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author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
commit | e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d (patch) | |
tree | 60335e10d2f4354b0674ec22d7b53f0f8abee672 /usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_3/rahtz.tex |
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diff --git a/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_3/rahtz.tex b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_3/rahtz.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a77c4480bc --- /dev/null +++ b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_3/rahtz.tex @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +\title{\protect\TeX, Windows, and Encoding again} +\author{Sebastian Rahtz\\\texttt{spqr@ftp.tex.ac.uk}} +\def\vf{\textsc{vf}} +\begin{Article} +\noindent I recently found myself looking at a `real' \TeX\ setup under +Microsoft Windows, rather than the experimental ones I have used in +the past to look at different bits of software, when I had to install +Y\&Y's \TeX\ packages. This prompted me to go the whole hog and make my +\TeX\ work properly with the font encoding that Windows commonly uses, +and explore the \emph{non}-virtual font world which Berthold Horn +advocated in \BV\ 4.1. + +Y\&Y's \TeX\ setup features: +\begin{enumerate} +\item A \TeX\ with dynamic memory; this meant I could load a whole + slew of hyphenation patterns, for instance, and run huge documents + without running out of space; +\item A previewer (\emph{dviwindo}) which uses Adobe Type Manager to + render fonts; +\item A dvi to PostScript driver (\emph{dvipsone}) which only + downloads the actual characters used; +\item All the Computer Modern fonts in PostScript Type1 format + (\ie including AMS, Euler and \LaTeX\ fonts); +\item A toolbox of programs for manipulating PostScript fonts and + their metric files. +\end{enumerate} +Installing all this was fairly easy, with copious\footnote{If Y\&Y + have a fault, it is \emph{over}-provision of helpful text files on + their disks; \emph{dviwindo} has 24 separate essays for you to read + and brood over.} documentation. I now found myself based on a +Windows previewer with an extensible menu from which I could call +\TeX, editors, spell checkers etc, as well as view my \texttt{dvi} +files, print them using the Windows printer drivers (\ie +including my fax card) or the fast and efficient \emph{dvipsone} +PostScript driver. + +The problems start, of course, when we move beyond Computer Modern to +the more useful PostScript fonts. We need access to the full range of +characters, preferably not via \TeX\ control sequences which inhibit +hyphenation. I have three choices: +\begin{enumerate} +\item Leave \TeX\ thinking in its traditional layout, leave the fonts + as they are, and marry the two with virtual fonts (\vf). But a) this + means slower |dvi| processing, because of the \vf\ lookup, b) the + Y\&Y drivers don't implement \vf\ anyway, and c) I cannot + transparently use other Windows applications to write \TeX. +\item Permanently reencode the fonts to the Cork layout, use appropr +\end{enumerate} + + +I have been a Unix-based (latterly the free Linux) \TeX\ user for many +years; I have flirted with Oz\TeX, found myself admiring Textures, +and advocated the excellent em\TeX\ package under OS/2, but never +quite been able to force myself to live in Windows. Will I now? Using +the Y\&Y packages to run this issue of \BV, all went very nicely, and +I was happy with the final setup, but there are still three problems: +\begin{enumerate} +\item While I can convert PK fonts to PostScript Type 3 if I + \emph{really} want to use (say) Haralambous' Old German, and use + \emph{dvicopy} to resolve virtual fonts when I need them, neither + route is convenient; +\item Y\&Y \TeX\ is fundamentally a DOS program; it won't run under + OS/2, and needs the full resources of a DOS virtual session. In this + respect, the em\TeX\ package is superior, since it runs in native + mode under OS/2, and can run more efficiently under + Windows;\footnote{The \emph{rsxwin} package allows you easily to a) + run the betatest 386-specific em\TeX\ with Windows memory + management, and b) direct output to a proper `Windows window' + rather than a DOS text window. It can be found on CTAN in + \verb|systems/msdos/dpmigcc|.} +\item I do not have the \emph{real} integrated environment which + Textures users have. I can customize \emph{dviwindo} or $\mu$Emacs, + but that requires more confidence that most Windows users have, and + it doesn't bring me very near Lightning Textures. +\end{enumerate} +I am happy to recommend Y\&Y \TeX\ under Windows to anyone, but I +think I might still take Linux and Gnuemacs to my desert island\ldots +\end{Article}
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