Baslinux mailing list

[baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org]

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> On Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 04:21:33AM +0000, keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org wrote:
> > There is a tetex howto.   In theory you can convert plain text to dvi with
> > tex, and defaults are 10 cpi, Roman, L and R justified.  Emacs has a TeX
> > mode.  Tex and latex both produce .tex.  Latex appears to be tex with
> > added features such as underlines.
>
> LaTeX has a different syntax, and is different from TeX in the way that
> its syntax is higher level - you supply LaTeX with the logical structure
> of the document.

I don't need a logical structure of my document, just a way to format for 
bold, underline, center, subscript, superscript, line and page break.
tex ought to be adequate.

> > Nano does search and replace but it is interactive, meaning you have to
> > tell it every time to replace.
>
> Vi's s&r doesn't require interactivity (if you request it for
> confirmations for every replace, it can be interactive), and it can map
> S&Rs to keys.
>
> > Can sed search and replace \c and \vo with \centerline and \voffset?
>
> Yes (I will use \center, since that's the notation for LaTeX):
>
> ---
> sed -e 's/\\c/\\center/' file
> ---
>
> But in vi (use a more capable version, like elvis from SW) it's a simple
> matter of an abbreviation:
>
> ---
> :ab \c \center
> ---
>
> which, when you enter \c, automatically replaces it with \center. You
> can abbreviate it wi
>
> > Could one write a script with sed to do several such replacements in one
> > sweep?
>
> Yes.
>
> > Or program Ctrl-F1 etc. to produce these strings?
>
> To call a script via Control-F1, giving current file as a first
> parameter:
>
> ---
> :cmap <C-F1> :!script %
> ---

Sounds even better than WP/DOS.

> > I would probably type the document first and then add the formatting.  tex
> > is supposed to adjust line lengths to fit the text length (not including
> > formatting commands) when converting to dvi, which you can view with xdvi.
>
> Or dvisvga (tmview), if you intend to use it in your usual svgalib-based
> work environment.

I would prefer some program to just view the .tex without converting to 
.dvi (with 'tex') or .pdf (with 'pdftex')?  I see the tmview manual comes 
in either .tex or .dvi, so there must be a way to view .tex.


'proof' is a shell based program to process and view TeX, LaTeX etc.

http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/proof.html and 
proof.zip (scripts proof and edit, proofrc, proof.1, README).  I tried to 
./install as instructed in README and got a syntax error near unexpected 
token `cmds=(''.  I copied the included proofrc to .proofrc in my home 
directory manually.  It comes with an internal editor 'edit' (search and 
replace, copy and paste, etc.).  proof wants X and virtex (part of 
tetex.tgz).  It says it needs an intact tex/latex environment and bash.

Karolis, please check out BL3 (add bash) with 'proof' and let me know what 
files from tetex.tgz are really needed (not all 65MB). It invokes other 
programs such as dvips and virtex, needs .fmt files for them, and can 
generate dvi or pdf or ps files.  It uses sed, grep, and I think viewers 
for dvi ps and pdf.  Needs xterm.


Sindi

> Karolis