Via: uk.ac.sheffield.dcs; Thu, 17 Dec 1992 16:07:28 +0000
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.next-l
Date:         Thu, 17 Dec 1992 15:58:27 GMT
Reply-To:     M.Crawford@DCS.SHEFFIELD.AC.UK
From:         M.Crawford@DCS.SHEFFIELD.AC.UK
Subject:      LaTeX installation (long)

Hi Sven,

I hope the following will help; I'd guess it's still valid, though it will
presumably depend on what version of the OS you are running.

I'm cc-ing this to the list as I hope it's of sufficient use to enough
people; my apologies to those for whom this is not the case.

I'd also appreciate feedback from anybody who knows if there is newer
information etc.  We haven't upgraded to 3.0 yet...

Have fun,

Malcolm.

---

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc
From: tlm@nextasy.physics.mcmaster.ca  (Tom Marchioro)
Subject: Installing and Upgrading NeXT-TeX (LONG)
Keywords: TeX, upgrade
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1992 21:50:13 GMT

INSTALLATION:  to install NeXT-TeX you'll need two files from the
extended OS, TeXdist.tar.Z and the installation script Install_TeX.
The former is quite large, about 7 Mb, while the latter is small.
It it's not already there drop TeXdist.tar.Z into /usr/tex (which
you'll need to make) and put the install script into /usr/bin.
(If you have the extended OS these will both already be in place).
Then, as root, type Install_TeX and sit back for a few minutes.
You're all done!

Now "hard" and "easy" are subjective, and I don't want to get into
an argument over it, but I've installed MacTeX, CTeX, emTeX,
Textures, and NeXT-TeX, and there's doubt in my mind that NeXT-TeX
has the easiest installation to be found.

A few notes on this:  (1)  TeXdist.tar.Z contains only binaries
and libraries, there is no need for a C compiler, so even those
without the extended OS can go through this process straightforwardly
once they get the two files.  (2)  The TeX installation takes up
about 14 Mb total (including a pretty full set of fonts) but the
TeXdist.tar.Z and some other extra junk are floating around at the
end of the installation. Also, the TeXdist.tar.Z has to be unpacked
while the installation is going on, then repacked, etc.  The upshot
is the following:  if you're tight on space be forewarned that
doing the installation will require roughly 35 free Mb, *including*
your swapfile (i.e. if your swap file is 20 Mb then you need an
additional 15 Mb free to start the installation).  After the
installation is done you can remove the TeXdist.tar.Z file, which
now takes up 7 useless Mb.  You can also delete the files in
NextLibrary/TeX/tex/src which are *extremely* old versions of the
source for TeXview and dvips.  (3)  In /usr/tex you'll find the
file ntman.dvi, which is a TeX document about NeXT-TeX.  Keep it
on-line for documentation, or print it out and then delete the
file. It's somewhat out of date (Rokicki and I are writing a new
one) but with a little careful reading should answer 99% of your
questions about NeXT-TeX. The areas in which it's particularly out
of date are covered properly  in dvips.tex which will be
described below.

FONTS:  NeXT-TeX includes a full version of Metafont, TeX's
companion program for "making" fonts.  What Metafont actually does
is to take Metafont source files (with the .mf extension) and
generates both  "TeX font metric files"  (.tfm files) which are
the basic typesetting blocks of TeX and the bitmap screen and
printer fonts (called .pk for "packed raster" fonts). NeXT-TeX
comes with a "complete standard" set of .tfm fonts, as well as the
"basic" .pk ones.  You will probably need additional .pk files,
and two means are provided for this:  (a)  If space isn't a major
problem then, as root, run the NeXT-TeX font making script by typing
/usr/lib/tex/Make_Fonts and you will be queried about what fonts
to make.  The basic rule is, if a few megabytes of space aren't
too crucial just "make all" and be done with it.  (b)  If space
*is* a major concern then let NeXT-TeX itself make only those fonts
which you actually use, *as you need them*.  NeXT-TeX is, to my
knowledge, the only version of TeX capable of making it's .pk fonts
"on the fly" for either the printing device *or* the screen.
Generation of printing fonts is handled automatically in the basic
installation. To make the screen fonts "as needed" go to the
Preferences panel in TeXview and  select the "Generate Fonts as
Needed" option.  NeXT-TeX will now make only those fonts you actually
use (generating a .pk font takes about 1 minute, and some pages may
require two or three new fonts,  so TeX may run a
little slowly at first, but  the font needs to be made only once.
Thus, after a few documents NeXT-TeX should fly).

Yet another possibility is to use mainly postscript fonts, such as
Times-Roman instead of Computer Modern, since postscript fonts (1)
need no .pk files as they're "rendered" to the screen or printer,
thus saving space and (2) will generally look better on the screen
because of the NeXT's Display Postscript display [this was not
always true in the past, and *will not* be unless you install the
latest version of TeXview as per the instructions below.  The reason
is that the older versions had a tiny bug in rendering the postscript
to the screen which made the PS fonts slightly distorted.  I noticed
this bug in the course of tracking down another bug in TeXview].
There are also various postscript math fonts now available, including
the Blue Sky ones, a new set of public domain ones, and the Math-Time
fonts (specifically designed to go with Times-Roman) designed by Michael
Spivak and sold by Rokicki himself.

UPGRADES:  There are a variety of excellent upgrades (in various
levels) to parts of NeXT-TeX available from the archives.  These
upgrades repair various minor bugs, add a great many new features,
and, in the latest versions, significantly streamline the NeXT-TeX
user interface.  [Note, these are upgrades to TeXview and dvips,
which are owned by Rokicki, who freely gives them out.  NeXT-TeX
itself is owned by NeXT and is distributed only through the
conventional channels.]  To upgrade your TeX installation
you will need some subset of the  the following files by anonymous
ftp from Labrea.stanford.edu (36.8.0.47):

nexttex.tar.Z
nexttex-alpha.tar.Z
texview-a9.tar.Z
dvipsXXXX.tar.Z    <where XXXX is the highest available number,
                     Last time I checked it was 5490  >

The procedure is simple: If you want to upgrade to a "stable"
version of TeX (i.e. a version which Rokicki considers relatively
bug free) then get and unpack nexttex.tar.Z and follow
the (absolutely accurate and complete) instructions in the README
file.  (takes about 3 minutes).  You've now updated to the "latest"
stable version of TeX The *only* problem I've heard arising is that
if you have one of the older cubes you may have an outdated version
of the tex.pool file.  If so, TeX will generate a variety of error
messages when you try to dump the new formats. Just go back to
Labrea and get the file nextpool.tar.Z and replace
/NextLibrary/TeX/tex.pool with it.  Then repeat the upgrade
instructions in the README file.  Again, all of this can be done
*without* a C compiler, so even those with 105 slabs can do it.

I strongly suggest that EVERYONE using NeXT-TeX at least upgrade
to this level because (1) there are a few helpful bug fixes and
(2) this upgrade institutes the New Font Selection Scheme (NFSS)
for NeXT-TeX. The NFSS has become the "standard" (as much as anything
is ever standard in the computer world) way of naming fonts, and
in particular postscript fonts.


To install the "latest" versions of dvips and TeXview you
have two options:  if you have a C compiler  you  can
"make" them by getting and unpacking  texview-a9.tar.Z and
the latest dvips.tar.Z. Go into the main directory of each
and type "make" and after the churning stops type "make install"
(the latter must be executed as root).  Note that if you do things this
way you must first have done the nexttex.tar.Z installation.


Alternatively, because of the number of NeXTs with small discs,
possibly without the C compiler, I've put together a package similar to
nexttex.tar.Z which contains the latest TeXview,  dvips, etc  in
binary form, so no need for a compiler.  I've passed this
package along to Rokicki and itshould be on labrea by the time you
read this message.  The package is called nexttex-alpha.tar.Z.  If you
don't have a compiler (or don't feel like running going through the
difficulties of the two stage installation) just grab this, unpack, and
follow the installation instructions inthe README file (which are
essentially the same as for nexttex.tar.Z).  I can also send this file to
anyone who wants it by NeXTmail.  This "latest" version has all sorts of
nifty features, including support of color, cropping of graphics, the
ability to make EPS files from TeX, etc.It also comes with the file
dvips.tex, which is a manual for dvips that is far
more up-to-date than ntman.dvi, particularly about the NFSS, and thus
should be checked out by any serious TeX users.

WARNING(s)  WARNING(s) WARNING(s)

1)  Tom Rokicki  asked me to say that he considers TeXview-a9 and the
recent versions of dvips to be "alpha" software, with the
attendant possibility for serious bugs which he may not be able to track
down, so please use at your own risk.  Having satisfied his wishes I'd
like to say that I personally use these programs an average of 3-4 hours a
day and have found *absolutely no problems* with them whatsoever (as
opposed to, say, texview-a7 which was  a real dog :-)    So I personally
recommend going to the "latest" upgrade, if for no other
reason than the far better rendering of postscript fonts.

2)  There are "compatibility" questions for various version of TeXview and
dvips. If you upgrade to the "latest" version of either one then you will
also have to upgrade the other, i.e., if you get TeXview-a9 then *you
must* use dvips5485 or higher (see the README files which come with each
package).  I think this is another good reason to just grab
nexttex-alpha.tar.Z, since it contains "compatible" binaries.

A FEW FINAL THINGS:  Several other programs have come on line to make TeX
far easier on the NeXT.  Perhaps the best, particularly if you like Edit,
is called TeXmenu. The latest version. 2.2, is on the archives in the
submissions directory. TeXmenu is perhaps the nicest PD app I've seen
(Bravo Harald!!), providing a seamless integration between
Edit, TeX, TeXview and dvips.  If you also install the TeXutilities
package then you enable one button spell checking of TeX documents!  It
even has a GUI which can be  configured to the user's taste (immodestly, I
must admit this was something I suggested to Harald when we met in
Munich).

Another useful package is PSTricks, by Timothy Van Zandt, available by
anonymous FTP from princeton.edu (128.112.128.1).  PSTricks is a
collection of PostScript macros for TeX, which are particularly useful on
a machine like the NeXT which uses Display Postscript.  Tim has also
developed seminar.sty, a LaTeX system for preparing talks which seems (in
the little time I've played with it) far superior to  SliTeX.

Finally, I've been a beta tester for the new Equation Builder app which
wasrecently announced.  This seems to be an excellent application, far
better than Expressionist or MathType on Macs, and  includes a "copy as
TeX"  feature (among many others).  The user interface is far more
comfortable than the one in Framemaker, so anybody who needs to write
complicated  equations but is not comfortable typing them in TeX or
Framemaker should check out   Equation Builder.

<disclaimer:  I have no relationship with the authors of any of these
packages other than as an unpaid best tester>

Okay, far too long a post, but hope some of the information is helpful and
that the 3.0 CD-ROM gets here soon so we don't have to worry about such
things
anymore.

Tom
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU