Introducing VTEX/Linux

Taco Hoekwater,
Bittext VOF
Michael Vulis,
The City College of New York & MicroPress, Inc.
abstract
This document is a short introduction to VTEX for Linux, a partial
port of VTEX that is free for non-commercial use. The most
interesting feature of the compiler is the use of PDF as a
backend instead of DVI.
keywords
VTeX, Linux, port, MicroPress
What is VTEX/Linux
VTEX/Linux is a partial port of the VTEX/Win TEX compiler.
It does not include the shell and/or Visual Tools and
there is currently no intention to port those to Linux.
Even the port of the compiler itself is partial. Out of the
three modes of VTEX/Win, only two are supported (PDF
and DVI, but not HTML); the DVI mode is essentially useless,
since the main advantages of VTEX’s DVI mode under
Windows rely on VTEX DVI drivers which are not being
ported.
Thus, for all practical purposes, VTEX/Linux should be
viewed as the PDF-mode compiler only.
Of the bitmap graphics filters that are supported by the
Windows version of VTEX, only three have been ported to
Linux at this time: the filters for PCX, TARGA and BMP
files. Other filters that are used by the Windows version
(currently consisting of filters for GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF)
may be made available in the future.
On the other hand, VTEX/Linux includes the full
PostScript support (GeX) of the Windows version. This
includes both the EPS inclusion and inline PostScript, including
support for PStricks, PSfrag, and GeXX.
The port requires Linux version 2.0, and at least 16Mb
physical memory (without X11) or 32Mb (with X11). Below
this limit performance will be unacceptably slow.
What is VTEX
VTEX is a full TEX GUI development environment forWindows.
It features various visual tools to simplify input of
formulas and LATEX pictures; a built-in editor with syntax
highlighting and an integrated previewer; TEX DVI and PDF
backends; an optional HTML backend; direct inclusion of
EPS pictures and various bitmapped file formats; support
for IF4, PFB, TTF and PK/MF fonts; virtual fonts; an in-line
postscript interpreter (GeX); and a number of other extensions
to the TEX language.
VTEX’s current version number is 6.30. An (outdated)
review of version 5.10 by Erik Frambach appeared in MAPS
#20, page 142–145.
Direct PDF-generating mode
Starting at version 6.0, the VTEX Typesetter supports PDF
output generating mode. Since PDF has become the defacto
standard for publishing scientific documents online,
this advance feature should prove of great benifit to users.
Creation of PDF files from existing documents in TEX and
LATEX is transparent. Various types of graphics, hyperlinks
and outlines are fully supported.
Unlike other TEX systems supporting PDF output, VTEX
builds the PDF directly from the TEX/LATEX source by the
typesetter. There is no need for indirect conversion procedures
like
TEX ! DVI ! PostScript ! PDF
or
TEX ! DVI ! PDF.
The typesetter incorporates Type1 and IF4 fonts with font
subsetting (only the actually used characters are included
in the PDF file). This generally results in compact and good
PDF output. To ensure high quality of the produced files,
the distribution comes with many standard TEX fonts in
Type1 format.
GeX: Direct PostScript Graphics
Version 6.2 of VTEX introduces another major enhancement
to TEX: an integrated PostScript processor/PDF translator.
This extension (called GeX for ‘Graphics eXtension’)
allows easy one-pass handling of Encapsulated
PostScript files (.eps).
As of version 6.3, there is also direct support for the
PStricks and PSfrag packages. There is more information
on GeX in a separate article in this MAPS issue.
The most important feature of GeX is that in most cases
there is nothing new to learn: GeX will take graphic[sx],
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software Taco Hoekwater & Michael Vulis
PStricks, PSfrag or seminar code without any changes. But
there is more to GeX: with PostScript feedback, entirely
new macro packages become possible.
Huge TEX
VTEX uses a HugeTEX version of the typesetter, which
does away with many of traditional TeX limits. For example,
the string, pool, and hyphenation space sizes are
now limited only by the available memory. Perhaps the
most irritating of TEX limits is the 256-font limit, which is
no longer present: you can easily produce documents with
thousands of fonts.
Installation and usage
A minimal working VTEX system is provided by Micro-
Press. It consists of several archive files. The web-pages
mentioned below contain detailed up-to-date instructions
on how to install VTEX/Linux.
A large portion of the VTEX distribution contains usual
TEX files (for instance macros and font metrics). There
are, however, some differences between the VTEX files and
the ‘standard’ files, and you will be better off by using the
MicroPress’ supplied files.
Only the most essential components are duplicated to
assure that the crucial packages function as tested by us.
GeX relies on very recent corrections of PStricks, seminar
and graphicx; these corrections may not yet be available in
your TEX distribution. You can supplement the distribution
with other standard packages available on CTAN as you
desire.
General layout and configuration files
VTEX uses a file hierarchy that can be installed anywhere
on your system. The default directory layout under Linux
currently mimics the Windows version, with a number of
subdirectories under one central directory called “vtex”. It
is very easy to adopt the system to your specific requests.
Unlike most other versions of TEX, VTEX does not rely
on environment variables, but rather on a configuration file,
vtexlnx.rc (in the user’s home directory). This file uses a
typicalWindows .ini file syntax; it is divided onto several
sections, each defining its variables. The only other needed
configuration file is a font mapping file called type1.rc.
Both files are text; the exact description of these files
needed for the customization is provided on theWeb pages.
PDF Links and commands
One of the advantages of .pdf files is the ability to produce
hyperlinks. VTEX supports both external and internal
links. On the low level, this is accompished by VTEX
\special commands. Several other commands are available
to add information to the PDF document like Creation
Date and Outlines. On the high level, all of the features are
supported by S. Rahtz’s hyperref; most features are also
supported by a smaller and faster pdf.sty.
EPS file inclusion
The PDF backend supports .eps file inclusion. Prior to version
6.2, this inclusion was based on using GhostScript for
some of the work. You had to install and set up GhostScript
and ask VTEX to use it— otherwise the included file will
be blank.
Starting at version 6.2, VTEX/Win includes the GeX
converter which usually does a much cleaner job.
VTEX/Linux does not support GhostScript piping at all
since the use of GhostScript currently offers no advantages
over GeX.
To activate GeX make sure to specify the -ox switch in
the command line.
Unsupported VTEX syntax
Due to the limitations of the .pdf format, some VTEX extensions
will not work. Specifically
Grey rules are not supported (but colored rules using
specials are).
Font effects, except for slant, aspect, and the simplest
form of outline are not supported on Type 1 fonts. All
font effects are supported on .if4 fonts.
License Terms
VTEX/Linux is currently available at no charge for personal
non-commercial use. To use VTEX/Linux for any
commercial purposes, you must obtain a commercial license
from MicroPress.
At this time the software cannot be placed on any other
server or on CD’s.
Support and availability
VTEX/Linux is distributed on the internet from the following
URL:
http://www.micropress-inc.com/linux
and by special permit also from the NTG’s web server:
http://www.ntg.nl/VTeX.
The NTG has set up a mailing list where you can turn to for
help and discussion. The list is called ntg-vtex@ntg.nl.
You can subscribe to this list by sending a message to
majordomo@ntg.nl with body “subscribe ntg-vtex”.
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