DirectTeX Pro (beta) is out!! (fwd)

[Petr Sojka]

TeXuje u nas nekdo na macu?
Petr Sojka

Hello everybody,

a beta release of DirectTeX Pro is available on the
anonymous ftp server hadron.tp2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de in
the directory /pub/development. This version of DirectTeX
no longer requires the use of MPW, but runs in
its own _integrated environment_.

It includes TeX _and_ TeX--XeT, METAFONT, dvips (actually
dvihps: the DVI to HyperPostScript translator which can
be used to produce hyperdocuments via Adobe Acrobat),
drivers for your screen (also with HyperTeX capabilities:
LaTeX '\ref' and table of contents automatically become
hypertext links!) and your printers (weither PostScript
or not), TeXware tools (including exotica such as PatGen2,
or CWEB), MFware tools (including a home-breawed version
of Metafont producing PK files), automatic and online
generation of missing fonts, possibility of erasing
all-PK-files-not-used-for-a-user-defined-amount-of-time,
a small editor + support for other text editors (like
Alpha...), a project manager, LaTeX2e, and and and ...

The integrated environment provides you with a powerful
scripting language. Here are some integrated commands:
AddItem          Delete           GetItem          Request
AddMenu          DeleteItem       GetListItem      Save
Alert            DeleteMenu       Help             SearchPath
Beep             Dir              History          Select
Catenate         Directory        If               SelectApp
ChangeItem       DownLoad         Kill             SelectLine
ClearScreen      Echo             MacDVI           SelectWindow
ClipToRez        Edit             MenuCommand      Set
CloseApp         Execute          Move             SetKey
CloseWindow      Exit             Open             Shift
Compress         Files            OpenApp          Status
Confirm          FontMgr          Print            TextTrans
Count            For              ProjectMgr       Which
CreateAlias      GetFileName      RShell           Windows
But you can also call (via Apple Events) your own tools
(for example Flex tools), once you have compiled and linked
them with a special C library. And of course you can create
you own menus and personalize entirely your environment.

Sounds complicated? you have online help to guide you on
every step.

You should compare this version of TeX with the current
release of OzTeX, you'll be surprised...

Bug reports and comments are welcome, please mail them to

  wilfr at hadron.tp2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

A short note: The manual is still in work, it contains
some new parts about how to use the new DirectTeX Pro,
but some other parts are missing (a reference manual) and
some other parts, taken from DirectTeX for MPW,
and still unmodified. But it is a beta version...

Another note: MPW is still supported, you may use the
latest release of DirectTeX under MPW as well, or use both
simultaneously...

A final note: for those who have worked with MPW DirectTeX:
now you can preview one or many DVI files and edit text
files simultaneously.

Thank you, and keep on TeXing,

Wilfried

PS: DirectTeX Pro is still ShareWare, but every registered
user of the old DirectTeX may use it without additional
fees. The ShareWare fee is $100 or 150.-- DM, see the manual for
more details...