DVIM72-Mac is an application which allows you to print TeX .dvi files (such as those created by OzTeX, the public-domain implementation of TeX for Macintosh) on an Apple Imagewriter.
No Warranty
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This software is provided "as is" and is not guaranteed in any way. In fact it was constructed by an amateur, and you should be thankful if it works at all.
Fonts
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DVIM72-Mac, like OzTeX, uses standard TeX fonts. Unlike OzTeX, you can only use the .pk (packed) variant, not the .gf and .pxl types. If you want to print at 72 dots per inch, you need a set of 72dpi fonts at several magnifications; if you want to print at 144 dpi, you will need a set of 144dpi fonts. If you're short of space on your hard disk, you could configure OzTeX to use the same fonts for its previewer, but that has two disadvantages:
* The previewer will not show you any more detail than the printed output from DVIM72-Mac.
* If you use OzTeX to produce PostScript output for printing on a laser printer, you ought to use 300 dpi fonts.
A minimal set of 72dpi fonts is packaged with this program. If you have access to METAFONT, you can build more fonts yourself. I don't know whether any electronic archives will want to devote a lot of space to such fonts. If you send me a check for $10, I will mail you disks with all Computer Modern fonts at 72dpi and 144dpi at magsteps 0, 1, and 2.
A reasonable way to organize the fonts is to have one folder for Imagewriter fonts, with a subfolder for each magnification. For instance, you might have a folder named "IWfonts" containing subfolders named "72", "86", and "104" for 72dpi fonts. The names of the fonts can have several formats. For instance, the "cmr8" font at 72dpi and magstep 1 would be a member of the "86" folder named "cmr8", "cmr8.pk", or "cmr8.86pk".
The "Configure╔" Dialog
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The "Configure╔" dialog allows you to set several persistent parameters. The most important thing to set, before you try to print anything, is the font directory path. This should be a full path name, from the name of your hard disk down to the folder containing the Imagewriter fonts.
The "default hoffset" and "default voffset" parameters affect the position of printed material on the paper. The correct settings depend upon how you load paper in your ImageWriter. These distances can be expressed in the usual TeX dimensions: points, inches, millimeters, etc.
The "Print╔" Dialog
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The "Print╔" dialog is much like the standard Imagewriter Print dialog, in that you can set the pages to be printed, the number of copies, and auto feed vs. hand feed. Be warned that the page numbers are "dvi pages", not "TeX pages". That is, even if TeX's page counter has the values 0, 0, and 3, DVIM72-Mac will still consider them to be numbered 1, 2, 3.
The one unfamiliar item in the "Print╔" dialog is "Other commands". This is a holdover from the program's past as a command with Unix-style options. Certain obscure options can be specified only this way. For instance, suppose DVIM72-Mac is having trouble finding your fonts. To find out where it is looking for them, type "-d24" in the "Other commands" box. This will display messages in the console window whenever DVIM72-Mac attempts to open a file. Or suppose that you have a 10-page paper, but for some reason want to print only the even-numbered pages. Instead of specifying pages with the "From" and "To" boxes, put "-o2:10:2" in the "Other commands" box.
Font Substitution
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Suppose you have a document that contains the font cmr7 at magstep 4, but you don't have that font file around. A reasonable substitute would be cmr10 at magstep 2. You can specify such substitutions in a special font substitution file, a file named "texfonts.sub" located in your font folder. In the example above, the file would contain the line
cmr7.1493 -> cmr7.1037
The number 1493 comes from the calculation 144 * 5 * 1.2**4, rounded to the nearest integer. The 144 is the resolution; obviously, if you are using 72dpi fonts, use the number 72 here instead. Never mind where the 5 comes from.
If your font substitution file has more than one line, the lines must be separated with linefeeds as well as (or instead of) carriage returns. Sorry, this is another vestige of the program's past life on other computers. Utilities such as McSink can be used to add linefeeds. If you have an extended keyboard, you can also type a linefeed directly as control-J.
Memory Requirements
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I have set the Multifinder partition size at 500K, but the amount of memory you need depends on how many fonts you use and whether you use 72dpi or 144dpi resolution. If you use only 72dpi, you can probably reduce the memory requirement by about 150K. Unfortunately, the program does not warn you nicely when it's about to run out of memory, it just quits. So be generous with RAM, if you can.
The Console Window and Log FIle
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The text displayed in the console window is also recorded in a file named "cons.log". This might occasionally be useful if error messages go by too fast to read.
About DVIM72-Mac
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DVIM72-Mac is derived from dvim72, one of Nelson Beebe's family of public-domain portable dvi drivers. It was ported to the Macintosh by James W. Walker using THINK C 4.0. It is free software. The copyright notice in the "About╔" box is simply to ensure that it remains free, and to protect Symantec's copyright on the portions of the code derived from THINK C.
Please tell me about ideas for improvements.. But of course, since I'm not getting paid for this, I don't promise to act on such suggestions quickly.
Author's address:
James W. Walker
Department of Mathematics
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
e-mail: 76367.2271@compuserve.com
GEnie: JWWALKER
BITnet: n410109@univscvm
or even jwwalker@usceast.cs.scarolina.EDU . If I don't respond at one address, try another.
