summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/support/texcalc/TEXCALC.MSG
blob: 92dae7a83763aaf689f73b01acfe01553b4a0c49 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
I have put together a simple spreadsheet-based typographic calculator for TeX 
on the PC. Currently it runs in InstaCalc(tm) from FormalSoft (Sandy, Utah) 
because that happens to be what I use, but I guess it could easily be ported 
into other systems. Here is the screen as it appears when popped up: 

 +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 |TeXcalc  Typographic design calculator for TeX         Enter units below   |
 |                                                                           |
 |Faces:        Typeface:cmr10                     Units:pt                  |
 |   cmr     Design Size:      10 pt              (1pt =        1 pt)        |
 |  cmbx         Scaling:\magstep   0             (    =        1 truept)    |
 |  cmsl    Scale Factor:    1000                 (      at current scaling) |
 |  cmti        x-Height:   4.310 truept                                     |
 |  cmtt      Quad Width:  10.000 truept                          Valid Units|
 |  cmmi                                     Dimension   Unit            pt  |
 |(10/12/17 pt)                                                          pc  |
 |                \hsize=     6.5 in             469.755 truept          in  |
 |                \vsize=     9.5 in             686.565 truept          bp  |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------       cm  |
 | Enter your dimension:        1 in              72.270 truept          mm  |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------       dd  |
 |              \parskip=       0 pt               0.000 truept          cc  |
 |            \parindent=      20 pt              20.000 truept          sp  |
 |         \baselineskip=      12 pt              12.000 truept          em  |
 |                                                                       ex  |
 |Fractions            1   over    64   =       0.015625 decimal         mu  |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

You can change the typeface (design size is picked up from the name altho you 
could change that too, if you want), scale factor (\magstep), and the units 
you want everything expressed in. Then just stick in the dimension you are 
trying to calculate and the answer is worked out. The nice thing is it is 
memory resident, so you can pop it up and down during your edit session and 
it's small enough for PC-TeX to run with it loaded.

I have sent the normalised (.SPS) file (plain text) and the .INS (binary) to 
the PUBLIC archive at KIRK.ASTON.AC.UK, and the LISTSERVs at Heidelberg 
(DHDURZ21.BITNET) and Texas A&M (TAMVM1.BITNET): if it's any use to anyone, 
maybe someone can walk it over to the InterNet. I guess I can send copies 
individually if people have problems attaching to the servers. InstaCalc 
itself can be downloaded from SIMTEL-20 (via TRICKLE@DKTC11.BITNET for 
European users). 

...Peter Flynn <pflynn@vax1.ucc.ie> | <cbts8001@iruccvax.bitnet>