[vox] Re: pdflatex vs. something else (was on vox-tech: compiling tutorial

[Mark K. Kim]

I also use pdflatex, with a Makefile.  That way one `make` does .dvi, .ps,
and .pdf all in one.  pdflatex's quality over dvi2pdf is too good to not
use.  I've also looked at dvipdfm, too, and its featureset looks good (it
supports links and colors, as I recall), but I never got it to work
(couldn't even get it to install) way back when I was still using RedHat.
But I use Debian now so maybe I should give it another try :)

Picture format is definitely an issue.  Been there.  Some formats prefer
eps, some jpeg.  Fortunately I don't have to use pictures too often.
Makefiles are also quite useful with converting picture formats,
thankfully.

-Mark


On Tue, 8 Jul 2003, Jonathan Stickel wrote:

> Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
>
> >>After a short peruse, it looks good.  I would recommend making a pdf as
> >>well as a ps.  For us folks coming from the land of the GUI (which I
> >>assume includes these high schoolers), we like to use Acrobat Reader.
> >>Use a good dvi->pdf translator, such as dvipdfm.  I like pdf's because
> >>the text is searchable and can be copy-pasted.
> >>
> >>Jonathan
> >
> >
> > good suggestion.  the students are going to be viewing this from my
> > teaching webpage -- it's where i dump all my teaching assistant stuff:
> >
> > http://www.dirac.org/p/teaching/
> >
> > there's a link to "compiling programs" that has postscript and pdf
> > versions, along with the tex source plus a makefile.
> >
> > btw, you'll get better results generating pdf from latex using
> > "pdflatex".  i used to use ps2pdf, but i've always been able to tell
> > there's a loss in quality.
> >
> > pdflatex is simply wonderful, and you can important all sorts of graphic
> > file formats which would be an utter nightmare to use in normal latex.
> > much nicer than vanilla latex (norm matloff introduced me to the wonders
> > of pdflatex).
> >
> > pete
>
> I tried (briefly) using pdflatex awhile back and didn't like it for
> primarily procedural reasons.  I tex in Emacs and use the pulldown menu
> to compile a dvi.  I then look at the dvi with Kdvi, which autoupdates
> if already open.  When it all looks right, _then_ I make a top quality
> pdf with dvipdfm, which can be run through Kdvi's menus.
>
> Anyway, pdflatex skips the dvi step, so I can't quickly see what my
> output looks like.  Also, I use primarily eps graphics, which pdflatex
> does not support.  I do know it supports many other graphics, but with
> cryptic syntax.
>
> Probably should switch the topic if we continue...
>
> I do like your compilation howto.  I just tried out the optimization
> flag; something I wasn't even aware of!
>
> Jonathan
>
> _______________________________________________
> vox-tech mailing list
> vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
>

-- 
Mark K. Kim
http://www.cbreak.org/
PGP key available upon request.