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Conference vaxuum::document_ft

Title:DOCUMENT T1.0
Notice:**New notesfile (DOCUMENT.NOTE) now available (see note 897)**
Moderator:CLOSET::ADLER
Created:Mon Feb 09 1987
Last Modified:Thu Oct 31 1991
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:897
Total number of notes:4397

473.0. "Whither DVI_xxx?" by COOKIE::WITHERS (Le plus ca change...) Fri Jun 05 1987 14:44

    A simple question, but:
    
    If "DVI" stands for "DeVice Independant", why does document generate
    files of the variety DVI_xxx such as DVI_LN3?  I mean (to be coloquial)
    a DVI is a DVI is a DVI or it ain't DVI.
    
    Or, is this just a nomenclature issue and I really could use a DVI_LN3
    in the place of a DVI_LPR and it wouldn't matter?
    
    BobW
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473.1Not any moreWRONGO::PARMENTERVenusian or Venerean?Fri Jun 05 1987 15:386
    DVI used to stand for "device independent" and it still would if
    our supported devices all used the same fonts.  But they don't,
    so you are bumping up against vestigial nomenclature.  
    
    David Parmenter
    
473.2Are they ever independent?TOKLAS::FELDMANPDS, our next successFri Jun 05 1987 16:0715
    Are there any cases where a single DVI_XXX file can be used for
    more than one destination, merely by running DOCUMENT/NOTAG/NOTEXT?
    (Ignore the case where a final result file can run on more than
    one printer, such as LN03 files on LPS40's.)
    
    For that matter, I'll settle for any cases where I can get away
    with not having to run the TAG phase to get a different destination?
    
    My motivation is a) I'm running on a VAXstation; and b) I have to
    distribute documents to a review board, some of whom insist on
    machine-readable, while others prefer hardcopy postscript, while
    still others might prefer postscript but only have LN03's.  I'm
    forced to run Document multiple times, which gets to be frustrating.
    
       Gary
473.3CLOSET::ADLERFri Jun 05 1987 16:247
You can always get away with not rerunning the TAG phase to get a different
destination (provided you /KEEP the .TEX file). However, the only time you
can get away with not rerunning /TEXT is if you have a .DVI_LINE file and
want to generate output for TERMINAL, MAIL, and LINE destinations; that's
because those are the only three destinations that share the same fonts.

--Brian
473.4must use same doctypeCLOSET::ANKLAMMon Jun 08 1987 10:0714
    
    To clarify .3 a big: You can always rerun using /NOTAG, provided:
    
    1. You specified /KEEP to keep the .TEX file from the original
       run
    2. You use the same document type when you process the file. 
    
    In other words, the following may cause errors in the text formatter:
    
    $ DOCUMENT myfile REPORT LN03/KEEP=TEX
    $ DOCUMENT/NOTAG myfile LETTER POSTSCRIPT
    
    -pa
    
473.5it's device-independent, but not device-universalVAXUUM::DEVRIESThose are features, not bugsMon Jun 08 1987 13:5114
    And to pick up on the less significant point: the DVI file is still
    "device independent" in its syntax; it does not speak the specific
    formatting language of any known device.
    
    It is possible to write a device converter that can map the fonts
    used in the document to other fonts available, say, on the workstation.
    Some previewers and <prototype> online-documentation book readers
    have been known to work this way.
    
    But for high-quality output, you must format the document using
    the real font metrics of the target device -- and we've built VAX
    DOCUMENT for high-quality output.
    
    Mark