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What is TeX/LaTeX and why do I need it?
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---------------------------------------
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TeX is a high quality typesetting system developed by Donald E. Knuth which is
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available for a wide variety of operating systems. LaTeX is a macro package
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originally developed by Leslie Lamport which makes life with TeX easier, in
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particular for complex typesetting tasks. The current version of LaTeX is
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referred to as LaTeX2e and offers e.g. improved font selection as compared to
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the long outdated LaTeX 2.09 which should no longer be used.
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All typesetting tasks in PyX are ultimately handed over to TeX (which is the
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default) or LaTeX, so that PyX cannot do without it. On the other hand, the
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capabilities of TeX and LaTeX can be used for complex tasks where both graphics
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and typesetting are needed.
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I don't know anything about TeX and LaTeX. Where can I read something about it?
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Take a look at CTAN (cf. :ref:`ctan`) where in `CTAN:info
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<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/>`_ you may be able to find some useful
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information. There exists for example “A Gentle Introduction to TeX” by M. Doob
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(`CTAN:gentle/gentle.pdf <http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/gentle/gentle.pdf>`_)
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and “The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e”
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(`CTAN:info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf
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<http:www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf>`_) by T. Oetiker
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et al. The latter has been translated into a variety of languages among them
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korean (which you will not be able to read unless you have appropriate fonts
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installed) and mongolian.
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Of course, it is likely that these documents will go way beyond what you will
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need for generating graphics with PyX so you don't have to read all of it
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(unless you want to use TeX or LaTeX for typesetting which can be highly
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There exists also a number of FAQs on TeX at `CTAN:help <http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help>`_.
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CTAN is the *Comprehensive TeX Archive Network* where you will find almost
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everything related to TeX and friends. The main CTAN server is `www.ctan.org
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<http://www.ctan.org>`_ but there exists a large number of mirrors around the
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world. You can help to reduce the load on the main server by using
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`mirror.ctan.org <http://mirror.ctan.org>`_ which will redirect you to a mirror
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nearby. A list of known mirrors is available at
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`http://mirror.ctan.org/README.mirrors
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<http://mirror.ctan.org/README.mirrors>`_.
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In this FAQ, ``CTAN:`` refers to the root of the CTAN tree, e.g.
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`http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/ <http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/>`_. The
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links to CTAN in this document point to the main server but you might consider
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using a server closer to you in order to reduce traffic load.
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Is there support for ConTeXt?
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-----------------------------
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No, and as far as I know there no plans to provide it in the near future.
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Given the close ties between ConTeXt and MetaPost, ConTeXt users probably
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prefer to stick with the latter anyway.
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TeX and LaTeX commands useful for PyX
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=====================================
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How do I get a specific symbol with TeX or LaTeX?
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-------------------------------------------------
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A list of mathematical symbols together with the appropriate command name can
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be found at `CTAN:info/symbols/math/symbols.pdf
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<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/math/symbols.pdf>`_. A
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comprehensive list containing almost 6000 symbols for use with LaTeX can be
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obtained from `CTAN:info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-a4.pdf
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<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-a4.pdf>`_.
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In some cases it might be necessary to install fonts or packages available from
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CTAN (cf. :ref:`ctan`).
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.. _undefined_usepackage:
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Undefined control sequence ``\usepackage``
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------------------------------------------
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The command ``\usepackage`` is specific to LaTeX. Since by default PyX
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uses TeX, you have to specify the correct mode::
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text.set(mode="latex")
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Undefined control sequence ``\frac``
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The command ``\frac`` is only available in LaTeX. The equivalent to
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``\frac{a}{b}`` in TeX is ``{a \over b}``. As an alternative you may ask for
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the LaTeX mode as explained in :ref:`undefined_usepackage`.
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Missing ``$`` inserted
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----------------------
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You have specified TeX- or LaTeX-code which is only valid in math mode.
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Typical examples are greek symbols, sub- and superscripts or fractions.
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On the PyX level, you can specify math mode for the whole string by using
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``text.mathmode`` as in ::
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c.text(0, 0, r"{\alpha}", text.mathmode)
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Keep also in mind that the standard Python interpretation of the backslash as
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introducing escape sequences needs to be prevented
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On the TeX/LaTeX level you should enclose the commands requiring math mode in
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``$``'s. As an example, ``$\alpha_i^j$`` will produce a greek letter alpha with
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a subscript i and a superscript j. The dollar sign thus allows you to specify
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math mode also for substrings. There exist other ways to specify math mode in
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TeX and LaTeX which are particularly useful for more complex typesetting tasks.
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To learn more about it, you should consult the documentation
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:ref:`intro_tex_latex`.
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Why do environments like ``itemize`` or ``eqnarray`` seem not to work?
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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An itemize environment might result in a LaTeX error complaining about a
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``missing \item`` or an eqnarray might lead to a LaTeX message ``missing
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\endgroup inserted`` even though the syntax appears to be correct. The TeXnical
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reason is that in PyX text is typeset in left-right mode (LR mode) which does
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not allow linebreaks to occur. There are two ways out.
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If the text material should go in a box of given width, a parbox can be used
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like in the following example::
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text.set(mode="latex")
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c.text(0, 0, r"\begin{itemize}\item a\item b\end{itemize}", [text.parbox(w)])
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Occasionally, one would like to have the box in which the text appears to be as
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small as possible. Then the ``fancybox`` package developed by Timothy Van Zandt
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is useful which provides several environments like ``Bitemize`` and
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``Beqnarray`` which can be processed in LR mode. The relevant part of the code
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text.set(mode="latex")
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text.preamble(r"\usepackage{fancybox}")
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c.text(0, 0, r"\begin{Bitemize}\item a\item b\end{Bitemize}")
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Other environments provided by the ``fancybox`` package include ``Bcenter``,
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``Bflushleft``, ``Bflushright``, ``Benumerate``, and ``Bdescription``. For more
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details, the documentation of the package should be consulted.
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.. _fontshape_undefined:
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Font shape ``OT1/xyz/m/n`` undefined
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------------------------------------
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You have asked to use font ``xyz`` which is not available. Make sure that you
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have this font available in Type1 format, i.e. there should be a file
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``xyz.pfb`` somewhere. If your TeX system is TDS compliant (TDS=TeX directory
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structure, cf. `CTAN:tds/draft-standard/tds/tds.pdf
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<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/tds/draft-standard/tds/tds.pdf>`_) you should
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take a look at the subdirectories of ``$TEXMF/fonts/type1``.
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File ``…`` is not available or not readable
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-------------------------------------------
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Such an error message might already occur when running the example file
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``hello.py`` included in the PyX distribution. Usually, the error occurs due to
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an overly restrictive umask setting applied when unpacking the ``tar.gz``
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sources. This may render the file mentioned in the error message unreadable
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because the python distutil installation package doesn't change the file
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permissions back to readable for everyone.
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If the file exists, the problem can be solved by changing the permissions to
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No information for font ``cmr10`` found in font mapping file
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Such an error message can already be encountered by simply running the example
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file ``hello.py`` included in the PyX distribution. The likely reason is that
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the TeX system does not find the cmr fonts in Type1 format. PyX depends on
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these fonts as it does not work with the traditional pk fonts which are stored
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Therefore, the first thing to make sure is that the cmr Type1 fonts are
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installed. In some TeX installations, the command ``kpsewhich cmr10.pfb`` will
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return the appropriate path if the cmr fonts exist in the binary Type1 format
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(extension ``pfb``) required by PyX. If the command does not work but the TeX
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system is TDS compliant (:ref:`fontshape_undefined`), a look should be taken at
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``$TEXMF/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm`` where ``$TEXMF`` is the root of the ``texmf``
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If the Type1 fonts do not exist on the system, they may be obtained from the
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CTAN (cf. :ref:`ctan`) at `CTAN:fonts/cm/ps-type1/bluesky
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<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/cm/ps-type1/bluesky>`_). See the
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``README`` for information about who produced these fonts and why they are
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If the Type1 fonts exist, the next step is to take a look at ``psfonts.map``.
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There may be several files with this name on the system, so it is important to
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find out which one TeX is actually using. ``kpsewhich psfonts.map`` might give
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The most likely problem is that this file does not contain a line telling TeX
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what to do if it encounters a request for font ``cmr10``, i.e. the following
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line may be missing ::
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cmr10 CMR10 <cmr10.pfb
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It is probable that the required lines (in practice, you do not just need
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``cmr10``) are found in a file named ``psfonts.cmz`` which resides in
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``$TEXMF/dvips/bluesky``.
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One solution is to instruct PyX to read additional map files like
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``psfonts.cmz`` or ``psfonts.amz``. This can be achieved by modifying the
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appropriate ``pyxrc`` file which is either the systemwide ``/etc/pyxrc`` or
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``.pyxrc`` in the user's home directory. Here, the names of the map files to be
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read by PyX should be appended separated by whitespaces like in the following
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fontmaps = psfonts.map psfonts.cmz psfonts.amz
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The same effect can be achieved by inserting the following line into the
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text.set(fontmaps="psfonts.map psfonts.cmz psfonts.amz")
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Note that the default map (``psfonts.map``) has to be specified explicitly.
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An alternative approach consists in modifying the TeX installation by inserting
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the contents of the desired map files like ``psfonts.cmz`` into
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``psfonts.map``. Probably, ``psfonts.map`` recommends not to do this by hand.
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In this case the instructions given in the file should be followed. Otherwise,
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``psfonts.cmz`` should be copied into ``psfonts.map`` while keeping a backup of
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the old ``psfonts.map`` just in case. After these changes, PyX most likely will
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be happy. When inserting ``psfonts.cmz`` into ``psfonts.map`` it may be a good
250
idea to include ``psfonts.amz`` as well. ``psfonts.amz`` contains information
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about some more fonts which might be needed at some point. Making these changes
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to ``psfonts.map`` will imply that the TeX system will use the cmr fonts in
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Type1 format instead of pk format which is actually not a bad thing, in
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particular if ``latex / dvips / ps2pdf`` is used to generate PDF output. With
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fonts in pk format this will look ugly and using Type1 fonts solves this
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problem as well. When ``pdflatex`` is used to create PDF files, Type1 fonts
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I have Type1 fonts in ``pfa`` format. How do I obtain the corresponding ``pfb`` files needed by PyX?
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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still needs to be answered
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I want to use a font other than computer modern roman
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-----------------------------------------------------
274
As long as you have a font in Type1 format available, this should be no
275
problem (even though it may cost you some time to set up things properly).
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In the simplest case, your LaTeX system contains everything needed.
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Including the following line into your code will probably work ::
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text.set(mode="latex")
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text.preamble(r"\usepackage{mathptmx}")
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and give you Times as roman font.
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If you own one of the more common commercial fonts, take a look at `CTAN:fonts
286
<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/>`_ and its subdirectories as well as at
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the web page `http://home.vr-web.de/was/fonts.html
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<http://home.vr-web.de/was/fonts.html>`_ of Walter Schmidt. It is not unlikely
289
that somebody has already done most of the work for you and created the files
290
needed for the font to work properly with LaTeX. But remember: we are talking
291
about commercial fonts here, so do not expect to find the fonts themselves for
294
If none of these cases applies, you should spend some time reading manuals
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about font installation, e.g. `CTAN:macros/latex/doc/fntguide.pdf
296
<http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/doc/fntguide.pdf>`_ (of course, I
297
do not expect font wizards to read the last few lines).
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Can I use a TrueType font with PyX?
300
-----------------------------------
302
Not directly as PyX only knows how to handle Type1 fonts (although it is
303
possible to get LaTeX to work with TrueType fonts). However, you may use
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``ttf2pt1`` (from `ttf2pt1.sourceforge.net <http://ttf2pt1.sourceforge.net>`_)
305
to convert a TrueType font into a Type1 font which you then install in your TeX
306
system (cf. :ref:`other_font`). You will loose hinting information in the
307
conversion process but this should not really matter on output devices with not
added
removed
faq/tex_latex.rst
