HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bq276@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Seese)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: page maker help
Date: 3 Sep 1992 03:24:46 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc4.ins.cwru.edu


I've found an easier way to ``fudge'' spacing between paragraphs:
If (and it's a big if) you add an extra return between paragraphs
you can double click on the blank line, go into the Type menu,
select leading, and change the leading of that single line alone.
It's not as noticeable as changing the leading within a paragraph
and the change happens before your eyes, so that you can quickly
add or take away a little bit of leading.
-- 

Michael Seese
Cleveland, OH (and darned happy to be here)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
From: breuer@uni-paderborn.de (Dirk Breuer)
Subject: help needed Micrografx Designer 3.1 and Win 3.1
Keywords: Designer 3.1; Windows 3.1
Organization: Uni-GH Paderborn, Germany
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 16:03:17 GMT

hello everybody,
I've got a severe problem with Designer 3.1 and Windows 3.1 Fonts.
I've installed Designer 3.1 after Windows 3.1. Text in Designer charts
is displayed and can be edited only in the last font i've installed
with Windows. Usual this is wingdings, so the text is unreadable
in Designer. I would like designer to display the font in the text 
correctly, i.e. Times Roman as Times Roman and not as Arial etc.
Any Help would be appreciated

thanks in advance
Dirk Breuer 
rb@hni.unbi-paderborn.de
From: jeff@spdcc.com (Jeff Fabijanic)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: page maker help
Keywords: pageMaker, paragraph spacing
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:21:33 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Sep3.172133.5242
Organization: Business Images

Michael writes:
>I've found an easier way to ``fudge'' spacing between paragraphs:
 [describes adding extra empty paragraph and changing point size]

I think a much more professional (and cleaner) solution to this
would be to use the "Paragraph" command and change the "space after"
value for the 1st paragraph to the appropriate amount. This way you
avoid adding an extra paragraph and can maintain a more consistent
style profile throughout your text.

Tschus,
Jeff
From: beig@dmi.ens.fr (Jacques Beigbeder)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: word processor in Cyrillic for PC?
Keywords: PC Cyrillic Keyword
Date: 29 Aug 92 17:39:47 GMT
Reply-To: beig@dmi.ens.fr
Organization: Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France

Please answer by e-mail since I don't subscribe to comp.text.desktop.

A friend of mine is looking for a word processor in Cyrillic
for PCs. Two questions:
. which software can he buy? Do standard software (Word,
  Framemaker, Ventura, etc.) have good extensions to non-
  english languages? Good : for hyphenations for instance.
. does the standard keyboard (102 keys) work with these software?

Thanks in advance.

-- 
Jacques Beigbeder                    | Internet: beig@ens.fr
Service de Prestations Informatiques |  Bitnet : beig@frulm63
Ecole Normale Superieure             |     Tel : (33-1) 44-32-37-96
F75230 Paris Cedex 05                |     Fax : (33-1) 44-32-20-80
Xref: sparky comp.text.desktop:357 comp.os.ms-windows.apps:2505
From: cchapman@matd.gatech.edu (Charles H. Chapman)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop,comp.os.ms-windows.apps
Subject: Re: Referring to figures in WP5.1/WP4Win
Date: 4 Sep 92 21:19:07 GMT
Followup-To: comp.text.desktop
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <Bu2Krq.7D6@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> varkki@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Varkki George) writes:

>WordPerfect maintains a list of figures and tables. Is there some way
>of referring to a figure in the body of the text, so that if the
>figure or table number changes, the reference in the text is also
>updated?
>

Yes -- Look at Reference, Automatic in Help to see how to do it.

Chuck

Charles H. Chapman  (GTRI/MATD)             (404) 528-7588
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:     ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!matd!cchapman
Internet: cchapman@matd.gatech.edu
From: fritz@ra.csc.ti.com (Fritz Whittington)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: page maker help
Date: 25 Aug 92 17:00:32 GMT
Organization: Texas Instruments

In article <1369600008@igc.apc.org> jwhiting@igc.apc.org (Jerry Whiting) writes:
 [ . . . ]
>No, you can't anchor text or graphics in PageMaker.  And yes, it's bad 
>typography to vary the leading within a story.  You can fudge things like 
>the set width value and/or hyphenation zone to do copyfitting.  Tracking too.
>
>jwhiting

Also, you can use type sizes other than those listed in the menu (by
clicking on "Other" and typing it in.)  You can also use fractional
point sizes this way.

Rather than vary the leading (which is *very* noticable and
ugly-looking), sometimes a slight fudge on the "space before new
paragraph" can be used to make a story fit, without being noticed.

A change in type size or leading, even if consistent throughout a
*story*, may still need to be judged in the context of the entire
publication (collection of stories).  Might often be better to just
leave the column short, or fill it with a dingbat.


-- 
Fritz Whittington     Texas Instruments, 12840 Hillcrest #200, Dallas, TX 75230
fritz@csc.ti.com                Office: +1 214 917 7437    FAX: +1 214 917 7487
_Since I am not an official TI spokesperson, these opinions contain no spokes._
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
From: ins628a@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr B.M. Wallace)
Subject: Is there a shareware desktop publisher?
Organization: Monash University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 02:25:59 GMT

Is there a shareware desktop publisher around?
I am looking to use one for school.   If there is one where will I find it?


Thanks in Advance.


Brett Wallace

Brett Wallace ins628a@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: sbonnema@rtsg.mot.com (Stuart D. Bonnema)
Subject: Increasing capacity
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 15:28:30 GMT

In some of the documents I am working on there are a great many
tables. As a result, I am encountering  the dreded "Tex capacity
exceeded [main memory size=65531]" error. The FAQ says to see 
you local guru to increase the size. We have no such being here.
Can anyone give me a step-by-step?

Stuart
sbonnema@fwrdc.rtsg.mot.com
From: eijkhout@cupid.cs.utk.edu (Victor Eijkhout)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: DUAL HANDOUTS/PERSONAL NOTES MACRO IDEA
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:01:57 GMT
Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Department of Computer Science
Distribution: world
Reply-To: eijkhout@cupid.cs.utk.edu (Victor Eijkhout)
NNTP-Posting-Host: cupid.cs.utk.edu

In article <1992Sep2.154831.22839@athena.mit.edu>, lasmith@athena.mit.edu (Lones A Smith) writes:

|>      I am making class  notes. I would like on the same file to add my own
 comments that will NOT APPEAR on the notes. I do not want two separate files,

This idea has been implemented in version 2 of my comment.sty.
There you can define your own comment versions and tell LaTeX to
\excludecomment{ForMeOnly}
where you type

\begin{ForMeOnly}
..
\end{ForMeOnly}

Look in the usual archives and (scoop! I haven't even announced this
yet officially) my own ftp site: look in /pub/eijkhout/tex on cs.utk.edu
(login as anonymous).

|> Lones Smith 

Victor.
From: dfr@usna.navy.mil (PROF D. Rogers (EAS FAC))
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: A macro for giving the current time of day.
Date: 24 Aug 92 00:54:49 GMT
Organization: U. S. Naval Academy

In article <455@muller.loria.fr> roegel@loria.fr (Roegel Denis) writes:
!It seems to me that there were still three little mistakes in what sent
!Duncan Farrow and Donald Arsenau:
!
!
!
!\newcount\hour \newcount\minute
!\def\now{\ifnum\time<60       %check to see if it's just after midnight
!          12:\ifnum\time<10 0\fi\number\time am %and act accordingly.
!         \else
!            \ifnum\time!719\chardef\a=`p\else\chardef\a=`a\fi 
!%%% backquotes here ------------------^  and -----------^
!
!          \hour=\time
!                          \minute=\time 
!%%% that was forgotten ---^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
!
!          \divide\hour by 60 %\hour is the result of an integer divide
!          \ifnum\hour!12\advance\hour by -12\advance\minute by-720 \fi
!          \number\hour:%
!          \multiply\hour by 60 %Use is made of the integer divide here.
!          \advance\minute by -\hour
!          \ifnum\minute<10 0\fi\number\minute\a m\fi}
!
!It works fine and it is so easy !
!
!Denis (roegel@loria.fr)

How about someone posting the complete corrected macro?

Dave Rogers

Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: stein@uni-paderborn.de (Benno Stein)
Subject: TREES within TeX 
Keywords: tree, tex, graphics
Organization: Uni-GH Paderborn, Germany
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 10:45:07 GMT

For anybody who is concerned with generating trees within
TeX, maybe there are good news...

I found a package which enables one to generate  a n y
k i n d  of labeled n-ary trees. This program produces
optimum designed output and works as follows:
Tree descriptions within TeX are automatically translated
into PicTeX and LaTeX commands respectively.
The packages is handy and works very fast. It is available
on many computer platforms and really inexpensive (50DM,
but I think, students wont have to pay the full price).

Anybody who is interested in such a package should contact
the author (daniel@uni-paderborn.de)

Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: hossein@unocss.unomaha.edu (Hossein Saiedian)
Subject: Q: Using UNIX meta-chars in a file path to be used by LaTeX and dvips
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 16:23:06 GMT


I have a number of postscript files that I like to use
in \special or \epsffile commands when running LaTeX
and dvips on two different UNIX machines. The relative
location of these files with respect to my home directory
is the same on both machines (i.e., ~/TeX/inputs). But my
home directory is different on each machine. One is
/faculty/... and the other one is /home/...

Is there anyway I can use the same source LaTeX and sty
files without modifying the file paths? Note that niether
one of the following works:

	\epsffile{$HOME/TeX/inputs/foo.ps}
	\epsffile{~/TeX/inputs/foo.ps}

When running dvips or dvi2ps, I get an error message
that the file was not found. (BTW, /TeX/inputs is
the same disk area shared by both machines.)

Is there any solution?

Many thanks in advance...
Hossein
From: hank@ducvax.auburn.edu
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: PCTeX phone number
Date: 28 Aug 92 23:59:34 GMT
Organization: Auburn University, AL

In article <1992Aug28.182229.12067@tamsun.tamu.edu>, henrik@stat.tamu.edu (Henrik Schmiediche) writes:
> could someone who knows the phone number of PCTeX please email it

PCTeX
12 Madrona Street
Mill Valley CA 94941
voice: 415 388 8853
fax  : 415 388 8865
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: nico@cs.ruu.nl (Nico Verwer)
Subject: Re: LaTeX question: frames with round corners
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 15:02:46 GMT
Organization: Utrecht University, Dept. of Computer Science

In <1992Aug31.101253.18366@cs.ruu.nl> nico@cs.ruu.nl (Nico Verwer) writes:

>>>I would like to have a macro similar to \fbox, but with rounded corners.

Apparently there is some interest, judging from the mail I got.
So here is the latest-and-greatest version. There are two improvements:
- Previously, \ovalfbox generated overfull \hboxes. This is now fixed.
- When a \parbox or \minipage, or something else which is big, is put in
  a \ovalfbox, things inside stick beyond the frame, which is extremely
  ugly. To solve this, there is an extra \Ovalfbox macro. (Thanks to
  Mauro Orlandini.)

The macros should be put in a style file. Since some questions I got
were related to this, I have included a ready-for-use style file here.
---------------8<-------------------------
% THIS IS OVALFBOX.STY of August, 3, 1992.
% Unfortunately, \fboxrule (LaTeX book p.195) does not work,
% since we use ovals (circle font).
% Instead, use \thinlines and \thicklines.
% However, \fboxsep does work!
\def\ovalfbox#1{%
  \mbox{% mbox, leaves vertical mode!
    \begingroup \newdimen\@ovdp
    \boxmaxdepth\maxdimen
    \@ovttrue \@ovbtrue \@ovltrue \@ovrtrue
    \setbox\@tempboxa\hbox{#1}%
    \@ovxx\wd\@tempboxa \advance\@ovxx2\fboxsep
    \@ovdp\dp\@tempboxa \advance\@ovdp\fboxsep
    \@ovyy\ht\@tempboxa \advance\@ovyy\@ovdp \advance\@ovyy\fboxsep
    \@tempdimb \ifdim \@ovyy >\@ovxx \@ovxx\else \@ovyy \fi
    \advance \@tempdimb -2\p@
    \@getcirc \@tempdimb     % sets \@tempboxa en \@tempdima
    \@ovro \ht\@tempboxa \@ovri \dp\@tempboxa
    \@ovdx\@ovxx \advance\@ovdx -\@tempdima \divide\@ovdx \tw@
    \@ovdy\@ovyy \advance\@ovdy -\@tempdima \divide\@ovdy \tw@
    \@circlefnt
    \setbox\@tempboxa
    \hbox{\if@ovr \@ovvert32\kern -\@tempdima \fi
          \if@ovl \kern \@ovxx \@ovvert01\kern -\@tempdima \kern -\@ovxx \fi
          \if@ovt \@ovhorz \kern -\@ovxx \fi
          \if@ovb \raise \@ovyy \@ovhorz \fi}%
    \ht\@tempboxa\z@ \dp\@tempboxa\z@
    \raise-\@ovdp\hbox to\z@{\box\@tempboxa\hss}%
    \hbox to\@ovxx{\hss\rm #1\hss}%
    \endgroup}}
\def\Ovalfbox#1{{\advance\fboxsep 1em \ovalfbox{#1}}}
%                                 ^^^
% Change this if you want less/more space
\endinput
---------------8<-------------------------
From: dougcc@brt.deakin.edu.au (Douglas Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Installing TeX at a "secure" site?
Date: 27 Aug 92 08:23:13 GMT
Organization: C&CS, Deakin University

In article <1992Aug13.221040.2123@almserv.uucp>, alufml@purple.fnma.com
(Francois-Michel Lang) writes:

|> I just received a tape of the Unix TeX distribution from the
|> Northwest Computing Support Center and handed it over to the
|> sysadmin folks at my site for installation.  Now they tell me
|> that they will *not* install it because TeX is public domain
|> software, which is verboten here.  (Why, given this policy,
|> we can still use GNU Emacs is another matter...)

Well this is easy, TeX is not PD, so that should solve your problem.  Well,
maybe not --- they'll say free software is forbidden as well, right?

It is of course moronic to judge the trustworthiness of software by the
amount of money that was paid for it.  

People who are familiar with TeX and Knuth know that TeX is one of the most
robust and well-understood pieces of software available anywhere regardless
of price, and yet Knuth has made it available to anyone  free of charge. 
It makes my blood boil that your site's alleged security policy perverts
Knuth's generosity into a stigma of untrustworthyness for TeX.  

|> In an effort to convince the sysadmin folks that installing and
|> running TeX will not destroy the world as we know it:

Provide them with a C.V. of D.E. Knuth, and a complete set of "Computer &
Typesetting".  Point to the complete annotated source code for TeX.  Point
out that any O/S upgrade is far more likely to produce a security hole than
any user mode software, especially high quality software like TeX.  If all
else fails, stage a coup, and install support staff who understand that
their role is to provide service to users, not to frustrate them.
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: qian@wam.umd.edu (Yong Qian)
Subject: Re: Insuffient memory for PCTeX 386 V3.0 ?
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 16:17:30 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.143347.29614@wam.umd.edu> qian@wam.umd.edu (Yong Qian) writes:
>I tried to install the PCTex 386 V.3.0 on my 486DX-33 with 4MB Ram. I can't
>even finish the installation. I got the error message: "insufficient memory"
>for loading the programs. I was't using 386 Big, which requires 386 and 4MB.
>Do I need some memory manager like QEMM or what? I am using DOS5.0.
>
>Anyone can help me on this? Thanks.
>

I've soved the problem by switching the WINDOW3.1's himem.sys and emm386.sys
to DOS5.0's himem and emm386. Thanks for the netter's suggestion.

Sorry for post here again. I just can't cancell my own test-- the feed just
don't ewcognize that it is my post.

--yong


Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: rthien@c3po.rdt.monash.edu.au (rj thien)
Subject: Scientific Word in Down Under ?
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 07:12:03 GMT

Hi there netters,

I was wondering if anyone could provide some information
regarding the availability and price of the "Scientific
Word" LaTeX front-end package in Australia.

I would also be happy to acquire this package from an
overseas source.

Thank You!


	Roger......


-- 
| Roger J. Thien, Department of Robotics and Digital Technology      
| Monash University (Caulfield Campus), P.O. Box 197, Caulfield East,
| VIC 3145, AUSTRALIA.  Email: rthien@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au,       
| rthien@rossum.rdt.monash.edu.au, rthien@daneel.rdt.monash.edu.au
From: casterln@are.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Casterline)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: verb|trouble| using verbatim.sty
Date: 26 Aug 1992 00:04:39 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley, Agr & Res Economics
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: are.berkeley.edu

Is this a bug in the verbatim.sty ( {v1.4i} {92/01/20} {91/12/18}),
or am I missing something?  The following works fine:

\documentstyle[verbatim]{article}
\title{Nice Title}
\author{me \\ {\tt casterln@are.berkeley.edu} }
\begin{document}
\maketitle
Hello, \verb|everyone|.
\end{document}
 
But if I change the author line to use \verb:

	\author{me \\ \verb|casterln@are.berkeley.edu| }

I get a missing } error.  Indicating that the verb is not picking
up the ending character.  I never know how much of the error message
to send along, but here is what I'm seeing.  Any help appreciated.

Gary


------ From the log file ---

This is TeX, C Version 3.141 (format=lplain 92.5.20)  25 AUG 1992 16:47
**showbug
(showbug.tex
LaTeX Version 2.09 <25 March 1992>
(/usr/local/TeX/tex/macros/latex/article.sty
Standard Document Style `article' <14 Jan 92>.
(verbatim.sty
Style-Option: `verbatim' v1.4i <92/01/20> (RmS)
English Documentation          <91/12/18> (RmS)
\every@verbatim=\toks14
\verbatim@line=\toks15
) (showbug.aux)
! Missing } inserted.
<inserted text> 
                }
<to be read again> 
                   \endtemplate 
\endtabular ->\crcr 
                    \egroup \egroup $\egroup 
\end #1->\csname end#1\endcsname 
                                 \@checkend {#1}\expandafter \endgroup \if@e...

\@maketitle ...bular}[t]{c}\@author \end {tabular}
                                                  \par }\vskip 1em {\large \...

\maketitle ...ge \global \@topnum \z@ \@maketitle 
                                                  \fi \thispagestyle {plain}...
l.7 \maketitle
-- 
Gary Casterline                        Agricultural & Resource Economics
casterln@are.berkeley.edu              207 Giannini Hall
(510) 642-5583                         UC Berkeley, CA 94720
From: rommel@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Kai-Uwe Rommel)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: dvips and umlauts
Date: 31 Aug 92 07:25:58 GMT
Organization: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany

I use dvips 5.490 and afm2tfm 7.0 by "Radical Eye Software".

I have tried to use PostScript fonts instead of the CM fonts and it
works great so far (smaller spool files, faster printing) but there are
no german umlauts. Apparently they are not even in the DVI file so I
guess the TFM files for the PostScript fonts are wrong. 

Is this a known bug and is there a fix? Did I do something wrong?

Kai Uwe Rommel

/* Kai Uwe Rommel --- rommel@informatik.tu-muenchen.de */

DOS ... is still a real mode only non-reentrant interrupt
handler, and always will be.                -Russell Williams
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
From: tolk@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Robert Tolksdorf)
Subject: Re: Fancy script fonts found in Mathematical journals
Organization: Techn. University of Berlin, Germany
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 07:56:48 GMT

sdyck@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Sheldon Dyck) writes:

>Does anyone know where I can locate the fancy script font found in many 
>mathematical journals such as the Bulletins of the American Mathematical 
>Society? I have looked through the pk directory in ymir.claremont.edu but
>with no luck. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
>


you could try Ralph Smith's Formal Script Symbol Fonts, a family
called rsrf. the characters should be what you are looking for. They
should be at the usual servers, as the author's located in 
\cal ifornia :-)

Ciao Robert

--
| Robert Tolksdorf       	| Technical University Berlin |
|  				| FB 20 - FLP - FR 6-10       |
| e-mail: tolk@cs.tu-berlin.de  | Franklinstr. 28/29          |           
| tel:   +30/314-73558 (FR6078)	| D-1000 Berlin 10 / Germany  |
From: leichter@zodiac.rutgers.edu
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Italic and Slanted Roman, HELP !!!!!!
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:38:25 GMT
Organization: Rutgers University Department of Computer Science

In article <1992Aug31.151151.8593@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, atmos@vax.oxford.ac.uk
writes:
| I am having a few problems matching the slant of 10pt Slanted Roman 
| characters (cmsl10) to that of the 10pt Text Italics (cmti10). 
| 
| This is all because I do not like the italic number 4 and I want to replace 
| it with a slanted Roman 4 instead, in headers etc. 
| 
| I have been experimenting with the \fontdimen parameters, but they appear to
| have no effect. Am I missing the point? 

Yes.  The slant was set when the fonts were produced.  You can no more change
the slant of the bitmaps than you could change the slant of the italic charac-
ters on an IBM typeball.

The \fontdimen parameter that measures slant reports the value that was used
when the font was created.  You can change it, but that just amounts to
telling TeX to ignore reality and use THIS number.

I suspect you are used to Postcript, which can create modified fonts on the
fly from the basic outline descriptions.  TeX fonts are bitmaps and are not
modifiable.  (Yes, there are TeX-to-Postscript DVI drivers, so you could have
TeX use a "re-slanted" version of an outline-defined version of cmsl or cmti,
if you had them.  However, you would need some extrinsic mechanism for telling
the printer (driver to tell the printer) to do this for you, and some mecha-
nism for building an appropriate TFM file to tell TeX about the resulting
character parameters.  Just changing the slant would likely not give you
decent results - the actual character width and height change when you "re-
slant" them, so TeX would place them incorrectly.)
							-- Jerry
From: jim@n5ial.chi.il.us (Jim Graham)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: SEEKING TERRIBLY USEFUL TeX MACRO 
Distribution: world
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 23:55:05 GMT
Organization: Me? Organized? Hah! :-)

In article <BtwFD6.Gx2@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ritley@uiucmrl.bitnet writes:

> I have found that it is awkward to provide empty space for figures
> at the top of selected pages in a document.

> I have a feeling such a macro would be VERY difficult to write.
> However, it would be TREMENDOUSLY useful.

not really (difficult, that is).  the one I used (perhaps there's a
better way?  I'm all ears/eyes!) was something like:

text ending previous page
\vfill\eject  % force a page break
\null\vskip3truein    % skip 3in for your fig

a better way would probably be just to use a box containing that
size vertical skip.  the problem with the above is that if you
re-arrange your text, you may have to redo all of those hard page
breaks you've inserted....not fun.

of course, I haven't needed to do this for so long, I've never really
applied it since the days when I was still a TeXnical novice.

it's a start, at least....
   --jim

--
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
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Newsgroups: comp.text.tex