summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail')
-rw-r--r--Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail146
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 146 deletions
diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail
deleted file mode 100644
index 3e6162eaff6..00000000000
--- a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/context/context-omega/hamid.mail
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,146 +0,0 @@
-Dear friends of Omega,
-
-I have made some good progress using Omega under ConTeXt and I would
-like to share some of what I have learned with you all, including a
-small contribution to the Omega and ConTeXt communities.
-
-First off let me say that I am extremely impressed with the ConTeXt
-macropackage. Many of us use TeX and especially Omega not so much for
-math typesetting primarily but for superb scholarly typesetting of
-books and similar publications. From the point of view of the kind of
-_general_ typographical flexibility needed for books and journals
-ConTeXt far surpasses LaTeX in my opinion. By `general' I mean not
-taking into account mathematics and the niche areas in which LaTeX
-excels so well. LaTeX was originally designed to keep the user from
-having to make typographical decisions; this, while arguably good for
-publishing articles and reports, really gets in the way for scholarly
-publishing purposes (though the wonderful memoir class by Peter Wilson
-begins to address this and other issues). ConTeXt on the other hand
-aims to give you the broadest possible range of typographic
-configurability right out of the box. And it does it in an
-across-the-board consistent manner (as opposed to loading possibly
-mutually incompatible packages).
-
-Another advantage of ConTeXt is the dynamism of its development team
-headed by Hans Hagen. For example, I received quick and positive
-feedback to my inquiries about developing native critical edition
-capabilities for ConTeXt and I am now working with Hans to help get
-this done.
-
-The potential of combining Omega's multilingual capabilities with what
-is surely becoming the best desktop publishing solution for scholarly
-purposes is truly immense. I strongly urge the developers of Omega to
-consider ConTeXt with the same (or perhaps even greater) importance
-than is given to LaTeX. ConTeXt is the wave of the future.
-
-The ConTeXt documentation, while thorough, is still a bit obscure so
-it takes a while to really get into it. Even now I am still more
-comfortable with LaTeX; as with any major software, ConTeXt certainly
-takes getting used to. Hopefully someone will publish a "ConTeXt
-Companion" or "ConTeXt Unbound" to make the transition easier. But
-for anyone who wants to compare LaTeX and ConTeXt here are a few good
-resources:
-
-The now out-of-print 4TeX5 manual has a good comparison of ConTeXt and LaTeX
-http://4tex.ntg.nl/4tex5/manual/
-
-LaTeX2ConTeXt.pdf helps in migrating from one to the other:
-http://berend.gameren.nl/tex/
-http://berend.gameren.nl/tex/LaTeX2ConTeXt.pdf
-
-Finally, Taco Hoekwater's "Comparing ConTeXT and LaTeX"
-http://www.ntg.nl/maps/pdf/20_42.pdf
-
-Of course Hans Hagen's latest documentation for ConTeXt itself (which is always being updated) is at
-http://www.pragma-ade.com/
-
-A beginners' help page is at
-http://home.salamander.com/~wmcclain/context-help.html
-
-Analogous to Lambda, I call ConTeXt for Omega "Gamma", for the third
-letter in the greek alphabet. To compile Gamma, make sure a recent
-version of ConTeXt is installed and do the following to make the
-format file cont-en.fmt:
-
-texexec --make --alone --tex=omega en
-
-(Hopefully in future versions of ConTeXt the format file will be gamma.fmt, gamma.ofmt, or something similar)
-
-To compile a Gamma file, run
-
-texexec --tex=omega my file
-
-=========Omega Fonts: type-om.tex===============
-
-The font selection scheme in ConTeXt is conceptually simple but
-practically rather tricky. It's a large cry from NFSS but is much more
-configurable (making it more tricky). I am embarassed by the amount of
-time it took me to get my own fonts working smoothly. Fortunately Hans
-was extremely responsive to all my requests for help and I suspect I'd
-still be lost in the labyrinth of ConTeXt's font selection machinery
-of typescripts and typefaces if not for his help and
-patience. Attached in this mail is type-om.tex which is a set of
-typescripts which loads omlgc and omarab fonts so they can be used
-seamlessly with ConTeXt. This file provides a model for setting up
-your own fonts in Gamma. But be sure to read mfonts.pdf from the
-ConTeXt documentation.
-
-IMPORTANT: you must change \texmf\omega\plain\base\grlccode.tex as follows:
-
-\typeout{Greek lccodes...} ===> \message{Greek lccodes...}
-
-You will notice that I have set the interlinespace for omarab as
-3ex. Can Yannis or anyone else suggest a better value? (I don't use
-omarab myself so I don't have a feel yet for what the best value would
-be).
-
-=========Language Environments: con-om.tex========
-
-Also attached is con-om.tex which is a BETA port of omega.sty to
-Gamma. While I have tested con-om.tex and it works fine so far, I am
-sure I have done some things wrong here. For exampe, the environment
-definitions use plain old \def whereas in ConTeXt there is a
-\definestartstop mechanism which is really the right way to do this. I
-also just replaced \DeclareRobustCommand with \def which may not be
-the best thing to do (advice needed!).
-
-=========Sample File: om-test7.tex==================
-
-om-test7.tex is a test Gamma file that works for Latin and the Greek,
-Arabic-Persian, and Urdu environments, and probably for the rest as
-well.
-
-=========Distribution==================
-
-These three files are a gift to the Omega and ConTeXt communities. I
-hope that eventually type-om.tex will be integrated into the ConTeXt
-distribution and that con- om.tex will be integrated into the Omega
-distribution to serve as the basis for a high-level interface to
-ConTeXt. The first two, especially con-om, need improvement but I hope
-that they make it easier for potential users of ConTeXt and Omega to
-get off to a good start and not have to spend as much time as I did
-getting things set up.
-
-Jonas, please feel free to add this stuff to your omega site as well.
-
-===========bugs======================
-
-There are a few areas where ConTeXt and Omega don't interact well. I
-sent a message to the ConTeXt list which I will forward to the Omega
-list a little later.
-
-=====================================
-
-Thnx 2 Hans Hagen again for his patience and help. As modest as this
-stuff is, I hope it helps to bring Omega and ConTeXt closer and as a
-foundation for further improvements by real TeXnicians.
-
-Best wishes
-Idris
-
-==========================
-Dr. Idris Samawi Hamid
-Depatment of Philosophy
-Colorado State University
-Fort Collins, CO 80526
-