============================================================================== HELP.ENG (emTeX DISTRIBUTION) VERSION: 25-Sep-1990 ============================================================================== With modifications of 10-Jun-1992 This file contains the frequently asked questions about emTeX and their answers. If you have a question which is not here and you cannot find the answer in the documentation (or it is very difficult to find), please let me know. In the following, Q: starts the question and A: starts the answer. FONTS ===== Q: What are FLI files (files with extension .fli)? A: These are "font libraries". A single file contains several font files (PK or PXL). Further information can be found in fontlib.doc. Q: I have other printer drivers which cannot use font libraries; does this mean that I have to keep both the font library and the font files on the disk? A: No. The files in the font library can be unpacked with fontlib, that is, split up into single files again. The dvidrv printer drivers work both with font libraries and with single files. After unpacking, the font libraries are no longer needed. The font library file does, however, make a good backup as backing up many small files is inefficient. See fontlib.doc and dvidrv.doc (/pf*). The batch files ilf_*.cmd (rename ilf_*.bat under DOS) can be used for unpacking the font library files. Q: What is the difference between "cmr10 scaled 1200" (that is, "cmr10 at 12pt" and "cmr12"? Removing duplicate fonts would save quite a bit of space on the disk! A: The answer is given in The TeXbook, page 16. Each font is designed for a particular size, magnified fonts are just that, magnified: the stroke widths, height, width and spacing must be changed for the new size, they are not simply in proportion. Using a magnified font is a last resort for use when the correct font is not available -- unless, of course, the page is to be reduced after printing. There are parameter files (from John Sauter) to generate cm fonts in unusual sizes (other than 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17pt) but these are not yet in general use. Q: I already have a set of TeX fonts, do I need the FLI files mentioned in README.ENG? A: You can use your fonts as long as they are PK files (with ID 89) or PXL files (with ID 1001 or 1002). Fonts in GF format cannot be used (GFtoPK.exe will convert them). Q: I would like to generate my own fonts, how do I do this? A: Read the documentation for MFJob (mfjob.doc). An example: mfjob /i all m=lj mfjob /i latex m=lj mfjob /i emsy m=lj A couple of hours or days later you will find the fonts, as PK files, in the directory c:\newfonts. IMPORTANT: The more available memory, the faster! If you've loaded too many unnecessary programs and drivers, generating fonts may take days instead of hours. You should use minimal config.sys and autoexec.bat files. The GFtoDVI requires some additional fonts which are currently only available for LJ and FX and can be created by mfjob gftodvi If you're using big characters in SliTeX, you'll need additional fonts: mfjob slitex m=lj The batch files fli_*.cmd (rename fli_*.bat under DOS) can be used for copying the fonts into font libraries. Q: Why can't GF files be used? A: They use a great deal of disk space and the routines to read GF files would make the drivers even larger. Apart from this, GF files can easily be converted into PK files. For these reasons I have decided not to support GF files in the drivers. Q: I would like to print using 180dpi fonts for draft as well as 360dpi fonts for final copy but I haven't enough room on my disk for both the P6L and the P6H fonts. A: The drivers can reduce the size of the fonts they use. For instance, you can have the P6H fonts on your disk which the driver can reduce to 180dpi - though the result is not as good as using the P6L fonts. Fonts can be reduced by the factors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 - fractional values are not possible. You can, however, have different horizontal and vertical factors. Q: What is a virtual font? A: While we used cm fonts and 7 bit characters, everything was simple. But increasingly, built in font sets (PostScript!) were being used too. This caused difficulties when a document was to be previewed on the screen, or printed on a device which did not contain these fonts. Virtual fonts come to the rescue here: they consist of a TFM file (which contains information on ligatures and character widths) and a VF file. The VF file tells the printer driver how the different characters of the font are to be generated. For instance, whether the characters can be replaced by another font (e.g. cm font) or made up from two other characters. If we have an 8 bit virtual font in which the characters from 0 to 127 correspond to a cm font and the rest are accented characters, then the VF information for these accented characters can show that they are to be made from existing ones, for instance, letter and accent. Q: I am using another printer driver (or font) and the character spacing is wrong. A: The fonts should have corresponding TFM files and these do not match those provided with emTeX. Replace the emTeX TFM files with those matching the fonts you have and recreate the FMT files (using fmt.bat/cmd, gfmt.bat/cmd). The DVI files then generated will not work perfectly with the emTeX fonts. Really all TFM files (for the same font) should be identical but, over time, METAFONT and the cm sources have changed and, as a result, TFM files differ. Q: The drivers cannot find the fonts circle10, circlew1, lcircle1, or lcirclew. What can I do? A: The fonts containing circles, quarter circles, and discs have been renamed from circle* to lcircle*. You can make the dvidrv drivers change the names (circle* -> lcircle* or lcircle* -> circle*) by using the font substitution files newfonts.sub circle -> lcircle (old -> new) oldfonts.sub lcircle -> circle (new -> old) with the /ps* option. If you're using an old dvi file (circle* not found) with new fonts, you should specify /ps:\emtex\newfonts; if you're using a new dvi file (lcircle* not found) with old fonts, you should give the option /ps:\emtex\oldfonts. DVIDRV ====== General ------- Q: I have a PostScript printer but emTeX does not have a suitable driver. Where can I find a suitable driver? A: There are two very good (and free!) PostScript drivers: dvips by Tomas Rokicki and dvitops by James Clark. Both can be found on the net (ftp.uni-stuttgart.de and others). dvips 5.47 or later can be used with fli files. Q: My printer is connected to the serial port and prints nonsense. A: You should turn on the XON-XOFF protocol with the /ox+ parameter giving the port name as COM1, COM2, COM3 or COM4. Q: I am using a DVI driver which cannot use FLI files, do I have to have both the fonts and a font library on my disk? A: No - see the answer to this question in "Fonts" above. Q: The driver writes a DLG file (transcript) every time, how can I suppress it? A: Use the command line option /pt (without a filename). Q: I have a PCX file (or MSP file) which doesn't work with \special{em:graph}. A: Please send the file (and a correct hardcopy) to the emTeX author. Consider using bm2font. Q: I have inserted a picture using \special{em:graph} exactly as the documentation says but it appears too far to the right (or too low). A: The reason is that many pictures have an empty left or upper margin. To overcome this you can use the following trick - pass these commands through TeX: \noindent\special{em:graph xxx}\bye where xxx is the name of the graphics file. Then convert the DVI file into an MSP file with dvimsp /om. The /om option removes the empty margins. You can now use the resulting MSP file in your document. Q: Graphics inserted with \special{em:graph} appear too small (or too large). A: The driver copies the picture without altering its size - if this size is wrong then you must use a suitable program to adjust it. If you have written such a program, or you know of a public domain one, please send it to the emTeX author so that he can include it with emTeX. Consider using bm2font. Q: What's bm2font? A: It's a program written by Friedhelm Sowa which converts bitmaps (many formats) into PK fonts. It features scaling and dithering. bm2font is available for anonymous ftp on ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, directory soft/tex/utilities/bm2font. Q: dvihplj prints a black line at the right margin of PCX graphic files. A: It's a dvidrv bug. Get the beta test release from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, directory soft/tex/machines/pc/emtex/betatest. Q: What does the error message [cannot open dvidrv.err] mean? A: Driver error messages are read from a file called dvidrv.err. This file must exist in one of the directories listed in the PATH environment variable. If this file cannot be found then you will get the number of the error or warning and you can look up the text in dvidrv.doc or the driver manual. Q: When I use a driver from a batch file (for example, prthplj) I get the error message: Warning 1004: missing path name A: You haven't set the environment variables DVIDRVFONTS, DVIDRVGRAPH and DVIDRVINPUT. See README.ENG. Q: I use the \special commands for drawing lines and the driver aborts with error message 2000 or 3001. A: The drivers can handle up to about 2730 lines per sheet (you have to use bigTeX for defining such a great number of lines). Q: The driver issues fatal error 2003 if I try to let it print directly to a device such as PRN. A: This failure is due to a bug in DR-Dos 5.0. DR-Dos 5.0 cannot send a Ctrl-Z character to any device because the IOCTL system call which is used to enable output of Ctrl-Z to devices seems to be ignored by DR-Dos 5.0. Even printing to a file and copying that file to the device using "copy /b" does not work. It is reported that there is a new version of DR-Dos 5.0 with that bug fixed. Remedy: Obtain that new version or use OS/2, MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Q: The drivers cannot find the fonts circle10, circlew1, lcircle1, or lcirclew. What can I do? A: See the answer to this question in "Fonts" above. Q: I get the error message A numeric coprocessor exception occured and a numeric coprocessor exception handler was not registered with all drivers but dviscrs (note the `s' at the end) and dvivik. A: This problem should disappear when you remove the (n)nansi.sys driver from config.sys. Currently, I don't know any other remedy. Q: I get the error message A program started an invalid instruction without registering an invalid opcode exception handler with all drivers but dviscrs (note the `s' at the end) and dvivik. A: There seems to be a problem with old RAM disk drivers, which use neither XMS nor EMS. Q: I get the error message Fatal error 2100: DVI file corrupted (undefined font). A: It's a dvidrv bug. Get the beta test release from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, directory soft/tex/machines/pc/emtex/betatest. dviscr ------ Q: I have a video adapter which is not supported by dviscr. What can I do? A: Send me the hardware and software documentation. If it is not too difficult, then there is a good chance that I will extend dviscr. dvimsp ------ Q: A program refuses to use an MSP file which has been generated with dvimsp. A: Many programs can only use MSP files which have been generated by dvimsp with the option /o:1 and/or /ow+. dvihplj ------- Q: How can I stop dvihplj from deleting preloaded soft fonts in an HP LaserJet+? A: dvihplj deletes all fonts designated temporary. You should preload the fonts as permanent. You may still get problems due to the font numbers assigned to the cm fonts loaded by the driver duplicating those of the soft fonts. To avoid this use the /of# option: by setting /of:1000 the driver will use 1000 to 1031 for the fonts it downloads. Q: Characters go missing at the edges of the page. A: Set the correct page size with /h# and /w#. Q: My HP LaserJet II produces an interesting, but undesired, pattern in the middle of the page. A: This sometimes happens when the page height set with /h# is larger than the printer permits. Q: How can I include a PCL file (a print file for the LaserJet+ produced by another program) in a TeX document? A: If the file contains only graphics (no text) than you can convert it into a PCL file with PCLtoMSP and then include it with \special{em:graph}. Q: dvihplj doesn't work with my HP LaserJet+ compatible printer. A: Try the following commands: prthplj /!200 prthplj /od/!a00 Some printers may work with /oc1. dvidot ------ Q: Why is the printed output so bad? Sometimes lines overprint one another and at other times characters are cut by this horizontal lines. Sometimes lines are reduced in height. A: The fault is usually the printer's. To print correctly even the smallest paper movement must be executed exactly. You could try experimenting with tractor feed and sheet feed. This problem occurs more frequently with printers from some manufacturers than others but I am not going to name names. Remedy: Use 360x180 DPI instead of 360x360 DPI. Q: How can I make sure that the margin from the perforation is correct; I am using fanfold paper? A: Always feed an empty sheet through first and adjust the paper so that the margin is correct. The empty first page is necessary as many printers cannot start printing right at the top of the first page. Q: The output has `shadows' or the left margin is jagged. A: Create a new DOT file with empty BLANK_WIDTH or switch the printer to 10 CPI. TeX === Q: Has emTeX passed the trip test? A: Yes. Q: I have seen emTeX described as very fast but I find that abcTeX is much faster processing the file xyz.tex! Why is that? A: emTeX's speed depends heavily on the amount of memory available. If there is not much spare memory then it can happen that another TeX, which cannot run the large TeX files that emTeX can, will be faster. Q: There is no INITEX with emTeX, what can I do? A: INITEX *is* there, use "tex /i" (you should have read texware.doc). Q: TeX displays the error message ! TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [buffer size=2048]. A: Some text processing packages write complete paragraphs as one line to the text file. If a paragraph contains, say, 3000 characters, the line will contain 3000 characters, without regard to the appearance of the paragraph on the display. Remedy: Most of those text processing packages offer an option for writing the file formatted, i.e., line by line. Q: TeX crashes (I am using a somewhat unusual memory card). A: Use the /D option when running TeX. Q: Why can emTeX not use the FMT files created by other versions of TeX? A: FMT files are implementation dependent, for instance, the sizes of the different memory areas, hash size &c. You are very unlikely to find two implementations which can use the same FMT files! Q: When I try and print DVI files generated by emTeX on another machine, the printer driver says they are invalid. A: This usually arises from corruption while transferring the data - uuencode/uudecode or xxencode/xxdecode will solve the problem. Q: I would like to run my text through a spelling checker (style checker). A: Get dvispell from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, directory soft/tex/machines/pc/emtex/betatest. Q: emTeX generates a DVI file which differs from that produced by another implementation though the input file was the same. A: That may be expected. The optimization of position changes depends on the size of the DVI file buffer - and it need not be done at all. In addition, in some places, floating point arithmetic is allowed and used (\leaders). Floating point precision differs from machine to machine. Q: TeX breaks words after the first letter, for instance, T-est! A: You are using a macro package which is not written for TeX 3.0. You should recreate the FMT file and this time enter "\input 3.tex" as well. Q: TeX displays the following message (when run under DOS): Please insert diskette containing TEX.EXE into drive x press any key to continue A: This problem has not been analyzed yet. Copy tex.exe into the current working directory. F: I want to use SliTeX (for making slides). A: You have to create a fmt file. This is done by the batch files slifmt.bat/cmd or gslifmt.bat/cmd (German hyphenation patterns). You should switch to the \emtex\texfmts directory (or \emtex\btexfmts for bigTeX) before calling the batch file. If you need big characters and don't have fonts for SliTeX (these are contained in lj_sli.fli, for example), you have to create the fonts with mfjob slitex m=lj (replace lj with the mode required for your printer, see modes.mfj). Then the fonts must be available for the drivers: use fontlib and /pl* (see fli_*.cmd) or use /pf*. (Yes, this should be described in the Local Guide (local.dvi); but I haven't done this yet.) Q: How can I preload a TeX format, i.e., create an EXE file containing a FMT file? A: That isn't supported by emTeX because it isn't useful in my opinion. Q: Where's german.tex? A: Use german.sty. METAFONT ======== Q: Has emTeX's METAFONT passed the trap test? A: Yes. Q: Why doesn't METAFONT display a picture on my screen? A: METAFONT works only with the following adapters: CGA, EGA and VGA. In particular, if you have a Hercules compatible card then you will not get any graphic output. Q: emTeX does not have INIMF. What shall I do? A: INIMF is there, simply call METAFONT with "mf /i" (see also mfware.doc). Q: METAFONT displays error messages for some fonts or creates wrong TFM files. A: MF files, that don't contain a line similar to if unknown cmbase: input cmbase fi should usually be processed with plain.bas, not with cm.bas. Examples are the line and lcircle fonts. Q: METAFONT crashes (I have a rather unusual memory card). A: Use the /D option with METAFONT or MFJob. Q: I call METAFONT with the command line mf &cm \smode="mymode"; input cmr10 but the quotes disappear. A: You should use mf &cm \smode=\"mymode\"; input cmr10 instead, see mfware.doc. Q: Why does METAFONT not switch back into text mode when it is finished? A: Because that would clear the screen, removing the messages there. Q: Why does METAFONT overwrite the graphics with text? A: I was too lazy to put it right, besides it is not easy. The problem has been solved for OS/2. Q: METAFONT overwrites the graphics with blanks. A: Some versions of ansi.sys (and replacements) seem to cause this problem. Try without ANSI driver. Q: METAFONT displays the error message ! METAFONT capacity exceeded, sorry [buffer size=500] followed by ^^?^^?^^?... A: That's a bug in emTeX's METAFONT: The last line of a file should be terminated with CR, LF or Ctrl-Z. Remedy: Load the file into an editor, hit at the end of the last line and save the file. Q: The METAFONT that comes with emTeX is too slow. A: Use Wayne Sullivan's sbmf. Note that the speed of emTeX's METAFONT depends on the amount of available (conventional) memory: The more memory, the faster. GFtoDVI ======= Q: GFtoDVI cannot find gray.tfm or slant.tfm or black.tfm. A: See mfware.doc. Miscellaneous ============= Q: Will emTeX use a coprocessor if present? If not, would it run faster with coprocessor support? A: No. No. Q: I have only a 360Kb (or 720Kb) drive in my machine, how can I get emTeX on suitable disks? A: Find somebody with a machine which has both a 1200 MB (or 1440 MB) drive and one which can write the disks your machine requires. Copy the files from the emTeX disk on to your disks - all emTeX zip files have been made to fit on a 360Kb disk. The fonts, however, are rather more difficult as some files are larger than 360 KB. Copy the fonts on to a hard disk, if one is available, and then make a backup copy that your machine can read (for example, with BACKUP). You can also use BACKUP directly to copy one disk on to many, if you have two drives in the machine. This backup copy can then be restored to your machine (for example, with RESTORE). You can also use the SLICE program, if can find it somewhere. Q: The emTeX documentation is rubbish, I can write better! A: Please do so and then send it to me so I can include it with emTeX. Q: Where can I find an exact description of VFtoVP, VPtoVF, TFtoPL and PLtoTF? A: The English version of these are only to be found in the files vftovp.web, vptovf.web, tftopl.web and pltotf.web and they are not included with emTeX. If you write an introduction to these programs, I would be very interested in getting a copy so I can send it out with emTeX. Q: Where can I find a description of PiCTeX? A: You will find the answer in README.ENG. Q: Are there any convenient user interfaces for emTeX? A: Yes, there are many. A very simple one is contained in the TEXCAD package: gh.bat. The best one (in my opinion) has been written by Juergen Schlegelmilch and is available for anonymous ftp from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de [129.69.1.12], directory soft/tex/machines/pc/emtex-texshell. Q: I've problems with rusvm1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de. A: The correct name is rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (MV!) or rusinfo.rus.uni-stuttgart.de or ftp.uni-stuttgart.de. Q: Will there be emTeX etc. for other operating systems? A: No, that's not planned. A version for OS/2 2.0 is in beta test (ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, directory soft/tex/machines/pc/emtex/betatest). Q: How can I support the emTeX author? A: Unfortunately, this is the most rarely asked question. Ask the author. -------- End of HELP.ENG -------------