Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!munnari.oz.au!ariel!ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au!u3364521
From: u3364521@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (Lou Cavallo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Subject: Re: TeX Printing
Message-ID: <1991Apr6.005505.1794@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>
Date: 5 Apr 91 14:55:05 GMT
References: <1991Mar25.151206.16800@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> <SDL.91Mar25115332@lyra.mitre.org> <1991Mar26.192553.1761@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au> <1991Apr4.114338.29846@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>
Organization: I.A.E.S.R., Melbourne University
Lines: 82

G'day,

thanks for the (very) helpful reply Kent.  I am making a brief public followup
in the spirit of the original article because I think some of my questions may
anticipate other's here ...

KD> In article <1991Apr4.114338.29846@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>,
KD> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:

[...I'm dropping the attributions now as we've seen them a couple of times...]
>>>> How does one print out a TeX file once it has been converted to dvi
>>>> format? I have commontex, tex3.1, and a couple of others.  I am using
>>>> [...]

KD> Depends on what you have on the other end to receive the print commands;
KD> for one example, if it is a postscript printer, then you need some version
KD> of dvi2ps.

I am most interested in previewing the DVI file (nice previewer Georg !) but I
have found that the distribution of PasTeX 1.2a didn't have the specific sizes
I needed (not a complaint, this is as admitted in PasTeX 1.2a's docs).

I know other Amiga users who merely wish to preview the DVI files on the Amiga
because the previewer is so nice compared to other mainframe previewers.  This
I feel is where a large potential of ``where can I get or how can I make fonts
that I need for PasTeX etc'' type questions may originate.

KD> [...useful explanation of the DVI internals...]

me> Sorry Jon, I need help here too.
me> [...in theory PasTeX's Metafont with Arexx could build the fonts itself
me>     I think...]
me> The nicest solution would be to modify the callmf.rexx Arexx script,
me> so that it would call MetaFont to make the font ...

KD> [...] Metafont makes lovely fonts, but it makes a snail look turbocharged.

But then again you probably wouldn't want to let Arexx do the calling... :-)

KD> [...]
KD> To make a Metafont accessible for printing, you must
KD> [...]
KD> 
KD> (Different systems look a little different; I pulled mine out of page
KD> 279 of The METAFONTbook, except omitting "local", which was not needed
KD> for what I did.)

{Q: for any Metafont GURU or even if you've read the Metafont book (yep, I've
    not RTFM :-(, sorry!}

If I wish to only build `screen' bitmap fonts is a mode def of local good?
{In `english' is local mode the default to build plain bitmaps, see below on}
{building screen font bitmaps...}

KD> [...]
KD> 4) Have available the source file of metafont commands that describe the
KD> character shapes. In my case, call this CorpLogo.mf.

{personal to Kent: I've still got the logo Metafont code you sent me a while
 ago.  When I've gotten enough RAM (still only 512K on my A1000) I'll give a
 look see to your stuff.}

KD> The commands to make a six point corporate logo were then:
KD> 
KD>     mf
KD>     ** CorpModeDefs; \mode:=CanonCX; \mag:=magstep(0); input CorpLogo6

Again a question in lieu of the TFM (for now... I must get this book).  What
mode def (or whatever) do I specify for screen fonts?

KD> [...]
KD> Enough.  Hope any of that makes sense, it's almost 4AM.

Thanks Kent.  You've done well again.

KD> Kent, the man from xanth.
KD> <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>

yours truly,
Lou Cavallo.

PS: I'm sorry this wasn't brief as I promised but I did try... :-(