[Yum] Other formats for HOWTO, documentation in general

[Robert G. Brown]

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003, Rick Thomas wrote:

> In the mean time, he suggested that you use scalable fonts (type 1). 
> Since you seem to be using Tex to format the document, it may be
> worthwhile to know that, according to Hanz, the current miktex has built
> in support for the right kind of fonts.  <http://www.miktex.org/>
> 
> Also in the mean time, I tried reading (and printing) the pdf with
> Adobe's free acrobat reader, and all was well (though the bitmap fonts
> looked pixelated at high magnification -- which was to be expected.)  So
> I *can* get a readable version of the document.  Thanks for that!  (<-8)
> 
> You may decide that this is all too much like real work, and I won't
> blame you.  But I thought you might find it interesting.

Well, I've actually been on something of a quest to get a latex->pdf
mapping that doesn't screw up the fonts on SOMEBODY'S system, and it is
actually remarkably difficult.  If I go with type 1 fonts, for example,
I'm certain to get into difficult with older linux systems that don't
have them handy, I expect.  And I've already added A4 and USL versions,
because my European cousins have pointed out that "inches" are something
that only exist in the minds of those of us with cultural roots in an
archaic system of measurement developed by the people who brought us
shilling and pounds and pounds and ounces and slugs.

I'm also heavily stuck on our current installation of latex because it
is used throughout the department and I am one of the people who have to
help others with it.  However, I'll look into type 1 fonts and see if it
can generate them.  A major part of the problem is the close connection
between metafont and tex, where metafont is (or was, last time I went
into its guts) primarily an antialiased bitmap font generating tool.  So
latex's fonts are typically bitmap at the absolute base as long as they
are tied to the metafont generator.

   rgb

> 
> Thanks again, for tackling this project!
> 
> Rick
> 
> 
> 
> "Robert G. Brown" wrote:
> > 
> > I'm getting a few requests for additional formats for the HOWTO -- SO I
> > fixed up the Makefile and it now automagically installs at least the
> > following:
> > 
> >   html,(US Letter,A4)x(PS,PDF),Text (badly), tarball of sgml sources
> > 
> > All of these formats are accessible from
> > 
> >   http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/yum_HOWTO.php
> > 
> > Note that I >>still<< haven't had time to finish this off, although I'm
> > very close now -- my current pass is going to shorten it a lot and
> > finish off the section on actual yum commands.  Perhaps over TG break.
> > 
> > In the meantime, hopefully between the HOWTO (almost finished), the
> > article:
> > 
> >   http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/General/yum_article.php
> > 
> > (finished, I suppose) and the man pages (which are the one authoritative
> > and up to date reference anyway:-) and this list, nobody feels totally
> > deprived of yum documentation as they start out using it.
> > 
> > The one thing yum is still missing (even in draft form) is a FAQ.
> > Anybody want to tackle this?  I'll do it, but probably not before next
> > year.
> > 
> > BTW, the FAQ should probably swallow Seth's short "Questions" section on
> > the yum site for starters, and then go on to things like
> > 
> >   Q: What does it mean if yum complains that my rpmdb is corrupt?
> > 
> >   A: That your rpmdb is corrupt.  Yum will refuse to work with a corrupt
> > rpmdb as it is not safe to do so.  Maybe it's your fault it is corrupt
> > you wicked "rpm --force --nodeps" user you.  More likely your system
> > glitched while ths db was being actively written and it was left in a
> > corrupt state.  All you can do is try rpm --rebuilddb and pray.  If
> > prayer doesn't work, try threats.  If threats don't work, try
> > reinstalling...
> > 
> > See?  It can be fun and easy to write documentation!
> > 
> >    rgb
> > 
> > --
> > Robert G. Brown                        http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
> > Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
> > Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
> > Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Yum mailing list
> > Yum at lists.dulug.duke.edu
> > https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/mailman/listinfo/yum
> 

-- 
Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu