level of your questions, you will waste a lot of
time trying to get the PD stuff to work.

> What do all these extensions mean? Are they described in depth in the
> TeXBook? Can I proceed without biting the bullet and purchasing the
> thing?

The TeXbook will not help with installation, but to run the system, it
is mandatory.

If you are really so short of cash, my recommendation is to find a
friend who runs a PC/TeX environment, and have him help you with the
SBTeX/previewer stuff.  Good luck!

(I'd be happy to help, but I don't use PCs anymore and am not at all
familiar with the previewers on those machines.)

-tom