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\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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