[OS X TeX] three questions and two suggestions for macdvix

[Paulo Abreu]

Hi:

I have two suggestions for the documentation of macdvix
(Installation.rtf):

Warn the user that if the resolution of the Metafont mode (Options ->
Metafont Mode ...) doesn't match the resolution set in Options ->
Display Page Geometry, then macdvix won't use most of the fonts that
might already exist on the system with that Metafont mode, because the
resolution won't
match. Instead, it will try to create its own set of fonts, with the
mismatched resolution/mf mode, and will succeed and used them, which
might or might not be what the user wants. If the "Make Pk fonts" is not
set, it will be as though the fonts don't exist on the system.

I don't consider this an error. The user might actually want to use the
mismatched resolution/mf mode font to save disk space, save memory and
increase display speed. But a warning might be a good idea. It took me
quite sometime to understand why madvix wasn't using the fonts I had
just created with "allcm" and "allec".

Perhaps letting the user set the resolution inside the metafont mode
window instead of the display page geometry is a good idea...

Another suggestion:

Although Tom Kiffe says in the documentation:

"The binaries (or symbolic links to them) for teTeX and ghostscript
should be located in /usr/local/bin. If not, you will have to edit the
setenv command in MacDviX.app/Contents/MacOS/macdvix.script to reflect
the actual location of the binaries."
perhaps a specific suggestion about 
adding
/usr/local/teTeX/bin/powerpc-apple-darwin-current/
to the script might be a good idea. In my case, without this, mktexpk
wasn't found and the fonts weren't being created.

And now the three questions:

1) Why can't I set the units in Options->Display Page Geometry ? Is this
normal? I know I can click on the lower left corner of a page to change
them, but then the next time macdvix is launched, it reverts back to
inches...


2) Display speed: I have a 500mhz g3, my fonts are 600dpi with 1bit
color depth, and I get the feeling the display is slow. Couldn't it be
improved? Is it a limitation of Quartz? The reason I am asking this is
that I have xdvi running on 166mhz pentium, and it displays faster,
using the same font resolution.


3) Live scrolling: I wish it could be implemented.

Please, don't get me wrong. I find madvix a great program (and it is
free!). I am using it often. These are just some minor issues I wish
improved... ;-)

Paulo


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